The past year was both incredible and challenging! It was incredible, because I became closer and more connected in my relationship to God, which was my central aim/goal of this past year. For the first time in my life, I focused more on my theme for the year than I did on my goals, and it paid off in terms of my growth and development – spiritually first, and then mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. It also ultimately resulted in achieving goals and new opportunities.

My theme was to know God deeply and to experience the presence of Jesus more intimately. This was not something I just wrote down and forgot about or sat back and wished for it to happen. I invested time in my morning routine and throughout my day, weeks, and months to read, pray, and grow in my relationship with God just as you would in any relationship that is a priority to you. This relationship just happens to be my highest priority for from it springs the life and love for every other relationship that I have. The problem is I often get busy with other things and spend time doing other tasks and forget to invest in my relationship with Jesus. Making this my central theme and focus for 2021 helped me regain the focus that I needed, especially when the world and the enemy seemed to be doing its best to try and kill, steal, and destroy everyone’s peace, joy, love, and contentment.

2021 was also challenging, but not for the reasons that you might think. I do my best not to get caught up in things I cannot control, and there were a lot of things that were out of our control and vying for attention, worry, fear, and anxiety over the last 2 years. The things happening in the world were not as challenging to me personally as the events happening closer to home in terms of the deaths of 4 people that I was very close to including the death of one of the best athletes and people that I have ever worked with. These events made me consider even more how precious our time is on this earth and how important it is to make the most of the moments in our lives.

Which leads me to 2022 and my One Word for this year: FOCUSED. The clarity and resolve of the past year have helped me become even clearer and more passionate and determined about my calling and purpose. In fact, I am doubling down on my purpose. To me, Focused means a constant and consistent state of directing my attention, time, talents, and resources on the most important priority! It means not getting distracted on temporal things. It means loving others and acting from a place of grace and mercy, not judgment and disdain. It means investing in others, including the next generation of leaders, and helping advance the opportunities of other people’s dreams. Focused means taking care of my family and mentoring my boys. Most of all, being focused means fulfilling my calling every day to shine a light on the One created me and gave me life and not wasting one single moment!

As always, my prayer is to be faithful and available…and to be focused.

What about you? What have you learned about yourself over the last year, and what are you focusing on in terms of goals and growth this year? What is your One Word for this year?

For more information about setting goals and the power of choosing one word for the year, check out these resources:

• Our New Upcoming Online Course: Becoming A Goal Achiever 
• The Coach’s Corner Podcast: What is your One Word?
• Jon Gordon Book: One Word That Will Change Your Life