If I was to try to summarise all of my leadership teachings down into one word, the word would be “Intentional“.

I teach leaders to be intentional:

• to get crystal clear on who they are,
• where they are going,
• with whom
• and why.

In communications I teach leaders to clarify their “Point X” – a visibly clear outcome from each interaction.

How can you become Intentional? Write some goals down, and review them on some consistent regular timescale. It could be weekly, it could be daily… but the important part of goals is keeping reminders of them in front of you on a regular basis. The new year is a moment where many people feel that it is a time to set some goals. I’m sharing mine (and a little about my process) here…

My 3-Word Intention for 2026

Each year, I choose three words to guide my actions and decisions. This habit was first initiated by an idea in a Chris Brogan blog post over a decade ago (his blog, sadly, seems to have disappeared but here is a video of Chris sharing his 3 words for 2025).

This year, my words are Gratitude, Celebration, Book. They reflect my overall intention for the year:

• Gratitude – in Vistage one of the lessons we teach is “we have never found a truly joyful person that doesn’t have an active gratitude process”. I will return to maintain a daily gratitude journaling habit.
• Celebration – take the time to celebrate little and large successes. I’m from a culture that as soon as I achieve something, I’m immediately moving on to the next project. I want to take time to savour life.
• Book – Love the Problem. I’ve been writing blog posts, articles, notes for years. I have written 5 book-length texts, but I’ve never fully committed to actually publishing one. I don’t want to write a “dummies guide to leadership” or “dummies guide to communications”. I’ve been using all sorts of “valid” excuses to avoid the hard work of actually completing and publishing a book.

Have you set your intention for the year?

If not, why not try this simple exercise? Express your intention for the coming year in no more than 3 words. I’m a big fan of simplicity and being concise. I often use the tool of getting people to express their ideas first in a single word, and then expand on that word. The effort to clarify and identify which single word captures a whole idea is important effort. I believe that most of us do not lack motivation, but we lack clarity. We lack clarity about what is most important. We lack clarity about who we wish to become. We lack clarity about who is important to us. I’d welcome you to share your 3 words in the comments, but the important thing is to have them clear and visible for yourself.

A history of my 3 word intentions…

• 2026 – Gratitude, Celebration, Book
• 2025 – Results, Data!, Nike
• 2024 – Duck, Systems, Clarity (“be a duck” is a coaching metaphor… for not taking things too personally and let things go as soon as you finish the conversation)
• 2023 – Revenue Generating Activity
• 2022 – 10, 100, 1000 (run 10 retreats, grow to 100 Vistage members, 1000kms run)
• 2021 – Focus, Finance, Family & Friends
• 2020 – Generous, Present, Important
• 2019 – Vistage, Fit & Healthy
• 2018 – Grow Vistage
• 2017 – Unconditional Peace of Mind
• 2016 – Connect, Create, Complete
• 2015 – Connect to Kings
• 2014 – Teach International

Reviewing the past

A 3 page pdf tool for reflecting on 2025 and preparing for 2026 is available here on my blog: https://conorneill.com/2021/01/01/reflect-on-the-past-clarify-the-future/

if you liked this post you will also like Setting Goals for 2017 and Set Goals of Character and Ability, not of Achievement and Status.