As I was walking my dogs this morning I was contemplating the new year and the notion of New Year’s resolutions. I usually don’t “do” resolutions… having experienced too many years of not quite achieving my goal. But it occurred to me that I might like to try a “word” for 2008. I’ve heard that one of the tricks for achieving your resolution is to have just one. After thinking a bit longer, I decided that my word would be “courage.” At the end of each year, I feel like I could have achieved more if I’d had more courage–less fear of failing or of appearing foolish in the eyes of my peers.

A bit further along the dog walk, it occurred to me that other people might do New Year’s “words” (or “phrases”) too. Wouldn’t it be interesting to share ideas for implementing our “words?” People would commit to sharing their successful “word” experience at least once each week and hopefully more often. As they say in Appreciative Inquiry, the thing you focus on is the thing that grows. It’s true.

The FutureStory 2008 group would share ideas and stories … and, in fact, by collecting insights, achievements and surprises that unfold while focusing on our word/phrase over the next year, each of us could compile an anthology of stories relating to our “word of the year.” Our “word” would become a part of our lives in a way that it might not without such focus.

So … are you interested in choosing a “word” (or a phrase) and through mutual support and focused attention, making it one of your strengths by the end of 2008? If you’re interested in participating, email me at shelley[at]shourstonandassociates.com and I’ll send you instructions for signing up. I’ll set up an online community to facilitate discussion among people with the same “word” as well as the group at large. I’m also thinking that it would be interesting to have “success mentors”–people who have achieved success in some area of their life–to join us periodically to share their secrets for achieving their goals.

The cost? It’s free! [And it's an experiment.]

Let me know soon as I will probably have to close the group at a certain size. And please forward this invitation to people you think would be interested. I’m looking forward to hearing about how your New Year’s “word” appears in your daily life once you (and your FutureStory team) focus on it.

Happy New Year!

One of my favourite explanations of AI is from the book, Locating the Energy for Change: An Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry by Charles Elliott (Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1999). In the book’s introduction, we read two true stories about a couple of troubled young boys which offer a wonderful example of the power of a strengths-based approach. In the first story we hear about Rosemary Willson and her 11-year-old son, Joel in New York. In the second story, we hear about a young man growing up in a Lakota village in New Mexico. Read on …