New year, new life. Every day is a reinvention, and the turning of the calendar is a good reason to make the reinvention explicit, if not deliberate.
I have, since 2017, at the suggestion of Mike Mandel and in lieu of making resolutions, chosen a word of the year—a one-word mantra to guide me through the coming year. Attention, humility, lead (the present-tense verb), charisma (covid-19 made practicing that one a challenge). This year’s word of the year is write.
Each year builds on past years. To lead I have to think, to think I have to write. I recognize attention (2017’s word) as a precious resource, the only thing we can’t make more of, and to write (this year’s word) more, I need to be more selective about my attention, and with humility (2018) I recognize that I am weak and susceptible to having my attention distracted by things that don’t really deserve my attention—things that don’t make our world better.
I get forced by my practice to pay attention (the attention as currency met…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Defending People to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.