Last year, I started following in Chris Brogan’s footsteps by doing a blog post called “3 words.” (Here’s this year’s post by Chris.)

Here’s a few others to check out:

• Mitch Joel
• Christopher Penn
• C.C. Chapman
• Cecily Kellogg
• Gloria Bell

Now that you get the concept, here are my 3 words for 2014, but first…

My 3 words from 2013

My 3 words last year were: Hungry, Focused, Breakout. I think I managed to live each of these three themes successfully in 2013.

I played 2013 with a ferocious hunger to win and extreme focus (enabled by technology, medication, and intense commitment).

Breakout wound up taking on a slightly different form than I anticipated. The biggest reason is that even though I worked at it all year, I think the actual breaking out, happened in the last 2 months of the year.

My 3 words for 2014

My 3 words for 2014, much like last year, could be words for life, not just a single year. But to be words for life, the words first need to be the theme for a year (because there’s no way I’m going to stop being hungry, focused and aspiring to break out).

Balance

Last year, I took my first vacation in 4 years. It was significant.

• I remembered why I work so hard in the first place.
• I was reminded that life is about more than work.
• I was haunted by the impact that my workaholism may have had on my marriage.
• I was shaken by how little quality time I’d actually spent with my mom, my dad and step-mom, and my dog.