Time to Start *Thinking About* New Year’s Resolutions

Some people poo poo the idea of New Years Resolutions and point to all sorts of data that says “New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work” and most people break their resolutions in less than a month. Well? I poo poo that. I love Resolutions. I love new beginnings. I love making improvements and adjustments. And if it happens to be January 1st that I turn a page and make a list and make myself some promises, I’m gonna do it (and you know I make resolutions often and not just once a year).

Over the years, *some* of my Resolutions have stuck . . .

• Get on stage and perform at The Moth (I’ve done this 6 times and won once)
• Floss daily (I never thought I’d be a flosser but I am)
• Cold showers (silly, but I’ve done it)
• Journal (not daily, but often)
• Clean my bathroom every morning (this is surprisingly satisfying and cathartic)
• Oatmeal for lunch (I can’t wait to see my cholesterol levels with next year’s annual physical)

That’s just a few. I’m sure I could beat myself up about the many, many (many) Resolutions that are on the cutting room floor, but I won’t. Those were good ideas, too. But I can’t do everything (even tho I tried when I invented Resolution-A-Day  . . . maybe I’ll try that again).

Now is the time to start thinking about what I (we) can do better and to improve our lives in 2026? 15-days remaining in the year.  It’s where I stretch my brain and think, OK, what worked in 2025 and where can I improve? Where did I miss? What was on my 2025 list that I forgot about? What was a dumb idea? What’s worth trying again?

Here’s some ideas for 2026….

• Work to get to 10 Pull-Ups and 10 Chin-Ups and 100 Push Ups
• 150 Minutes of Exercise Per Week (75 Minutes of it being Strength Training)
• Block out 3x daily for 5-Minute Slow Breathing (aka meditation)
• Spend less time on my iPhone (goal:  < 2 hours)
• Work every day for min. 15-minutes on finishing my two books
• Read 1-Book Per Month (but my actual goal is 2-Books Per Month … 1 fiction, 1 non-fiction)
• Start a Podcast with my College friends

Crazy, right?

I don’t believe in crazy …other than it’s crazy not to have goals and not strive to make life and myself better.