Who hoo! New Year’s Day 2025! It feels great to write that number! 2025! It’s a quarter of a century down in the 2000s! Congratulations everyone on making it through an- other year to another new year.
Last year, I wrote a column about my friend Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words” concept. Each year, he and his business partner, Rob Hatch, host an annual webinar event to “explore the process of selecting three words to guide your actions through the coming year.”
Chris has noted, “It’s something I’ve
done since 2006, and that I’ve shared with tens of thousands of people all over the world.”
He akins the process to “a reset ritual” and has re- marked, “I can personally track my successes and my failures to either adhering to or abandoning my three words.”
Chris has explained, “The idea is simple: Choose three very important words to use as guideposts to your success in 2025. In- stead of resolutions, which statistics say you’ll forget before Jan. 19th, and besides goals, which can change, these special three words that YOU choose for yourself
will carry you through a great year ahead.”
Chris and others (including me and my sister, Sissy, for several years) have used our “words as core guide- posts to help judge whether we’re taking the actions that will have the most impact in our lives and give us the results we want.”
In the webinar, Chris noted verbs and nouns seem to work best, and said to choose words that help guide you or help you decide your intentions. Words that answer questions. He said simple words work better than com- plicated words. He believes words are like software we use to program ourselves. He
also said the three words should mean something to the per- son choosing them. He’s also mentioned the words are used to help you plan the path, the process you take to get “the results.” The results are not the best words, he’s said.
Words shared by those in the webinar included: acceptance, expansion, stretch, observe, refine, brave, release, balance, port (like a ship going to port in a storm), equipped, ask, acquire, act, bounce and beacon.
It was a great webinar and a wonderful way to mark the end of a year and get ex- cited about a new one.
Chris Brogan
I encourage you to seek out Chris online, sign up for his newsletters and join in next year’s special annual event.
Chris on his first words, present and past words
During the webinar, Chris said his very best year for his three words was his first year.
Chazz
“I started in 2006 with three really easy words: ‘Ask.’ ‘Do.’ ‘Share.’ They served me well,” he noted.
“In 2025, my words are just about as simple: ‘Chess.’ ‘Sell.’ And I haven’t picked my third one as this goes to press.
Chess is about remembering to be strategic in my think- ing. Sell reminds me to remember that every interaction is a kind of sale, even if I’m just selling a warm feeling.
“As for the third word, I want it to guide me to keep up my creative pursuits. So maybe something like ‘Paint,’ though I might mean to paint scenes with my cam- era and my words.
“My 2024 words were ‘Fusion’ (take things I learn and ex- tend them to other pursuits), ‘Apps’ (build repeatable processes for tasks I might re- peat) and ‘Pulse’ (re- member to review my efforts regularly). I did really well with honoring these through- out the year. I hope to be as successful with my words in 2025.”
#my3words
I’m not sure if you read my column last year where Chris, I and my sister shared our three words. (She’s hasn’t chosen hers yet this year.) You were invited to choose some, too. Did you? If so, did they work for you? Now is the time to choose three new ones again, or join for the first time, thousands across the globe who share #my3words.
Besides our words and friendly email ex- changes, Chris and I have another thing in common--our love of photography. Check him out on YouTube to see several photo walks collected in video format, as well as he and Kerry O’Shea Gorgone’s new “Playing for Time” show.
Chris said he’s exploring photography as a form of meditation, and as a confidence tool. I do photography mostly for work, but do have fun occasionally with the Image Masters motley crew of fun photographers!
My 3 Words for 2025
My first word is “Selah,” which is in the Bible, and used frequently in the Psalms. I’ve seen several translations, but I’m going to use it to “pause and breathe, meditatively” before taking a step or an action or respond- ing under pressure.
My second word is “Keanu-ish,” and I made it up. I want to be like Keanu Reeves in several ways. I want to be more like the “easy-going,” laid-back girl I was in high school again. Keanu has been described as “easy-going, patient and supportive.” I want to be Keanu-ish.
I also want to be like him in “The Matrix” where he dodges to the left and the right, backwards and for- wards. I want to dodge bullets and arrows and any weapons flung at me by anyone wanting to damage or hurt me --whether it’s physically, mentally or emotionally.
I strive for love and peace in all situations wherever and when- ever possible. God told me to. Jesus told me to. The Holy Spirit is inside me to strengthen and guide me. He can help you, too. Just ask.
My last word is “Grace.” I need to re- mind myself grace, or the unmerited favor of God, is given to us every single day--in one day’s dosage--from our Good Lord. I can do nothing on my own. I am nothing. His strength is sufficient... He is my Savior. The battle belongs to the Lord... Not me.
Grace is also defined as “simple elegance or refinement of movement,” and “courteous goodwill.” There is also “a grace period” for payments or special favors, prayers of thanks before or after meals and the descriptions for dukes, duchesses or archbishops. I feel this word could be used in lots of different ways. I need grace. I accept grace. I show grace.
Grace is also my grandmother’s middle name. And she was full of grace. She was never unkind in her life. I never heard her raise her voice to anyone or say a harsh word until the day she had a stroke. And then it was just, “Take me to the hospital, now!” Blessedly, she recovered quickly and went back to being an angel-on- earth until she re- turned to her heavenly home.
No matter the out- roar around her--and there was usually some, as there were four children, two parents, her husband and a few aunties and cousins in one home whenever she visited--
I can only remember her as “quietly working away in the corner making coleslaw.”
I need to spend more time quietly working away... So, grace is one of my three words.
Did the words I chose last year serve me well? I chose “Now, Treasure and Love.” I think so. I think I made a step or two to- ward those aims, any- way. I tried to find some “now” time with friends and family-- not much, but some. I tried to treasure those I love--again, mostly friends and family. And I tried to love-- EVERYONE! Because I was told to in one of Jesus’ last commandments on earth.
But I still have a big out-of-balance work/life. I’ve found that 5-percent of fun can outweigh 95-per- cent work, work, work. But you have to make time for the 5-percent! And there are still many dear, treasured friends I really need to see and spend time with. As always, I do my best every single day, and I am so grateful for new possibilities and blessings.
Regarding love, I’m glad I picked the word last year as a focus, but I pray each day to be able to walk in love with everyone I en- counter. So, thankfully, love lives inside me all the time to be shared with whoever God chooses to place in my path.
Here’s to a New Year and three new words to help guide me into, hopefully, being a better person. Good luck with your three words. Thank you, dear Chris, for sharing yours. Happy New Year! Love to all and TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
See complete story in the Journal Record.
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