2024: The Year of Momentum

It’s that time of year, the One Word Challenge.

I do love the One Word Challenge for the simplicity it brings in focussing my intentionality for the year, as well as the way it seems to guide the directionality of my life. When I wrote about Create, our school culture and direction took shape, when I chose Change, I ended up with a new job in another country and when I picked Forward, I found myself off work and traveling around the world for a year.

This year my word is Momentum.

As my year of Thriving came to an end, I found I had begun to build Momentum in many areas. A New Year sometimes feels like a time to redefine a direction or intention, but for me 2024 is one of moving forward and stoking the fires of potential in everything that has been created to this point.

Personally this looks like:

Continued participation in Orange Theory workouts. If you don’t know Orange Theory, these are some of the best one hour workouts and I highly recommend them if you have a fitness goal for the new year.

Cultivating community and creating opportunities for gatherings. As 2023 came to an end I reflected on those who have impacted who I am today and my gratitude for those connections. The importance of my community found its way to the forefront of my mind in 2023 and I intend to be purposeful in valuing my relationships.

The rituals of life as a family. We spent a year together, 24/7 for most of it, and in some tight spaces. We were a very connected family before the year off, but we now have life experiences and stories we never could have had without the “freedom” that our year allowed. We created some important rituals that won’t be lost in the busy-ness of life.

Professionally this looks like:

Continuing to foster the excellent work around our Pillars of Learning/The Nishimachi Way – Inquiry Learning, Personalized Approach, and Community-Orientated. Momentum was created out of our work with Trevor MacKenzie in the fall, and that will continue throughout the year. Building on that experience, I am excited that we will be bringing Trevor and Kath Murdoch together to work at our school and the wider Tokyo learning community in November 2024.

Returning to my doctorate. In early 2023 I paused my program. I was finding no joy in it, I wasn’t invested in my area of focus and I saw no value in going through the motions when I wasn’t feeling connected to it. That turned out to be the best decision I could have made. Rather than go through the motions in 2023, I return in January 2024 with a new focus and commitment to an area I am keen to dive into and learn more about.

Saying yes to opportunity, and building on everything I have experienced and learned as an educator and school leader who has always demonstrated the importance of “rethinking education”.

Time to embrace the Momentum and see what 2024 brings.

Are you going to participate in the One Word Challenge? If so, I’d love to hear what word will guide you in 2024.

Photo Credit: Pok Rie: https://www.pexels.com/photo/faceless-surfer-riding-waves-in-ocean-5696889/