3 Words for 2018

For the past several years, I’ve been following Chris Brogan’s practice of coming up with three guiding words for the coming year. Chris wrote a post about his 3 words for 2016 but here’s the basic idea:

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.

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.

Sharing your three words gives them a little added impact and hopefully stimulates some discussion. Here are mine. I add a few words of explanation to them, so I don’t forget what I was thinking when I picked them.

Community

Community is more than just conversation. Strong communities are built over time around shared values and interests. Creating a physical coworking space is an ongoing effort that will continue throughout 2018. Attracting others who want to play in this space is my challenge and opportunity.

Justice

It’s time to take the concepts of fairness, equality and “doing what’s right” beyond personal interactions and apply them to a larger community. This means making judgements that not everyone will agree with. It means bringing ideas before diverse groups of people and advocating for ideals. It means taking a stand.

Listen

Everyone operates within their own view of “how things are”. Those views may complement or conflict with my own. All views are worthy of understanding and consideration. The choice to incorporate them or not remains mine.

Your turn

If you feel inspired to pick three words of your own that you’d like to share, please leave them in comments.