Announcing My 2025 Goals

I love New Year’s Resolutions, fresh starts, resets, lists, and especially To-Do Lists. I like writing things down (or Blogging about them, same dif’) because it helps me remember. Readers know I use Cal Newport’s Time-Block Planning each day, giving each minute of each day a task and activity. I plan weekends with a list chores, tasks, and To-Do’s to maximize my weekend.  I find weekends are more fulfilling when I get to Sunday night and can look back on very specific things I got done.

For me, each year is a fresh start. A chance to review the previous year. Course correct. Change my mind on things. Double down on other things. And make new goals. Even if I accomplish 50%, it will be a fantastic year working on these things.

MY METHOD

Each day, I look at the list at least once. Looking keeps things top-of-mind. I find looking at it daily helps make it stick and lock it into my brain.

Review, review, review. On Sunday nights, I make an honest assessment. Should something still be on the list? Should something else be added? How did I do? Then, because I like a plan and system, I might actually assign a “Resolution” or “Goal” to a specific day and time.

*** NEW *** In 2025, I’m going to keep score. I’m figuring out the scoring system. This will be a great job for AI to help me. I’ll score myself monthly and quarterly.

SOME 2025 FOCUS POINTS

Alot of my Podcasts are re-running/re-posting past episodes and the theme jumping out at me is “regret.”  I don’t want to have regrets a year from now. And definitely don’t want regrets 5 years from now. Or 10 years. Or at the end of my life. Gary Vaynerchuk talks a lot about it, but most recently, Scott Galloway had Daniel Pink on his Prof G Podcast and Episode 329 (LISTEN, WATCH) was a timely reminder. If I don’t actually finish one of the three books I think I can write, and I don’t make progress toward their completion, each passing day, week, month, and year (and many years have already passed with nothing to show) will slowly eat me alive. Nothing feels like failure more than failing myself.

So, the 2025 Goals I’m most excited about are:

• Finish Writing A Book
• Memorize Things
• Create a Family Tree … a Story-Based Family Tree

And awaaaaay we go. The ‘2025 Goal’ page is here and below if you want to play the home version.

MAKE MY WEBSITE AND BLOG A REAL THING

• Categories Finite and Sensible
• Build it for 2 Specific Audiences In Mind, and those audiences are…
  • My kids …for whatever reason, from time to time, they’ll tell me they read my Facebook posts, they’ll talk about my Facebook conversations, and they also like and look at my YouTube. Also, and this is morbid, if I were to die, I’d like for my Blog to be something truly representative of me for them, and my grandkids, and 4maybe my grandkids’ kids …something for people to find really fun to find and click around. Like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude where he could talk with is ancestors.
  • My clients and fans … I have clients and I want them to look into me and what I’m about. And when I write a book this year, I want fans to think, “hey, I want to know more about this Don …lemme check out his website.”

DON’T GET ALZHEIMER’S OR DEMENTIA: I wrote about this a few year’s ago and it’s my #1 fear. I don’t want to be a burden to my family and, probably more importantly, I want to live a long life and I want to be sharp and on my game, both mentally and physically. And it occurred to me, most things on my “Health and Fitness” list are good by themselves, but all  of them contribute to my overall goal of protecting my brain.

• Weigh 155.  I’m starting the year at 175. 
• Walk (exercise) for a minimum of 30-minutes per day
• Sleep for a minimum of 6.5 hours per night (but 7 hours – 11pm-6am is better)
  • In-my-bed by 10:30 p.m. each night, reading a book
• Start using my Rucking Vest
• Get my hernia fixed and start exercising again by end-of-February
  • Burpees, Sit-Ups, and other exercises that “engage the core”
• Floss Daily
• DO NOT EAT in the evenings after dinner Sunday-Thursday
• Lift Weights Min. 3x Days Per Week
• Learn Polish
• Learn a min. of (3) songs on the Ukelele

WORK

• Fully Commit 50-Hours Per Week to My Day-Job
• Have Fun! Love the Challenge! Play the Game! Be joyful!

BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN DOING IT

• Blog Daily + Fix and Organize My Blog
• Journal Daily
• Homework for Life Daily (and get better at it)
• Finish Writing My Book
• Get An Article Published
• Attend 1x Moth StorySLAM Per Month (with a goal of being picked to tell a story)
• Create a Family Tree … a Story-Based Family Tree

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT and BETTERMENT

• Cold Showers in the Morning and Quick Warm Shower at Night Before Bed
• Read :30-Minutes Per Day
• Journal Daily
• Meditate Daily
• Memorize Things
• Complete a 15-Minute Chore Daily
• Kiss My Wife Before Bed
• Kiss My Wife Each Morning Before We Head Out to Work
• Stop Getting Mad
• Stop Gaslighting
• Stop Hurtful Sarcasm

HOME IMPROVEMENT

• Adopt Minimalism
• Garage Makeover

MISCELLANEOUS

• Don’t destroy another pair of AirPods  …below is my second pair after going through the washing machine and then dryer, but also after having been dropped numerous time and unable to make phone calls and the left only worked “some times.”