.png "My Three Words for 2026")
For more than a decade now, choosing three words (or one word) for the year has been one of the most grounding practices in my life.
I don’t choose my words quickly. I don’t choose them because they sound good or because they feel aspirational in a surface-level way. I choose them through a process of reflection, prayer, listening, and honesty about what the past year revealed and what the next season is asking of me.
In the past, I thought my words needed to hype me up for the new year. What I’ve learned over time is that the right words don’t energize me as much as they center me. They bring clarity instead of urgency and direction instead of pressure.
The Process I Use
Before I ever write a word down, I ask myself a few quiet questions:
- What did this past year teach me about myself, my limits, and my values?
- Where did I feel stretched, and where did I feel most like myself?
- What do I need more of - not to achieve more, but to live well?
- What kind of person do I want to be this time next year?
I sit with those questions for days... sometimes weeks. I pay attention to patterns. I notice what keeps resurfacing in conversations and in prayer. Eventually, certain words don’t just appear; they stay.
As I looked ahead to 2026, three words remained long after the others faded:
Steady. Rooted. Legacy.
Each one carries a particular invitation. Today, I want to share what they mean to me and how they might serve as guiding words for you too.
STEADY: Peace in Motion
“Steady” has a calm strength to it, like a deep breath before a big moment. I think about this word in terms of consistency over intensity.
“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.”
- Colin Powell
This year has reminded me that healing (heart, body, spirit) doesn’t happen in bursts. Steady reminds me to show up - day in and day out - for the things that matter: my family, my health, my work, and my faith. It whispers, keep going, one step at a time. It’s a gentle but firm guide that says consistency wins the long game.
When I think about the work I care about - the people I get to serve through The Compelled Educator, the Communities of Character podcast, the Hope Institute, and the connections we share - being steady feels like a gift I can give others as well as myself.
ROOTED: Deep in What Matters Most
“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”- Dolly Parton
There is a kind of grief we don’t always name - the grief that comes with leaving something you loved deeply, even when the decision was right.
In 2025, I experienced two significant losses. One was deeply personal. The other was professional, but no less meaningful. Stepping away from my role as principal was not just a career change; it was the surrender of a calling that had shaped me, stretched me, and allowed me to serve in ways that mattered deeply to me. It was a place where I felt useful, connected, and fully alive.
What made that loss complicated was this: I didn’t leave because I stopped loving the work. I left because love required something else of me.
Grief has a way of unsettling our sense of identity. When titles fall away and routines disappear, we’re forced to ask harder questions: Who am I without this role? Where do I belong now? What remains when what I loved is gone?
That’s where rooted began to matter more than ever.
Rooted reminds me that while roles can change, identity does not. That purpose is not limited to a position, and calling is not confined to a title. Being rooted means anchoring myself in values, faith, and relationships that remain steady even when circumstances shift.
Rooted doesn’t promise comfort, but it offers stability. And in a season marked by loss, stability is a gift.
This word reminds me to draw strength from my foundations - family, friends, faith, curiosity, and purpose. It’s a reminder that when storms come (and they always do!), roots help us bend without breaking.
LEGACY: What Lasts Longer Than Me
Legacy isn’t just for big achievements or titles. It’s about the footprints we leave on our journey. From the way we influence a child, to how we show up for a friend, build something meaningful, or how we care for the people we love.
This word keeps me focused on what lasts longer than a single year or season. It strengthens me as I walk through the current season filled with doubt and grief, yet also hope. It shapes how I think about family, relationships, health, work, and character. I think about how the character we model today becomes the foundation for tomorrow. And I especially think about my daughters, my grandson, and the grandson that will be born in 2026.
To me, legacy isn’t pressure, it’s perspective. It’s choosing what matters long after the day is done.
Legacy asks:
- What am I modeling for the people I love?
- What habits am I forming today that shape tomorrow?
- What will remain because I was here?
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
- Shannon L. Alder
So… If I had to choose one word, which one would it be?
In years past I’ve used three words, and sometimes just one feels right, too. This year, these three words represent different aspects of the journey I’m on. Steady for consistency and resilience, Rooted for depth and alignment, and Legacy for meaning and long-term impact.
If I had to choose just one, it might be the one that brings them together in a single heartbeat: Rooted. Because when we’re rooted, we tend to stay steady and build legacy without losing ourselves in the noise.
As always, I’d love to hear your word for the year. What’s drawing you? What feels like a compass in the next season of your story?
Here’s to a year defined not just by what we do, but who we become.
2014 - Discipline. Intentional. Balance.
2015 - Rhythm. Bravery. Fitness.
2016 - Focus. Purpose. Do.
2017 - Pivot. Go. Grow.
2018 - Lift. Create. Relentless.
2019 - Practice. Execute. Be.
