Search Results for: three words

My 3 Words for 2019

chrisbrogan · January 1, 2019 ·

Instead of a New Year’s resolution, I practice a ritual called “My 3 Words.” The idea is that you think up three words that will help guide your choices and actions over the coming year. This has become quite an event, with thousands and thousands of people working their way through the ritual and planning their year based on their own three words.

What is My 3 Words About?

The My Three Words idea is simple. Choose 3 words (not 1, not 4) that will help guide your choices and actions day to day. Think of them as lighthouses. “Should I say yes to this project?” “Well, does this align with my three words?”

How to Choose Three Words

I started this process back in 2006. Back then, my 3 words were “Ask. Do. Share.” I picked these very simple words and they served me very well. One of my best years ever. When I asked questions, I learned. When I took action based on what I learned from asking, I made more ground and took over more of the universe. When I shared what I learned with everyone, I made connections and some friends.

Choose any three words you feel will guide you forward. I can tell you a few things about this:

Don’t make it a phrase. “Publish the book” is a terrible choice. “The” is wasted.
Try to make the words actionable. “Expand” is better than “bigger.”
The more utilitarian the word can be, the better. These words have to be your compass.
Stick with the 3 words all year. Every time I’ve changed one a month or two later, the year mucks up. I can’t explain it. But I can report it.
Years where I’ve tried “fancy” words with layers of meaning, I lost the thread. Use plain words, maybe.
BUT the words don’t have to mean anything to anyone but you. Don’t worry about explaining them.

Review Them Daily

The more you review your 3 words, the better. I have mine built into my daily planning guides and action stacks. I try using them for a mantra when I can. Sometimes on walks, I just repeat them over and over. I like to reflect on them and meditate a little with those words in mind.

Now, want to see some examples?

Previous 3 Words from Me

Here are my choices for 3 words over the past several years:

2006 – Ask. Do. Share
2007 – Seek. Frame. Build. Bridge (yes, that was 4. It also was a less successful year.)
2008 – Believe. Loops.Farm
2009 – Equip. Armies. Needles
2010 – Ecosystems. Owners. Kings
2011 – Reinvest. Package. Flow
2012 – Temple. Untangle. Practice
2013 – Walt. Ender. Monchu
2014 – Lifestyle. Monchu. Black.
2015 – Plan. Leverage. Fabric.
2016 – Home. Shine. Win.
2017 – Move.Voice.Game
2018 – Ritual. Execute. Value

My 3 Words for 2019

These took a while for me to build. More so, I really need these words to deliver for me. Oh, and I have to tell you something. I kind of cheated. The first two words have extra words attached, but it’s okay. I think.

Station – In military terms, “on station” means that you have air support over an area of operation. Pilots report that they are on station so that operators and personnel on the ground know that someone has an eye on them. It means “I’m ready. I’m present. I’m here.”

Chefs use the term “mise en place” to mean that they’ve set up their cooking area and everything is in its place. This is similar to my choice of station. I must prepare and take actions to be ready, to be on station.

Stacks – People who have been part of Owner Insider have heard of “Action Stacks.” They are repeatable mini project plans. It’s a way to prepare for something that you might normally just wing. When I record a webinar (something I’ve done 1-2x a month for several years now), I run through an action stack to prepare and ensure that I’ve done all that needs doing.

Movement – I need to move. Both my body and my pursuits/life. 2018 was a bit of a “stuck” year for me. So I need to move. This one’s easy to understand.

And those are my 3 words for 2019.

Your Turn. What are YOUR 3 Words for 2019?

This process is a million times more fun if you share your 3 words as well. If you have a blog, I recommend writing a post and sharing it. If not, it’s okay. Just tweet or post on Facebook or whatever makes you cheery. Use the hashtag #mythreewords so that others (like me) can find what you’ve got to share. I love hearing people’s three words every year. It’s truly one of the best parts of every year for me.

And grab my newsletter?

I put out a really really good weekly newsletter on Sundays. It’s the best stuff I do, so if you’re interested, I’d love it if you grabbed a copy:

And thanks!

This post, My 3 Words for 2019 was published on chrisbrogan.com

My 3 Words for 2018

chrisbrogan · January 1, 2018 ·

It’s that time of year. You’re thinking: “how can I make this a better year than last?” Maybe you need a resolution. But no, I’ve found that New Years Resolutions rarely survive the first six or seven days of January. Which is why I started the My 3 Words practice back in 2006. Let me share it with you!

What is the My 3 Words Process?

Every year, at the beginning of the year, choose 3 words that have personal meaning to you that you will use as guideposts for your chosen path forward in the coming year. Make the words such that they influence your choice of actions, encourage you to decide in favor of your goals, and guide you towards lasting results that you want to experience throughout the year.
Write these words down. Post them everywhere. Schedule them to pop up in your calendar. And use these words as part of your decision-making process every day.

How do you Choose Your Words?

The words that you select for My 3 Words are meant to serve as lighthouses to guide you through foggy moments. To that end, it’s important to pick words that have enough meaning that you’ll snap your perspective into alignment with them and build out your days, weeks, months, and year accordingly.
What does that look like?
Let’s say you want to lose 30 pounds in 2018. Maybe one of your words is “green.” It reminds you to fill half your plate with nutritious green vegetables and fresh fruits at every meal, and to make your snacks more healthy, as well.
Maybe you need to focus on your creative projects, like that podcast you’ve been threatening to launch. The word “focus” isn’t bad, but maybe the word “voice” is better, as in “people will benefit from hearing your voice.”
No matter which words you select, make sure they have personal meaning to you that can guide your choices of how you spend your time and which efforts you focus on.

A Couple Quick No-Nos from Lessons Learned

This is just an exercise I created. I’m not some kind of word-warden. But I’ve got over a decade of experience in people’s reported-back results as well as my own. I can tell you some of what doesn’t work well.

Can I pick two words? Four? – You can do whatever. I’ve found 3 works best.
My 3 words are a phrase: stop the donkey – Phrases often waste one of 3 precious and powerful words. Why waste a year long focus by making “the” a word?
Can I change my words mid-year? – You CAN, but most people who do this report having a less-than-successful year.
I just want to repeat last year’s words – Are you planning on repeating last year’s results? Has the world changed at all? (Not recommended, but even I repeat sometimes.)
I forced mine to be an acronym: BIG – Cool, if all three words work for you. Not as cool if you picked a word to sacrifice a space just so you could spell “big.”

Again, you do you, but that’s what I’ve experienced.

Previous 3 Words from Me

My 3 Words for 2018

And now, here are My 3 Words for 2018:
Ritual – I’ve fallen away from developing habits and operational tempo in my days. I need to build back rituals and make them the guts of how I structure my life and living. This also reminds me to place great strength and power into the simple matters of life, like choosing what I eat and drink, and ensuring that I treat my life as if I’m making moments instead of just clicking off hours.
Execute – Push the button. Make something happen. Take action. I’ve felt a bit sluggish in 2017. Time to power back up. Execute is a reminder to move and take action and do something instead of just think about it. Have the difficult conversations.
Value – Create value. Make sure my time is dedicated to creating value. Build more and more value for myself and others. Help companies see the value in the projects I intend to help them execute in 2018. That’s the big plan. Be clear that I value myself more.
So, those are my words. They’re personal to my challenges, my efforts, what I want from my family and my life and my business. Yours will be your own, of course.

Share YOUR 3 Words for 2018

I’d LOVE to see what you come up with for 2018. Use the hashtag #my3words and share links to your posts or just your Tweets, your IG posts, or whatever. Wherever you communicate with the world, share your #my3words with us, so we can see what each other comes up with!
I look forward to seeing yours!
This post first appeared on chrisbrogan.com.

My 3 Words for 2017

chrisbrogan · January 1, 2017 ·

We have a huge year ahead of us! How will you and I accomplish all that we want to achieve? Let’s pick three words to guide you to success in 2017!

Choose Three Words for Your Success in 2017!

Pick any three words that you can use to guide you forward to success in the coming year. Write these words down every day. Keep them posted on your monitor. Make a phone wallpaper. Whatever is going to keep those words present? Schedule a recurring 5 minute daily appointment that simply gives you a moment to reflect on the three words you’ve chosen for greatness and success.

Let’s look at the process, and then I’ll share mine. FINALLY, I’ll ask you to share YOURS! That’s near the bottom. Plus we’ll use the hashtag #my3words

Why THREE Words?

We choose three words so that you can use them for triangulation. One word seems to fade away from our memory too quickly. Two words sets our brain up to think of “this or that” kinds of logic. Three words gives us a way to think about the situations in our lives from many dimensions.

I’ve tried four words and it was a bad year. Everyone’s tried one word and you get mixed results. Three seemed right, and I’ve been doing it since 2006, so I’ve had lots of practice at this point.

How to Pick Your Three Words

First, phrases aren’t recommended. If you choose “Be the Best,” for instance, the word “the” offers nothing but grammatical glue. I mean, you can do whatever you’d like. It’s just not recommended if you want to follow this concept.

Pick words that apply to your goals, and more so, that apply to how you might make choices. For instance, if you’re thinking you want to lose 30 pounds, a word like “lose” really isn’t going to help. Maybe the word “green” to remind you to eat more vegetables? Or the word “temple” as in “treat my body like a temple.” The word has to trigger a mental association that will prompt you to make a better choice.

Pick words that apply to more than one dimension of your life. Maybe you want to be the best accountant around, but you might also want to be the best mother or best uncle or best Spartan racer around, also. A word like “Here” is simple, but it reminds you to be present, a skill that you can use everywhere.

A real quick note: I have NO idea WHY this is true, but whenever people pick the word “focus,” they report that it doesn’t do much for them. It’s not powerful enough to actually get you to focus. Focus on what? That might help.

Personally, I like words of action that guide me to make an actionable choice.

My Own Past 3 Words Choices

What follows are my previous choices for My 3 Words. The first year, I didn’t write a blog post about it (why not? Dang!). The rest have links to previous posts that explained my thoughts at the time. I submit them for your amusement and for ideas for your own.

2006 – Ask. Do. Share
2007 – Seek. Frame. Build. Bridge (yes, that was 4. It also was a less successful year.)
2008 – Believe. Loops.Farm
2009 – Equip. Armies. Needles
2010 – Ecosystems. Owners. Kings
2011 – Reinvest. Package. Flow
2012 – Temple. Untangle. Practice
2013 – Walt. Ender. Monchu
2014 – Lifestyle. Monchu. Black.
2015 – Plan. Leverage. Fabric.
Home. Shine. Win.

My 3 Words for 2017

And here we are at 2017. This past year was a struggle for me, but it was beautiful. I have a LOT to accomplish in 2017 if I want to succeed. Plus, I’m getting married in 2017 so I need to really be on top of my game to make that happen. Here are my words:

Move – A reminder to move physically (fitness) as well as on the plans and projects I’m working on. Movement is life.

Voice – Use my voice. Create more useful media. Connect with others, and help others make connections. I’ll do more to make the message shine out in 2017.

Game – Make my own game. It’s how I reached my levels of success and it’s how I’ll get further along. Look for the game inside everything I’m doing, and then find the path to a win. (Also, my book, Make Your Own Game, is due out in 2017 from Wiley!)

There you have it. Those are My 3 Words for 2017.

Share YOUR 3 Words for 2017

I’ve made a simple little form where you can share. Plus, use the hashtag #my3words so that we can find each other out there, okay?
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And thank you!
(c) 2017 Christopher E. Brogan

My 3 Words for 2016

chrisbrogan · January 1, 2016 ·

I’ve done ten years of sharing My 3 Words as a way to guide you through the year ahead, and this will be my eleventh! The goal here is to replace resolutions with something a bit more useful.

How Do You Do It?

Pick any three words that will guide you in the choices you intend to make for 2016. They should be words that let you challenge yourself as to motives and decisions. They should be words that help you guide your actions.
For instance, in 2006, my words were: ASK. DO. SHARE.
They prompted me to:

Ask more questions where I didn’t know.
Ask if I could help.
Ask FOR help.
Do more instead of plan more.
Share what I learned.
Share great people’s work.

Not surprisingly, 2006 ended up being one of my best years ever on the path to my own growth.

Why Three Words?

The idea behind there being three words (and not five or seven or one) is that you can create a kind of “triangulation” between three words, such that they can stand alone and work together.
Some people pick phrases. That’s fine, but it also kind of eats the power potential of what you can do with the words. “Do the work” pretty much eats up a lot of room compared to “work,” which gets the same accomplished.
Some people pick one word. That’s fine. It’s just not the same as trying to find a way to cover all aspects of how you want to grow in the year to come. Or it might be too simplistic when all is said and done. “Thrive” is a great word. But what will you actually do to make that real?

I’ve Shifted To Words Tilted Towards Action and Meaning

In 2015, my words were Plan, Leverage, and Fabric.
Plan – work the plan. If there’s no plan, make one. See how it’s a noun and a verb?
Leverage – work on whatever will have the MOST impact instead of just finishing up to-do work. Leverage works in a few ways.
Fabric – everything is connected. Pull here, and it will get tight there.
If the words have a bit more depth, they can really be helpful. In years past, I used words like “Walt” for Walt Disney, “Ender” for the character Ender Wiggin from Ender’s Game. That *kinda* worked, but I’ve retreated a bit more into words that are a bit more obvious. (Obvious is a bit of a theme for Rob and me at Owner Media Group).

Three Words of Years Past

Here’s what I’ve used in the past (as idea starters for you)
2006 – Ask. Do. Share
2007 – Seek. Frame. Build. Bridge (yes, that was 4. It also was a less successful year.)
2008 – Believe. Loops.Farm
2009 – Equip. Armies. Needles
2010 – Ecosystems. Owners. Kings
2011 – Reinvest. Package. Flow
2012 – Temple. Untangle. Practice
2013 – Walt. Ender. Monchu
2014 – Lifestyle. Monchu. Black.
2015 – Plan. Leverage. Fabric.

And Now, My 3 Words for 2016!

My 3 words are:
Home – I’m using this for a business reason (focus on my home base) as well as for personal reasons (serve my home and family). It means that I’ll consider my actions and choices based on how they impact myself, my family, and my business (in that order).
Shine – I’m shining a light on the people I’m so blessed to know. I’m shining a light on all the lessons I learn so that you can grow from them, too! Shine bright. That’s word number two.
Win – “Put more wins on your board” is our motto at Owner, and the idea is simple, elegant, and helpful. A “win” is the result of any action that moves you closer towards the goals that serve your mission. My goal is to help you (and help myself) find wins. (Win as a noun.) If I’m going to get more fit, than I’d best start swinging this kettlebell over here. Getting my 500 swings a day is a win. I need to help more people via my newsletter. More subscribers is a win. And so on.
But those are my words!

Share Yours!

I’ve created a little Google Form where you can add your 3 words and/or share a link to any post or podcast episode related to what you created. I’d love for you to share:
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Can’t WAIT to see what you come up with!
And please feel free to share this post far and wide. I think the exercise is helpful. If you want, I have a short URL for it. It’s http://cbrogan.me/3w16 (for 3 words 2016).

My 3 Words for 2015

chrisbrogan · January 1, 2015 ·

Since 2006, I’ve been inviting people to shift how they approach their year and how they frame their goals and intentions. I created the “My 3 Words” exercise because most resolutions aren’t especially helpful. We decide something vague like “I’ve gotta get in shape” or “I’ve gotta quit smoking” or “I need to make more money” but while these are all great goals, they’re not really useful as ways to guide our activities throughout the year. I thought that maybe we could come up with something better, something more useful, something that would work within our thought process daily and not just for the first seven or eight days of the new year.

What Goes Into Your Three Words?

The first point I’d like to make is that it rarely works for you if you create a phrase. “Do the work,” for instance, is a great thing to think about, but it kind of wastes two words. If you just wrote “work,” you’d still get the gist of the intention. That frees up two words for something else.
Secondly, I’ve heard from people over the past 8 years who have told me that vague words rarely help. “Focus” is on a lot of people’s 3 words lists and people report back that it doesn’t help them. Why? Because the word “focus” is a bit too, well, unfocused. It’s a word in search of a problem.
Last, I believe with all my heart that negative words aren’t especially helpful. It’s really hard to rally to a word or mission that starts with “Don’t.”
So, if I were to give you some recommendations, pick three words that can be packed with depth. Pick words that will be your own.

Three Words of Years Past

And now…

My 3 Words For 2015

Plan – Work the plan. And if there’s no plan, implement the plan. I chase a lot of “hey, what if” or “maybe this is a better way” and the like. You know how everyone likes to think outside the box? I need to make the box and stay in it.
Leverage – I can work on a million things, or I can work on those things that will change the world in big ways. I’ll die either way. Might as well go big. My goal is to help YOU by finding those parts of life and business will give you the most leverage in your days.
Fabric – In this case, I mean the essential structure of things. The fabric of connected people, the fabric of how my physical health improves my business world. Connective tissue. This one means the world to me. It’s my community-building goal, my family-building goal, my way to ensure that everything I’m doing is in alignment with my work and my life.
Those are my three. They are how I intend to live the rest of the year.
What should YOU do? SHARE your three words! Share them with the people in the community you frequent. Share them anywhere. Blog them! And if you want, feel free to link back to https://chrisbrogan.com/3-words-2015 so that people get the context of your project. I’d love to read yours. I hope you tweet them to me, share them where you can, etc.
Happy 2015, my friends and allies!

Search Results for: three words

My 3 Words for 2018

What is the My 3 Words Process?

How do you Choose Your Words?

A Couple Quick No-Nos from Lessons Learned

Previous 3 Words from Me

My 3 Words for 2018

Share YOUR 3 Words for 2018

My 3 Words for 2017

Choose Three Words for Your Success in 2017!

Why THREE Words?

How to Pick Your Three Words

My Own Past 3 Words Choices

My 3 Words for 2017

Share YOUR 3 Words for 2017

My 3 Words for 2016

How Do You Do It?

Why Three Words?

I’ve Shifted To Words Tilted Towards Action and Meaning

Three Words of Years Past

And Now, My 3 Words for 2016!

Share Yours!

My 3 Words for 2015

What Goes Into Your Three Words?

Three Words of Years Past

My 3 Words For 2015

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