What’s Your Word of the Year?

Kristen: Happy 2026 Nat. Unfortunately my new year new me started with a new year terrible reception me. So we’ve already had like the first two minutes of this conversation we’re so I’d feel uncomfortable asking is this our first one?

Nat: But. We did. No, we did it. We did a we did a reflection episode last week, which is great. Which, by the way, for anyone listening, we actually did do that last week. We, yeah, have been podcasting throughout our three-week holiday.

Kristen: Yeah. And then today we’re going to talk about Word of the Year.

Kristen: But before we jump into it, I just wanted to shout out a couple power up podcast stats or points if we want to stick with AP theme and that is next week. Next week we’ll be at 150. We are almost two years running. Sorry, yes, we’re almost two years running with this podcast. We are at 150 episodes next week, so we will celebrate when it’s such a clean round Number. And then we are into season 3. And so we are officially kicked off into Season 3 of Power Up Podcast.

Nat: And we’re definitely not using, we’re not using this video because I’ve just been clambering around because there’s someone mowing their lawn outside. New Year knew us.

Kristen: I said we’ve also got 150, I think it’s 156 five star reviews, which we find very motivational. And I was just going to ask, were you a kid who did star charts at all? Like were you motivated by a star chart?

Nat: We were star chart kids. Like we were very much we would have, my parents were ruthless. We’d have a star chart. I remember there was like a circus that came to town and I can’t remember what stars for, but if we missed one circus was off. And this is like a multiple month star chart something. So I’m super motivated by star charts and stars. So keep the five stars coming through because it makes me happy.

Kristen: And then we got, and then what we’re going to talk about. Then we got into this is the last of a recap. This is like fresh content for not fresh territory for not uncharted territory for us now.

Nat: OK, so I do. I am pretty sure I didn’t have a word for 2025 I recall talking about words that summed up 2024 in a reflection exercise. I do not recall 2025 word of the year. Did you have a word of the year?

Kristen: I am so sure we did. I am so sure I I remember having this conversation and I almost feel like I have on the tip of the my tongue your word of the year and my word of the year, but I can find 0 evidence of it.

Nat: So my goal, I think we’ve probably both been thinking about this since we realized we’ve forgotten everything from 12 months ago this year. We are about to end this week’s news that are. So if you haven’t already subscribed, you should just go to powersuit.com you we will send out a form wherever I can complete the reflection from of 2025, which is one of the key parts to a fresh start effect as is your word of the year, because then we will send you an e-mail. So you have the evidence on hand in December 2026. Unlike us who are like, I’m so sure we’ve done this, but it is gone.

Kristen: It’s probably an were the in January podcast last year.

Nat: No, we talked about why resolutions don’t stick.

Kristen: So I think what we will do is raise that again. Let’s just remind everyone why Word of the Year might be a smarter, I suppose, tactic of alignment and purpose this year instead of resolution. So I think we’ll go over that again and then let’s go into maybe brainstorming a word for us. But the invitation is that we’re having a mini master class next week on just this. So you have got time from the time that you listen to this episode, you’ve got time to join Power Suit and join us in that session where we’re actually going to take you through a great reflective, structured session, short and sweet. It will take no more than 30 minutes where you walk away with your word of the year to keep you kind of aligned and motivated and on track. So let’s first before we get into that power.

Nat: Suitors as well, right? Like if you join live or we’ll put you into groups if you want to, But also I’m pretty sure power suitors will be posting them in the platform. So it’s kind of nice to see what other people are up to in the words of the year.

Kristen: Absolutely. So let’s first chat about why resolutions fail, because we know that I think it’s only around 10% of people keep their resolutions and a courser kit quit in the first week. So if anyone made a New Year, New Year’s resolution on the 1st 1/4 of you have already kind of like abandoned it and 80% of you, so almost 100% the majority of people will abandon those New Year’s resolutions within the first month. So it’s kind of happening. We’re getting flies kind of falling off now and then I think they call. I remembered a day in February. No, it’s a second Friday in January that they call Quitters Day because I think you’ve gone in a couple weeks. And if it’s like anything related to health or drinking, it’s like it’s Friday, forget it, let’s move on.

Nat: So what did they have been Friday the 9th of Jane?

Kristen: Yeah, must have been quitters say is what it’s called. Already been already been gone.

Nat: We’re we’re, we’re just in our first day back at work and the quitters days already been gone. Aaron’s already given up the New Year’s resolutions.

Kristen: Yeah, don’t, don’t feel like you failed. There’s a few reasons for this and I’m the same. And if I think I, if I go back and listen to some of our podcast episodes of what I wanted to do with like exercise or health or even our business, first of all, we take on too much. Like, I think ambitious people make multiple ambitious goals. Like we want to stretch ourselves in any way and really want transformation and all facets, facets of our life. So that is our reason why they fail.

Nat: Yeah, it’s we were actually walking along the beach the other day and my girlfriend Kyla is a Yogi as she goes to yoga several times a week and she’s like, I think she’s now got like a million new hobbies. So she’s like, I think I need to become a 630 AM Yogi. And I was like, oh, it’s going to be interesting to see how long that lasts because I’m like, we don’t even get out of bed at 6:30 at the moment. So there’s a lot of steps to go before you’re going to become three times a week yoga at 6:30. AMI will keep you posted on how that sort of semi resolution go.

Kristen: Yeah, great intention. Let’s call that one an intention.

Nat: Yeah, because I feel like I’ve been there before and actually both of us have successfully gone to the gym at 6:30 in previous years for large pockets of time. And there are some massive benefits to it. But there’s a lot of lifestyle change right now between now and then.

Nat: The second reason I think why New Year’s resolutions fail is they’re too rigid. And I think we all, we’ve talked about this a lot with the streaks at. So like if you’re a Duolingo or you’re in a run streak or whatever it might be, Snapchat streaks, they really focus on the momentum and motivation that comes from hitting something time and time and time again, doing something small. The problem is when you stop once or if you miss one, your streak starts again from zero. And that’s the case of any news resolution too, if there’s one slip up. So if you’ve decided you’re not going to eat junk food all year or you’re going to cut chocolate or you’re going to stop drinking, it’s pass or fail. There is no room for grey area where it’s like, I just want to do better at this. It’s, it’s very much, I’m going to go to the gym every week or whatever. And most of the time, given how life is, there was going to be slip ups. There’s going to be little stumbles along the way. And the challenge with news resolutions is when you do, you kind of go, oh, well, that’s the end of that. Move on with my life.

Kristen: Yeah, yeah. Which leads to another recollection I just had of why resolutions fail from our episode one year ago. And that was because we focus too much on extrinsic goals instead of intrinsic. And so extrinsic is that ultimately we create goals based on what we think we should be, look like, act like, be at a stage of our career or what society puts us, you know, places on us, those or other people expectations on us. And so we make goals based on other people’s expectations or where we think we should be, as opposed to intrinsic, which is really like, what is the thing that is deep inside? Like, for example, the Yogi training, Like why? What is it about yoga that is interesting, that is motivating? It could be flexibility for health. And so those, that’s something that’s intrinsic. It’s not tied to like weight loss or people’s expectations. It’s like, I want to move more flexibly, for example. And so that’s much more easier goal to, I suppose, stick to and to.

Nat: Yeah. Yeah. And I think in this case as well, the yoga part is sorted. Like I think Conor’s been going probably for a good six months quite regularly. It’s a 6:30 AM goal. It’s going to be the interesting one, like the reason for that, and it is an intrinsic reason to a degree. And when you’ve got a lot of other things that you want to spend your evening. With. Great. But it’s not a motivator to start at 6:30. It’s a motivator to free up after work. And so that’s going to be interesting. And to me, that makes sense in the summertime because you’ve got some daylight left in the evening to then go, you know, it makes sense. Where’s the winter? I’m like, no way I’m hibernating. No way I’m getting up and out in the darkness.

Kristen: The darkness is awful. I, I feel like that’s, that’s always what I mean. Back in my hardcore days, I would get up and go jogging with a couple of friends at 6:30 in the morning. And I remember, like, it’s pitch black. You’re like 3 young women running from various parts of the city to meet each other. So I had to leave home even earlier to meet them at 6:30. Like, why did I do that? Why did I mean it was fun at the time, but.

Nat: Who’s got? Time for that now.

Kristen: Well, OK, so we, we’ve, I think we’ve got, we do have some intentions like as noted with, with the Yogi, the morning Yogi practice. We’ve got some intentions with respect to I think I chatted on the last episode of energy and how I’m going to take some small actions to reclaim my energy. Looking at balancing my hormones a little bit. I’ve already started tracking my protein and fiber. This was from an amazing interview we did late last year on Parachute with Venka Wong, who chatted to us about getting the food right for energy levels of perimenopause. So that’s something. I downloaded an app and I’ve been tracking that. And so we’ve got some, I think we’ve got some intentions. And I know you chatted about just enjoying exercise and running for the joy of it and moving your body for the joy of it. But equally, we’ve got some work stuff.

Kristen: But let’s get into the word because if you can’t get like, it is much harder to fail at a word of the year. It’s something that I think can guide you. And then when you’re feeling a bit stink, I think we can remind each other of our words of the year to kind of get back on track. And so that’s why we want to kind of unearth what might be our word of the year. But again, for those that want to go through a structured, reflective exercise to come up with the genuine word, join us next week.

Nat: Yeah, I, I’ve, I’m a convert on word of the year because when I first started looking into it a while ago, I was like, feels a bit woo woo and a bit eerie fairy. What’s a word? But the biggest light bulb for me is when you tie it to values. So what we’ve often see values as and what they should be used as as a guide. And so when you’re making big decisions, when you coming up against like, what should I do in this situation? Your values should help you make that decision. And it’s the same with the word. So I had a friend who last year word was yes, and I just thought that was so interesting. And what underlie underpinned that is things that made her feel nervous, things that fell out of her comfort zone, anything like that. That felt like a stretch. She wanted to default to yes. So that meant throughout the year, every time there was an opportunity that crossed your plate that she was like, oh, I don’t know, it feels uncomfortable. I haven’t done this before. She could go back to that word and go absolutely, I’m going to do it. However, if she said no, the odd time her word didn’t fail. Like it wasn’t like, Oh my goodness, now it’s all over. It’s just that it’s a constant little reminder. And it’s a gentle reminder in a, in a, in a really nice sort of almost like a lighthouse to kind of keep referring back to and going, am I living according to this word? And once I started to think about it like that, it’s become way more powerful in my life to think about how I’m going to use that word this year rather than, I don’t know, thinking of it as like a thing. I think we’ve all been so ingrained in a culture of all these values and missions and words written down on pieces of paper and sort of thrown away or put in a drawer, that I think this year my goal is this word is front and centre. And it’s something that really does guide how I act and think and behave during the year.

Kristen: Just a quick point, but one of my friends words last year was no. I thought it was quite funny when one of yours was yes. I was like, Oh well, one of mine was no. She was on the verge of burnout and she was giving too much. And even though she values generosity, she had to prioritize that. So her word was no, which I found funny. But what I like about the word just as you’re chatting was I was thinking it’s actually quite flexible and it can grow with you. So for example, let’s say I feel like a word in the past for me might have been bold. And I think that can mean so many things in different contexts, both personal and professional, but also can grow with you. So bold in the second quarter of the year or the fourth quarter of the year can mean something quite different than at the beginning. And so I think the fact that it can grow with you and be kind of expansive is really interesting to me. Have you been thinking about it at all like what’s on your mind for 2026? And if you’ve been circling a word that we can, I don’t know, bash around.

Nat: Literally this morning writing out newsletter and thinking about the fresh start effect and how So the concept of a fresh start effect doesn’t have to be a new year. It can be beginning of any time period or even like a birthday or anniversary or whatever. But I was thinking about what are the components that make a fresh start stick? And one of them is reflecting like really deep diving into the year that’s been or the time period that’s been. What states have you made? What lessons did you actually learn? What habits did you get into? What habits did you fall out to? All of that stuff? And then the other stuff we’re working on this year and, and you’ve already spoken about it a bit with power suitors is how do you set yourself up? How do you take all of that and then set yourself up with the word going forward and goals that are really actually achievable and the actions that you’ve identified be able to kick start them. So you’re not just like joining a gym and then never getting around to it. So for me, it’s actually been something that I’ve been percolating over the holidays a bit. Well, obviously not thinking about work other than that. So a couple of big themes. One is, and I’ll start with the word is patience. And we probably talked about this a bit at the end of last year, that neither of us is very patient and we’ve got a new business and I think we expected everything to happen at once. And what I’m learning is that you have to keep sowing seeds and then the exponential equation kicks in. You know, you get little seedlings and then it’s only in a couple of years time that you get these giant fruit trees. And I’m using fruit trees as an example because I planted 4 fruit trees, three fruit trees four years ago and there’s still little twigs in the ground. They make some progress and they go back. But in a traditional sense, that year one would have been maybe a few leaves. Year 2 they’ve grown a bit and it’s only like year 4 that you’d really get a crop from it. So for me, patience is, and I don’t think it’s quite the right word, but that sense of like planting and sowing and and building a foundation and recognizing that that’s the job at the moment.

Kristen: Feels like it’s a bit of both.

Nat: It is. Foundation is the outcome of it, of it. But you have to be, I suppose, embracing.

Kristen: What is it? Virtue is patience the virtue of patience throughout the foundation building.

Nat: Yeah. And I don’t know if it is quite that I want to be more patient because I don’t think patience is the right mode for me. But there’s something circling that area of almost like not trying to go for the short term dopamine hits and satisfaction and really thinking long term how to set something up really, really well and build great relationships and build that strong platform to to grow. So that’s one have you got, I’m going to list a couple. So do you have one that you are thinking?

Kristen: Well, no, the the last thing I wanted to say was patience is kind of interesting because it might not be an easy thing for you. And when I look at placing that word on me, I know that the two of us, we often cut each other off or cut other people off or we get excited or, and I just wonder, even patient, I’m trying to test the word in multiple contexts. And I’m like, that’s interesting. That wouldn’t be a bad thing anyway.

Kristen: Yeah, I was, I was trying. I’ve come up with a really strange word. And so I don’t know if it’s the right thing. And we’re we’re sense checking here, which is really helpful. And the word is true because I don’t like truth. I don’t like what truth has become, especially in politics and media and even it just hasn’t weird evangelical tone to it. So I don’t like this side concept of truth and having one truth, but I like the word of true. And if I think about what true means to me, it means a few things in a personal concept context. Like if I think about the the energy that I want to take back and that I want to get back into the ocean and I want to start eating food to fuel my body to do those things or and sleep. It’s it’s about being true to myself with the habits I have. Like that feels like more than like I should and a homework and getting in trouble. It’s like it’s is it time to be true to myself in that sense and like just don’t just just just let me dump and then you’ll be like that is not the right word. True to my relationships. I found myself to be overly peacekeeping and my boundaries weren’t strong enough in 2025 S me. That feels like true to airing my feelings and what’s important to me and putting up boundaries in my relationships and being true to those relationships. Which ones do I need? Which ones do I no longer need? So there’s something about true in that sense. And then there’s something about true in the business sense of like, I like you want to get the foundation right? I want to get product market fit and have, you know, scaling problems. And I want to have be true to the next steps and our mission. And like, I don’t know, there’s just a word there that also with like what we’re worth in the market, like I want to be true to our value and our pricing and like the amount of work we put in and what we should be getting out at this stage like that stuff I’m, I’m circling around true. Any thoughts? Any allergic reactions?

Nat: I was practicing patience. No, I wasn’t. I love that for you. I think there is. I mean, I love it for me too. I think the other thing that sprung to mind is the which I actually think we actually practice really well is the truth behind what’s happening. Like we’re not really glossy people. I was thinking that as I posted our first Instagram, which I filmed in about 30 seconds outside and was like, gosh, those wrinkles and I’m squinting and I’m like, this is what it is. This is where we are right now. And so I do like truth being something that you and I think it’s a philosophy behind power suit too, is it’s not like we’re not going to be your completely biased jump on board cheerleaders. You’re great. Everything else is terrible. We are. Let’s look at the truth behind the situation and you can contribute and where you can do things as well as what else might be happening to you. So I I really like it as a word.

Kristen: I feel like truth has a bit too evangelical though, which is why I kind of was true, but then that feels weird. So OK, so then that’s one. The other thing is like other words that I think circle in that arena are real, which I don’t know, it feels too what is it? It feels too transactional and authentic is so overused. I think it’s one of those values words that gets thrown around like be authentically you. And I’m like, it’s kind of done. Does it feel like it’s 2024 and then aligned feels too transactional and corporate and own feels too selfish. So yeah, I, I don’t know if it’s something to do with true or real, but that’s kind of where I’m going.

Nat: I love her and I and I think the purpose of this podcast isn’t necessarily to have our words at the end of it. It’s to start the conversation, which I think kind of goes to show we we’ve had some mini master classes recently on problem solving and how it actually is a multiple step, quite in depth process where often we just jump to the first thing. And I think you’re showcasing that through the word of the year too. Like sometimes the simplest thing, the smallest one word actually takes a lot of effort to figure out. So it can. So I think it’s OK to take a while, but I like what you’re circling. The other area that I’ve been pondering a little bit is almost actually we had a bunch of Gen. ZS over on Saturday and they talked about vibing a lot. And I was like vibing that’s so cool that you vibe, vibe. And it’s not that I want a vibe, but I think I’m trying to unlearn my old behavior, which was probably best described as intense. And I think we’ve talked about this before with our last business or as in front of our values as intensity. And I am trying to work in a more and operate in a less intense way. So like I enjoy now actually your husband drove past me yesterday. Was it, you say, the day before? And I was outside like cutting the edges of the lawns to make them straight. And then he jumps out of his car and pouring concrete in the driveway. He’s chopping down trees with me. And I was like, there’s something about this, like embracing rest and embracing different modes. Like not everything has to be done at 100% speed. And we’ve literally just had this is our first day back officially. Like we’ve recorded the odd podcast and answered the odd e-mail. But like 3 weeks without a laptop like this unheard of for me. And I deliberately had it hiding in a suitcase and didn’t want to turn it on. And so if I had to do something, I was trying to do it on my phone. So I just zeroed out on my laptop. And it’s just sort of made me think I would like to experiment with what we preach a lot more around, like really embracing rest, really embracing different modes of operating and seeing how that impacts performance. Because my hypothesis is it’s going to really boost it. But I’ve never really been one to go. I don’t know, like I, if I get a lot done, I just keep working. Whereas I think this year I’m kind of keen to go if I get a lot done and then the next day I’m feeling a bit low to just kind of relax a little bit more. And yeah, see how that goes. So I don’t know what the word is.

Kristen: Yeah, but. Well, can I introduce a maybe word for you to percolate on that? Because when I think about it, it’s like, because because I suspect we do. But I notice with you, you you’ve got real peak energy and then low times and peak energy. And I suspect I do too. By the way, I’m, I’m, you know, I’m, I’m not. I’m just saying that seasons. Yeah, OK, yes, that what if the word was steady and if you kept that word steady in mind, it’s like I have to go and it’s almost kind of similar to true. I have to align with my energy. I know this is a long and it also aligns with patients like I know this is a long game and the steady what is it the the tortoise like the steady and the shore is going up in just steady is not it.

Nat: Steady like Kyla is steady like Kyla is not a roller coaster. I actually like embracing the highs and lows like I but I think it’s like, I think the energy ones probably a better word of like go with where you’re at, not with like trying to create steadiness because I don’t know, maybe it just doesn’t really. I’m not like everything’s either 100 or 0 with me, but I am going to try and do a little bit more 75, OK?

Kristen: OK. OK. I got you. I got you. OK, sounds great.

Nat: Any other last words from you as we wrap?

Kristen: I don’t, I don’t actually have. I think I’m really circling that true space and you know something will come. But any any last words for you?

Nat: No, I, I think even just having it because I haven’t thought about it before having this conversation, which is why I think of people are interested, they should join power suit and do it properly. But I think those, my patience and whatever this other word is, actually kind of merge together because it’s about going with your energy to build a more sustainable, longer term outcome. And so it does mean being patient. It does mean going with your energy. Something, something, something come up with a word. I will hopefully report back next week.

Kristen: Yeah. Great, great. I’m going to report back next week. Please bring our words and see.

Nat: We will and and I’ve been doing a lot of welcome calls these days and noticing people go, I’m a long time podcast listener, first time. What do they say? Long time listener, first time caller. I had that quite a few times over the break and just before Christmas. And so there will be people listening wondering why they should join. And I just want to say, going from this episode to action next week, an example of how the next week will roll is that you’ll come in. We’ll do a short overview of the topic. This one happens to be the reflection exercise of the word of the year. We’re going to walk you through. We’re going to give you plenty pauses. You can work individually. That’s how we roll with our mini master classes. And then so you’ll have time to reflect and just get it done in that session, not listen to something and get on and forget. And so you’ll have that we will offer a CHEAT SHEET up so that you can do it very easily. And then there’s an option at the end where you can pop into breakouts because there is a thing of accountability, we know, if you share your word. And inspiration, inspiration from other people. Like I think this is a prime example. We built on each other’s and pulled from each other’s and I think that’s a huge benefit.

Kristen: That’s right. So you can join the breakout rooms. And that is the difference between just, you know, listening to our our lovely voices right now and actually joining Power Suit and giving it a go. So if we see you join in the next week, we’ll make sure that we get you into the platform and into that event really quickly and then give you a proper welcome. So join us if you have any questions. Hello at powersuit.com, we can answer any membership questions. But yeah, Happy New Year, everyone. So.

Nat: I, I just want to clarify there because I do know, like I just got, what was it that I got asked to saw it was a LinkedIn pro. It’s like one month free. And I was like, oh God, I know they’re going to charge my credit card and it’s getting a real theft to get out of it. And so for anyone who’s thinking that about power suit, we have a very easy cancellation policy. Like you can try us for a month. We have monthly memberships. And if at the end of that month you’re like, just e-mail us and we’ll stop your next payment before it comes through. And that’s it. There’s no weird deceitful process or anything. So you actually can just invest in one month and get up and running for the year if you want to. We’re pretty sure that you’ll find enough value in there that you’ll be like, actually this is worth my $49.00 a month because I’m actually getting a huge amount more benefit than that. But you know, up to you.

Kristen: Yeah, I was just thinking like it’s twice the value of a Netflix because I’m that feels a bit twice of what a Netflix subscription is. But this is like career advancement that is like tangible outcomes with performance, with personal brand, with connections, with salary, with all of that stuff. And then actually as.

Nat: I and stress and stress like $49.00 to reduce your stress and like perform it. I think it’s great.

Kristen: Yeah, OK. Thanks everyone. Check out powersuit.com, e-mail us if you have a membership questions and we will catch you next time.