2022 word of the year, and 220 ideas for yours
Last Updated on January 4, 2022
Choosing a word of the year is something I’ve done for awhile now, to guide my actions over the year, and to help me set goals.
If you’re interested in choosing a word of the year but aren’t entirely sure what a word of the year is, why it’s beneficial, how to choose a word of the year, how to remember it, or are looking for some word of the year ideas, then this post will hopefully provide you with everything you need to get started.
What is a word of the year?
A word of the year is a single word that acts as a theme for your year, or provides you with a focus.
You can also use your word to set goals for different areas of your life.
For example, if your word of the year is productive, a goal with this word as the focus may be to work two hours each day on a side project. Or, if your word is discipline, a goal may be to exercise a certain number of times a week.
Benefits of choosing a word of the year
Some of the benefits of choosing a word of the year include:
- It reminds you of the person you want to become.
- It helps you to stay focused on what’s important.
- It provides you with a mantra to say during tough times, or when you need clarification on something.
- It helps you to prioritise what’s important, or what you want to improve in your life.
How to choose a word of the year
There isn’t a right way to choose a word of the year, and sometimes it can be as easy as a word just popping into your head and feeling right, or reading a word somewhere and realising that’s your perfect word.
If either of these two things happen, then that’s fantastic, but if not you may like to try any of these suggestions to help you to clarify your word of the year:
1 Think about the person you’d like to become over the next year, and write down the words that describe that person.
2 You may wish to ask yourself some more questions to help you identify the person you’d like to become, which could be:
-
- What’s missing from your life?
- What areas of your life do you want to focus on over the next year?
- What goals do you have for your personal and professional life?
- What do you want more or less of in your life?
3 Write down the definitions for each word you’ve written down, and highlight the words that resonate with you.
4 If you’d still like some more words read your definitions and see if there are any words in them that sound like they could work for you.
5 If you’d still like some more words there could be some in the list at the end of this post.
6 Take some time to think about the words you’ve highlighted and really see which ones resonate with you. If there are a few, think about how well they will guide you to become the person you want to be, or achieve the goals you want to work on.
7 Sleep on it for a few days, and see what word keeps popping into your head.
Ultimately the word you choose should excite you, because it represents the person you want to become, and can help you to do more of the things you want to do in the upcoming year.
Some things to remember are to not feel pressured to come up with a word by a certain time. You don’t have to have your word ready by January 1st if you don’t want to, and once you choose a word, there’s no reason why you can’t change it, if it doesn’t work for you.
Also, you don’t have to choose a word every year, I haven’t.
How to remember your word of the year
Some ways that you can remember your word of the year is to put it in your planner, on a vision board, write it on a post it note and keep it somewhere you look everyday, or make a graphic of it and use it as your screensaver for your phone, computer, or tablet.
My 2022 word of the year
My 2022 word of the year is prioritise, which I intend to use in three areas of my life – this blog, my health, and my family.
I want to make sure that I’m always working on one of these areas as much as I can.
For example, if I find myself mindlessly scrolling online, I’ll ask myself what else can I prioritise at that particular point in any of these three areas, and for this example it could mean scrolling other things that may improve the blog.
Or, if I have a day where nothing’s planned, I’ll make sure to prioritise family and find something that we can all do together.
Some word of the year ideas
Some words that you may like to consider for your own word of the year are:
- Abundance
- Accept
- Achieve
- Action (my 2015 word)
- Adapt
- Adventure
- Affluence
- Ambition
- Amplify
- Aspire
- Balance
- Believe
- Better (my 2018 word)
- Big
- Bloom
- Bold
- Boundaries
- Brave
- Breathe
- Build
- Calm
- Care
- Celebrate
- Challenge
- Change
- Clarity
- Commit (my 2019 word)
- Complete
- Confidence
- Connect
- Consistent
- Courage
- Create (my 2014 word)
- Cultivate
- Declutter
- Dedicate
- Deliberate
- Delight
- Determined
- Diligence
- Direction
- Discipline
- Discover
- Dream
- Driven
- Ease
- Elevate
- Embrace
- Empathy
- Energy
- Engage
- Enhance
- Enjoy
- Enough
- Examine
- Excitement
- Expand
- Experience
- Explore
- Extraordinary
- Family
- Fearless
- Finish
- Fitness
- Flourish
- Flow
- Fly
- Focus
- Forgive
- Forward
- Free
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Fun
- Future
- Gain
- Gentle
- Give
- Glorious
- Glow
- Go
- Goals
- Grace
- Gratitude
- Grow
- Habit
- Happy
- Harmony
- Health
- Here
- Higher
- Home
- Honesty
- Hope
- Hustle
- Illuminate
- Imagination
- Imagine
- Improve
- Indulge
- Innovation
- Insight
- Inspire
- Integrity
- Intention
- Intimacy
- Intuition
- Invest
- Journey
- Joy
- Kindness
- Laugh
- Lead
- Learn
- Less
- Liberate
- Life
- Light
- Listen
- Love
- Magic
- Manifest
- Maximise
- Mindful
- Mindset
- Minimise
- Mission
- Moment
- Monetise
- More
- Move
- Nature
- New
- Nourish
- Now
- Nurture
- Open
- Optimistic
- Organise
- Passion
- Patience
- Peace
- Permission
- Persevere
- Persist
- Perspective
- Play
- Pleasure
- Positivity
- Possibility
- Powerful
- Practice
- Prioritise
- Progress
- Prosper
- Purpose
- Quiet
- Reclaim
- Reconnect
- Reflect
- Relationships
- Relax
- Release
- Renewal
- Reset
- Rest
- Retreat
- Rich
- Satiating
- Satisfy
- Savour
- Seek
- Self care
- Self worth
- Serene
- Share
- Shift
- Shine
- Simplify
- Slow
- Smile
- Soar
- Space
- Spark
- Speak
- Still
- Stretch
- Strong
- Success
- Support
- Surrender
- Surround
- Think
- Thrive
- Today
- Transform
- Travel
- Trust
- Unafraid
- Understand
- Unlimited
- Unstoppable
- Value
- Vibrant
- Vision
- Vivacious
- Voice
- Vulnerable
- Wander
- Warm
- Wellness
- Wholehearted
- Why
- Wild
- Wish
- Wonder
- Work
- Worth
- Yes
- Zest
What’s your 2022 word of the year, and how do you intend to use it?
I’d love to hear about your choice in the comments section below.
