written by Erica Quam

Have you ever chosen a word-of-the-year instead of setting a bunch of new years resolutions?

History of this tradition

I started an annual tradition of choosing a word of the year back in 2006 after reading about it in a newsletter I got from a folk singer named Christine Kane from Asheville, North Carolina. Christine became a business coach. She helped Kerry and I bring our vision of Prime Sports Institute to life!

I've been leading coaches, athletes and teams through this powerful practice ever since!

When I coached at Washington State University, we had a diverse team of swimmers from all over the world.

To me, New Year's Day was significant! We were always somewhere together on a winter training camp. The team was working hard - finishing the hardest phase of their training cycle before championship season. I enjoyed learning about the way different cultures celebrated new years, counting down to midnight across different timezones and learning how to say "Happy New Year" in different languages).

Winter break wasn't the time for me to talk about serious 'goals' - like new year's resolutions. So, I introduced the team to my tradition of choosing a word of the year....and I’ve been doing it ever since. Everyone took time to decorate and then share their word and what it will mean to them in the year ahead.

The power of one word

Setting a new year's resolution isn't wrong. It's just that I've never experienced any lasting results from the resolutions I set.

There's a lot of pressure to DO all these things at the beginning of the year. And it's easy to miss a day and get off track. It's also easy to judge yourself because you didn't do what you said you were going to do (again!).

The word-of-the-year practice allows you to shift the focus towards who you want to BE and how you want to feel. To me, that's been a game-changer!

Free New Year’s Reset

Join Erica for a free virtual New Year's Reset. (This is an annual event. Please sign up for our newsletter to get details each year!)

During this session you'll have an opportunity:

• for some guided reflection on the past year

• to set an intentions and decide your priorities

• to choose a Word-of-the-Year for upcoming year

• to explore ways you can make this practice more powerful

This workshop is FREE and open to anyone.