45. Find Your Word: The Practice That's Kept Me Grounded Through Every Reinvention

Solo Episode

Mar 5

For nearly a decade, I've used one word to guide my year. Not as a resolution—as a practice. In this episode, I break down the ART method and introduce a new tool to help you find your word.

I've reinvented myself more times than I can count: music major to Paris fashion student to Houston entrepreneur to faith deconstructor to whatever I'm doing right now. And one thing has kept me grounded through the whole process: one word.

Most "word of the year" practices are aspirational—you pick a word that sounds good (balance, growth, brave), and by March, you've forgotten about it. That's not what this is.

This practice is different. It's evidence-based. You're not picking a word you wish you were. You're naming what's already in motion—the patterns showing up in your life, the feedback you keep hearing, the themes on repeat.

In this episode, I walk you through the simple method I use, which I call ART: Assemble, Refine, Try. I share how I:

Assemble the words, ideas, and themes that keep showing up,
Refine by cutting the "other people's words" that don't actually belong to me, and
Try on my top contenders with my future self before I commit.

I also talk about why this practice doesn't have to start in January—it's a tool you can use any time to design a life you love.

And for the first time, I've turned this practice into something you can use: a free guide called "Your Word, Your Practice" that walks you through the whole process, complete with a 7-day email series and monthly check-ins for a year.

If you're navigating a transition, tired of following frameworks that don't fit, or ready to design a year around who you actually are—this one's for you.

Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform.

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“You’re not picking a word you wish you were. You’re naming what’s already in motion”

— David Peck

In This Episode, You'll Learn

Why most "word of the year" practices fail by March—and how to make yours stick.
The ART method—Assemble, Refine, Try—a simple framework for choosing a word that actually changes how you live.
How to build your word from evidence instead of aspiration.
Why this practice doesn't have to start in January—you can use it any time to design a life you love.
How to get the free guide that walks you through the entire process, plus monthly check-ins for a year.

Transcript

I've reinvented myself more times than I can count from music major to Paris fashion student to Houston entrepreneur, faith deconstructor to whatever it is I'm doing right now. And one thing has kept me grounded through the whole process and it's really simple. It involves one word. Today I'm going to tell you about a practice I've been doing for nearly a decade at this point, why it works and how you can start doing it yourself like today.
So if you've been around here for any length of time, you may have heard my Word of the Year podcasts and or seen my posts on social media about my Word of the Year. And it's a practice I've been doing really for almost 10 years now and I've loved doing it. But what I've realized about that is that it doesn't have to be a New Year's resolution. It doesn't have to be something that only starts your year. It's really something, it's a tool that you can use any time to design a life that you love. And a lot of times when people are thinking about a word of the year or maybe even if they're thinking about a word to guide their life, it's very aspirational. What is this thing that I'm trying to do or trying to accomplish? And it becomes a little bit abstract and not grounded in who we are in the present moment. And we often pick a word that sounds good, like balance or growth or brave. And not that those are bad words, but I think that we can dig a little deeper and we can actually find a word that is our guiding light and like the framework for how we want to design and live our life going forward. And most of the time, you're getting to March like we are now, and you've forgotten what that word is and what it meant. It's interesting. I've had these conversations every year for the past four years now with my CEO squad, this group of people that we meet twice in person and every other week on Zoom. And a lot of times, people forget what they're, they're like, what was my word? And often we have to remind each other what that word was. And so I don't want this to be that for you.
Because it's not a one and done thing. It's not like we're gonna pick this word and we're gonna forget about it. We're gonna actually incorporate this word into our life. So the big difference, I believe, is when you build a word from evidence of things that are showing up in your life already. And it helps you to say yes to what fits and no to what doesn't fit. Not just having a resolution, it's developing a practice and you're not trying to become something. You're noticing what's already true, what's already kind of deep within you and kind of resonating already and amplifying that within yourself.
So how are we gonna get started doing this? We're gonna make this super easy and actionable and I've spent years doing this. I've done this so many times that I've developed a system and I finally have turned it into a guide. I've worked really, really hard on this and I'm actually going through what I created myself to see if it actually works and resonates and I'm happy to report that I'm pleased with my own work. It's called Your Word, Your Practice and it will walk you through exactly this method that I'm describing right now. And it takes only about 20 minutes to get through the initial workbook. And then by the end, you're gonna have your word. There will be a link or you can go to my website. It's easily found on the homepage or you can go to davidpeck.co/yourword and you can find it. You just sign up there. And as soon as you sign up, it will give you a download of this 11 page PDF that I have created.
And then you're gonna get a seven day email sequence. So every day I'm going to walk you through step by step how to find your word and why it matters and how to really whittle it down and make sure that you have selected exactly the right word for you. I use this my art framework, which is really simple. It's a three step process, assemble, refine, try. This is something that I go back over and over again. I gather all the evidence, I edit it all down, and then I test it out to see if it works.
And then in addition to the seven day email sequence, you're gonna then get monthly email check-in to see how are you doing. I'm going to ask you specific questions about how is the word showing up in your life. There's also going to be quarterly check-ins and you're going to be able to reflect on this word. So that's how we're not going to forget what we chose. It's going to become a practice that we're sort of incorporating into our whole year and going to design a life that we love because who doesn't want to do that?
So if you're especially navigating a transition, I mean, we kind of all are at this point, like the world is in chaos, who isn't in transition? So what you're gonna do is you're just gonna go to davidpeck.co/yourword, or just go to my website and you'll find it or the link below, you're gonna sign up and you're going to get this PDF. And I've spent so much time on it, I'm really proud of it. I think it's really beautiful. I think you're gonna use it. It's really practical and actionable. I break it down and in the emails that you get, I tell stories about how these words and the words that I've chosen over the past several years have shown up. And it, I think will give you a really great way to frame this for yourself. And when you've done this, I would love to hear from you. I'd love to know how this is working for you and did it make a difference, especially at the end of the year. If you've gone through this and you've really actively dedicate yourself to designing a life you love with this one simple word, I can't wait to hear what you've done with it. So for now, your only action is to go to davidpeck.co/yourword and sign up. And I am so excited. Please let me know what you think and we'll talk soon.

Know someone who's navigating a transition and could use a grounding practice? Send them this GUIDE.

Key takeaways

Most word-of-the-year practices fail because they're aspirational, not evidence-based.
The ART method (Assemble, Refine, Try) gives you a simple framework for choosing a word that actually changes how you live.
This isn't a New Year's resolution—it's a practice you can start any time.
Building your word from evidence (patterns, feedback, themes) makes it stick.
Monthly check-ins keep you accountable and help you notice how your word shows up.