Cultivators,

It's January again, and I'm sitting with my journal the way I've done every year since 2011. There's hot cocoa going cold beside me. Outside, the world is already spinning up its machinery of productivity and promise. Inside, I'm doing something quieter.

Once again…

I'm choosing three words to guide me intentionally thru the next year.

If you're new here, my name is George Torres. I work with visionaries, innovators, and cultural entrepreneurs—people who know they have something meaningful to say but need clarity around what to focus on, what to protect, and how to grow without burning out. What I'm about to share isn't advice I'm giving you. It's the practice that's kept me grounded for over a decade, through everything that's tried to knock me sideways.

Back in 2011, I stumbled across a blog post by Chris Brogan. He'd given up on New Year's resolutions entirely. Instead, he was choosing three words to guide how he moved through the year—not what he wanted to achieve, but how he wanted to show up.

The way he framed it provoked a big “aha” moment for me.

I stopped asking myself what I wanted to accomplish and started asking how I wanted to live. By 2014, I was writing about this practice publicly. A few years later, it became a workshop, then a workbook, then a shared language inside my community. Through the pandemic, through a devastating hack that took down years of work, through career pivots and personal reckoning I never saw coming—this practice stayed with me.

It became the one thing I could count on when everything else was shifting.

Before I could choose my words for 2026, though, I needed to look back at what 2025 had actually asked of me.

Even though I share my Three Words each year just before the new year, this practice isn’t tied to January 1st. You don’t need a fresh calendar or a perfect reset to begin. If your resolutions didn’t work out, that doesn’t mean you failed—it means the structure didn’t support you. You can choose your Three Words today, right where you are. Mid-year, mid-week, mid-mess. This isn’t about starting over. It’s about starting from truth

Last year, my words were Create, Curate, Connect.

2025 wasn't loud. It didn't announce itself. It was foundational in the way that laying a floor is foundational—necessary, unglamorous, essential.

Creation in 2025 wasn't about volume or visibility. It was about reclaiming authorship over my own work. I created clearer frameworks. I laid the groundwork for a new digital workbook “Reclaiming Creativity After Burnout” I reimagined Siembra Connect as this newsletter with the intention of going deep instead of wide.. I stopped creating to prove anything to anyone. I started creating to once again build something that could last.

Curation quietly changed everything. I began asking different questions: What actually deserves my energy? Who no longer gets access to me? Which ideas move forward, and which stay on the shelf? Curation taught me that leadership isn't about accumulation. It's about discernment. It's about knowing what to say no to so you can protect what matters.

Connection returned gently, without fanfare. Not networking. Not transactions. Just proximity to people who inspire me. Old relationships resurfaced. New ones formed slowly, carefully. The work started to feel human again. That mattered more than any metric I could measure.

As I looked ahead to 2026, I realized something. The season I'm entering isn't about launching more projects or chasing new opportunities. It's about carrying forward what already exists.

Then I noticed something else, something almost obvious in retrospect. My words this year mirror a previous years words that would eventually become my foundational framework that I teach…Audit, Align, Amplify. It seems I was already shaping how I was thinking about the year ahead. So instead of forcing different words, I let that framework guide me.

ACCOUNTABILITY (Audit)

This word starts with truth. Accountability means being honest about what I say yes to, owning where my energy actually goes, and following through on what carries my name.

In 2026, accountability isn't about pressure or perfectionism. It's about integrity.

If something is on my calendar, it deserves my full presence. If something lives in my body…tension, grief, joy, it deserves care. If something bears my voice, it deserves intention behind it. This is the audit phase: clear, grounded, uncompromising. It's me looking at what is, not what I wish it was.

BALANCE (Align)

Balance is alignment made visible. It's what happens when your choices actually match your values.

It asks uncomfortable questions: Does my pace match what I say I believe? Does my work support my nervous system, or is it slowly eroding it? Does my ambition leave room for the life I want to live?

Balance isn't about doing less. It's about doing what fits. In 2026, that means designing rhythms that don't require constant recovery afterward. It means building boundaries without apology. It means choosing sustainability over the adrenaline rush of urgency. This is where alignment stops being an idea I talk about and becomes something I actually embody.

CONTINUITY (Amplify)

This word is about my long term goals, it’s all about legacy.

Amplify doesn't always mean louder. Sometimes it means longer. Continuity asks: Can this carry forward without me having to start over? Does this connect to what came before? Can trust compound here over time?

In 2026, I'm amplifying through repetition, consistency, and care…not chasing momentum, but building it deliberately. This is how work becomes legacy. This is how presence becomes impact.

Together, Accountability, Balance, and Continuity form a quieter way of leading.

Accountability asks me to tell the truth. Balance asks me to protect my energy. Continuity asks me to stay in relationship with the work, even when it's easier to chase something new and shiny.

No urgency without intention. No growth without grounding. No success without care.

If you've been feeling pulled in too many directions, disconnected from your work, or unsure what the "next level" even looks like anymore—this practice might help. Not to fix everything overnight, but to give you a compass when the path ahead isn't clear.

The My Three Words Digital Workbook is a simple but powerful way to reset your focus when goals feel overwhelming and resolutions fall apart.

Instead of pushing you to chase outcomes or follow someone else’s version of success, this workbook helps you slow down and choose three words that guide how you want to live, create, and make decisions—starting right where you are.

Through thoughtful prompts and real reflection, you’ll audit what’s working, align with what matters most, and move forward with clarity and intention. No pressure. No perfection. Just direction.

You don’t need a new year to begin.
You just need three words that tell the truth.

If you’re craving focus, balance, and a way forward that actually fits your life, this workbook was made for you.

For now, I'll leave you with this question:

What would change if your next year was guided by care instead of urgency?

That's where your words live.

Seguimos…

❤️, George