For nearly a decade, I've used one word to guide my year. Not as a resolution. As a practice.

And it's changed how I make decisions, navigate transitions, and design a life that actually fits.

Most "word of the year" practices are aspirational—you pick a word that sounds good, make it your screensaver, and hope it sticks. But by March, you've forgotten about it because it never meant anything real in the first place.

This practice is different. It's evidence-based, not aspirational. You're not picking a word you wish you were. You're naming what's already in motion.

In this episode, I walk through:

• Why most word-of-the-year practices don't work
• How to find a word that's actually yours (built from evidence, not expectation)
• The ART method: Assemble evidence, Refine the pattern, Try it out
• How this practice has helped me navigate reinvention after reinvention

If you want to do this practice yourself, I created a free guide: Go to davidpeck.co/yourword and you'll get:

• A beautifully designed 11-page guide that walks you through the ART method
• A 7-day email series teaching you how to use it
• Monthly check-ins for a year to help you live with your word

This is for you if you're navigating a transition, tired of following frameworks that don't fit, or ready to design a year around who you actually are.

Links:

• Get the free guide: davidpeck.co/yourword
• Watch on YouTube
• Follow on Instagram: @itsdavidpeck
• More episodes: davidpeck.co/podcast

Chapters

0:00 - Intro: The one thing that's kept me grounded through every reinvention

0:45 - Why most word-of-the-year practices don't work

2:15 - What makes this practice different (evidence vs. aspiration)

3:30 - How to get started: The free guide

4:15 - The ART framework: Assemble, Refine, Try

5:15 - What you get: 7-day series + monthly check-ins for a year

6:30 - Who this is for + final call to action

This week, I'm thinking about three things that all have something in common: rewriting the script. Sometimes it's a script someone else wrote for you, sometimes it's your own script that you decide to change, and sometimes it's a narrative we've been telling wrong as a nation for over 70 years.

I talk about Taylor Swift's unexpected "Opalite" video and how she's reclaiming England by filming there and casting directly from the Graham Norton show couch. I explore what it means for Winter Olympics athletes to represent America when the country feels so divided. And I discuss Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance almost entirely in Spanish (with notable exceptions like Lady Gaga's solo, "God Bless America," and the powerful line "the only way to combat hate is with love") and how it forces us to confront that Puerto Rico IS America - something the characters in West Side Story were grappling with 70 years ago that we're still grappling with today.

This is about identity, representation, and who gets to tell the story.

0:00 - Introduction: Rewriting the Script The hook - three pop culture things connected by rewriting the script

0:29 - Taylor Swift's "Opalite" Music Video The unexpected release, Graham Norton casting, filming in England, reclaiming her narrative, visibility vs. community

3:49 - Winter Olympics: Representing a Divided Country Personal connection to individual sports, athletes navigating what it means to represent America, competing with integrity despite conflict

7:38 - Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show Performing in Spanish, Puerto Rico IS America, West Side Story's narrative 70 years later, rewriting what "American" looks like

9:33 - Closing Thoughts Connecting all three - expectations being flipped, rewriting narratives

CONNECT WITH ME:

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Instagram and YouTube: @itsdavidpeck

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This week I'm thinking about three things in pop culture that have an unexpected through-line: Catherine O'Hara's comedy, a new book about mattering, and the Roseberry siblings' creative partnership.

What connects them is the difference between performance and being performative. When art comes from genuine care and alignment—not external validation—that's when it sticks with us. That's when we feel truth.

I talk about Catherine O'Hara's uniquely empathetic approach to comedy (from Waiting for Guffman to Moira Rose), Jennifer Breheny Wallace's book "Mattering" and what happens when our intrinsic and extrinsic values are misaligned, and why Daniel Roseberry's Schiaparelli and his sister Liz's jewelry work have reignited something for me after years of feeling uninspired by fashion.

This is what's getting me through the week.

00:00 The Impact of Catherine O'Hara's Comedy
03:14 The Search for Meaning and Connection
05:25 The Joy of Authenticity in Art and Fashion

This week felt especially heavy.

In this Voice Notes mini-episode, I'm sharing a few reflections and pieces of pop culture that helped me stay present and grounded—not to escape what's happening, but to remember why art and thoughtful platforms still matter.

I talk about Michelle Obama on Call Her Daddy, what it means to use influence with intention, and why even familiar comfort shows like Emily in Paris don't always land the same way depending on the moment.

These Voice Notes are informal, short reflections—shared when something feels worth the pause.

Last year, my Word of the Year episode was my most-listened-to show, bar none. So we're doing it again for 2026—but this time, I'm pulling back the curtain on how I actually choose that one word and use it to design my year on purpose.

I've never really connected with New Year's resolutions. They've always felt like a chore list wrapped in good intentions. Instead, for almost a decade, I've picked a single Word of the Year to act as a design principle for my life and work: Abundance, Expansion, Possibility, Consistency, Effortless, Determined… and now, Amplify.

In this episode, I walk you through the simple method I use to get there—something I now call ART: Assemble, Refine, Try:

• Assemble the words, ideas, and themes that keep circling my life,

• Refine them down to the ones that actually feel like mine

• Try them on with my future self before I commit.

I share how last year's word, Determined, showed up in some very real ways, how these words stack and evolve over time, and why Amplify is the word I chose to guide 2026—not as an excuse to do more for the sake of it, but as an invitation to turn up the volume on what's already working and aligned.

If you're over resolutions but still want your year to feel intentional, this one's for you.

• 00:00 – Resolutions Were Never My Thing

• 01:42 – Discovering Word of the Year

• 02:29 – A Decade of Words & Why They Matter

• 03:01 – The ART Method: Assemble, Refine, Try

• 05:22 – Using AI as a Mirror

• 09:07 – Past Words: Abundance to Effortless to Determined

• 12:34 – Determined, the Book, and Big Dreams

• 15:49 – My Word for 2026: Amplify

• 18:23 – Your Turn: Choose Your Word

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

What do Houston's most legendary art patrons and fashion's most famous ponytail have in common? In this episode, Paris-based journalist and biographer William Middleton—author of Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil and Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld—joins me to connect the dots between the Menils' quiet power in Houston and Karl's global influence at Chanel, Fendi, and beyond. We talk about fashion, money, art, and how he's designed a life between Kansas, New York, Houston, and Paris.

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

• Follow William @wfmiddletonauthor

Let's be honest: Glinda's bubble was cute until it wasn't. And "good" was working for her… until it really, really wasn't.

In this episode, I break down Wicked: For Good the same way Glinda breaks down emotionally in Act II: publicly, dramatically, and with a surprising amount of self-awareness. We talk about why Elphaba shows up morally certain while Glinda shows up morally… adjacent. We also unpack how "Wonderful" is basically the Wizard's propaganda TED Talk, why mirrors are everywhere in this movie, and how "Girl in the Bubble" reframes Glinda's entire character through complicity and awakening.

I also get into Elphaba's new song "There's No Place Like Home," how it quietly echoes The Wiz and the Black experience of Oz, and why that matters for her story as the ultimate outsider.

If you've ever performed "goodness," got the dream job/partner/life, and then thought, "Oh. This still didn't fix me," congratulations—you're Glinda. And this episode is for you.

Connect & Subscribe

• • Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

  • Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

  • Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram