Happy New Year!
Keeping up with a tradition that began back in 2006 - starting each year with '10 Great Words' - here's what I'm thinking for 2023!
Reinforce: In a world that has become more complex, challenging, hateful, angry, and extreme, it's important to fortify your actions and days with what you value in your soul. Fortify your optimism, belief system, integrity, values, hopes, and dreams with what you value in your soul. Reinforce it regularly!
Believe: in a world of volatility, it's pretty easy to lose sight of your goals, objectives, and opportunities. Double down on what you think is right, the trends that you believe will unfold, and the pathways which will appear. Your belief system is your anchor, the rock upon which you build your actions and your future.
Persist: with that volatility in mind, you can't just believe - you've got to do, act, perform, and move forward! That leads to the need to keep at it: don't give up in the face of adversity! Double down on your efforts when things become just that much harder!
Defy: You are always in a battle against cynicism and disbelief, so take it on directly. Prove wrong the naysayers, the detractors, the people who tell you that will fail, that it can't be done. Adopt a mindset not that it can't be done, but that it will be done!
Create: there has never been a time in which there have been so many wonderful new creative ideas, technologies, platforms, methodologies, and concepts. We live in a world of creative abundance, and you can maximize your opportunities by fully exploiting and exploring all the possibilities.
Immerse: The only way to fully understand your new creative possibilities is to immerse yourself in them. From text and image AI to new distributed social networks or knowledge tools, it's a good time to dive in and explore, experiment, and discover. Play more - make it a part of your day!
Focus: even so, don't lose out on an opportunity because of a lack of clarity. We live in a world of too many distractions and abundant diversions. To keep going with what is important to you, work to provide a little more determined clarity to your action and purpose to your frivolity.
Challenge: with all of these things in mind, challenge yourself to do things you haven't done before. Establish a platform of direction by taking on the things you thought you might never be able to do - and do them!
Act: and don't wait. Do it now. Indecision and inaction are the killers of all initiative!
Inspire: motivate yourself with that initiative, but don't keep it to yourself. If you can get into a mindset of relentless optimism, share it with others. Help them to see the opportunities, not the lack of possibilities. Show them the upside, not the downside, Encourage them with enthusiasm. Become an engine of inspiration, fuel for optimism, and oxygen for the opportunity!
Here's to 2023! Welcome to another year in your future!
Jim Carroll has been preparing his list of '10 Great Words' each and every year since 2006, finding they are a great way of setting a tone of optimism for the year to come! The original list has become the closing comments in every single keynote he does from the stage.