I read a great thing recently, and I’m a bad person because I’m not 100% sure I remember where. I think it may have been in Gretchen Rubin’s Happier at Home — Rubin’s great second book about continuing the process of bringing more happiness into your daily life.

But I’m not entirely sure it was there. So, if it wasn’t, I apologize.

Wherever it was, though, here is that great thing:

Each and every year you should choose a word to represent the year you have in front of you.

I loved this idea, and it made me wish I had created my one word before setting my goals for 2013 – as one singular word seems the best way possible to coalesce and bring together key goals.

A word that imbues the type of year you wish to have, and a word that can serve as a guidepost for what you want in the year to come. One simple word you can always harken back to in moments of darkness and doubt. One word that informs your decisions, that crystalizes your passions and priorities, and that embodies – well – everything.

Depending on the type of year you’re going for, some examples might be:

More
Pause
Breathe
Dance
Less
Family
Health
Travel
Choose

You get the picture.

One word that means everything you hope to achieve and catalyze and crystalize and create and live and breathe. One word. For one special year. (Your next).

So, to you: Do you have a word? Can you create one for what you want 2013 to be?