Today is the first Monday of 2016. For me, it’s a symbolic day. It’s a day where I can set the stage for how I’d like the rest of my year to look like.

I almost didn’t write this post. I had chosen my 3 words, but by writing a blog post I felt like I would be repeating what I’ve said about my three words in my newsletter, on Facebook, on Twitter, etc.

But, one of my three words of 2016 is Reach because I have the tendency to write blog posts and not click publish, deciding they weren’t introvert-related enough, or weren’t interesting enough. If this year I’m truly going to reach, today is the day to start, not tomorrow.

My three words of 2016:
Trajectory
Reach
Service 

Trajectory because it suggests planned forward motion. Not just plans, not just motion, but the two concepts working together. Reach, both in the emotional sense of stretching myself and also by letting my thoughts reach more people by hitting publish on blog posts or the record button on my computer. Service because for much of 2015 I rallied behind my business and would like to do more giving for the sake of giving. 

Why I’ve chosen three words:
Although I’m not into New Year’s resolutions, I do feel like the beginning of a year (or the end of a year) is a natural time for reflection and the setting of new intentions, or the renewal of old intentions.  

Reflection is natural for us introverts. We’re not all planners, but we’re pretty much all contemplators. And we can use our reflection skills to our benefit by remembering the positive things 2015 brought to us, the useful lessons we might learn from the past year, and what awesome aspects of the last year we can cultivate in the next.  

A few years ago I picked three words (Finish, Focus, Accept), and while I wasn’t very successful in incorporating them that year, it was a helpful reminder in subsequent years of what I wanted to cultivate. I’ve gotten much better at incorporating those concepts into my life, and I finally feel like I’m ready to move on and focus on new intentions. 

If you’d like to choose your own three words, I recommend reading Chris Brogan’s post (he’s the one I first learned about the three words from): chrisbrogan.com/3-words-2016

Have you set any New Year’s resolutions? Or are you going to pick three words of 2016? Feel free to reply and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.