2024 word of the year is...

Curious. I love choosing a new word each year - it is something I started nearly a decade ago and it has given me an anchor to how I prioritize my focus and my energy each year. It also allows me the opportunity to manifest what I want to achieve that year, even when I do not know exactly how the word will show up throughout the year.

When I was reflecting on my choice for 2024, I thought a lot about what I am challenged with, what I want to achieve, where I want to have more time/energy/focus/commitment and also what inspires me. As someone who has defined herself as a constant learner, being curious is something that I have done throughout my life and yet, as my career roles have evolved, and my life has established greater stability in some ways (and maybe more chaos in others!), I found myself getting less curious. In some ways, it was because I was so focused on actions that I forgot to lean into curiosity and in other ways, it was because it felt easier. Choosing curious as my word is an opportunity to anchor myself to what both fuels me (learning and discovering) and what I know creates better outcomes, even if it feels harder in the moment.

Looking forward, I see curious showing up in a few different ways for me this year:

• Prioritizing time for thinking and creating
• Listening with curiosity
• Asking better questions
• Willingness to trying new ideas
• Openness to learning and discovering more about concepts I don’t know enough about, like AI
• Finding new to me places to hike, walk, bike, eat and explore in Charlotte

I have no doubt that curious will show up in 2024 in unexpected ways and I am excited to discover how my word will impact me! If you chose a word for 2024, I would love to hear what you chose too.