I heard this idea from Gretchen Rubin originally and was recently reminded of it by John August. The idea is to make a checklist of things to do in the upcoming year (i.e. 26 things to do in 2026). It’s another alternative to resolutions (see also: Yearly Themes).
Each item should be doable. To me, it’s an extension of Making Happiness a Priority and my aspirational goals to be Fuerte Y Suerte.
- Bench my weight
- Be able to do 10 pull-ups
- Make a meal with soy curls
- Find a place locally where I can get Fermented Bean Curd and Nattō
- Add A+ Content to the Amazon page for my book
- Try Amazon ads
- Go to an intermediate Spanish meetup
- Cook one new thing from each vegan cookbook I have
- Leave 10 books in the donation mini-libraries around town
- Hang pictures of my family in my guest room
- Go to a live musical
- Go to a NY Liberty game
- Go to at least one arena-sized concert
- Have a coffee or lunch with someone who lives in my building (see Improving My Social Connection Index)
- Join a gym that has a social component
- Host someone new for dinner at my place
- Try three new restaurants for dinner in Sarasota
- Try two new restaurants for dinner in NYC
- Go for a weekend away to a new place in Florida
- Attend a local political gathering
- Release something new to open-source
- Get App-o-Mat on current Django and back to being a live server (not static pages)
- Publish 10 articles on third-party sites
- Appear on 5 podcasts
- Publish 10 episodes of my podcast: Write While True Podcast
- Write 10 Amazon Book reviews for books I love