It is that time of year where many of us have a chance to reflect on the year we have just gone through: good or bad. With this reflection, often comes new goals or ambitions for the new year. In general, I often hear these referred to as New Year’s Resolutions. 

I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions. I find they are often unsustainable and don’t come with a concrete plan to make them attainable. To make a goal, ambition or resolution stick, I believe they need a clear purpose/motivation and a plan. Today, I want to focus on the purpose/motivation part.

Back in 2018, I was introduced to the concept of defining my own Word of the Year. This word would act as my theme for the year, a way to frame it in my mind. I have continued with this each year since 2018 both because it is an enjoyable exercise and helps me to think about the big picture in my life. It has also helped to guide my purpose and motivation for specific goals I set in that year. 

I believe that defining a word for the year makes it easier to adapt to various obstacles and changes that unexpectedly come throughout the year, as they inevitably do. In 2020, my word for the year was Develop. No part of me could have predicted how 2020 would unfold when I set my word in January; however, in reflection my word was probably one of the most accurate as I ended up developing the initial prototype for One Iota Golf that summer while isolating at home. Despite many of my specific goals being upended, I was able to stay committed to my theme for the year.

While I personally think about my word of the year as being generic for my life and incorporating golf into that, you are welcome to select a word that is specific to your upcoming year in golf only. At One Iota, we believe that performing at your best involves a holistic perspective that includes all aspects of your life. With that in mind, looking ahead to 2025 I have chosen the word: Evolve.

For me this word aligns very well with how I intend to grow over the year. Within golf, I am no longer playing college golf and need to evolve my training practices to be able to sustain a high level of performance with the time and effort I am willing to put in. At work, I want to evolve my technical skills into more advanced technologies allowing me to solve more challenging problems. I also intend to evolve my thinking around rest and balance in order to allocate my time in ways that better aligns with the priorities/goals I have in my life and spend time with the people I most enjoy being around. 

In many ways, I am choosing to evolve in 2025 to be able to accomplish ambitious goals I have set for myself and do so in a sustainable way that I can repeat for many years to come, both in golf and outside of golf. 

I encourage you to think about what you want 2025 to look like for you and choose a word that best aligns with that. In an upcoming blog post, we will discuss how to define specific goals and create a plan to accomplish them for the year ahead. Having a theme defined for the year will only make this exercise easier.