Near the end of the year, I start thinking of some aspirational goals for the next year. Rather than wait for January, I usually just start working on them now. I start experiments to see if I really want to do them.

For fitness, I’ve decided to really try to do a strength program. I found Radically Simple Strength [affiliate] by Paul Horn and read it on a flight. I started doing his beginner plan in November, and so far it’s going great. He has a simple way to measure progress—small increments of weight. It’s the perfect leading indicator (in the 4DX sense). My lagging indicator is my body fat percentage, which I measured with a DEXA scan and will check in on in 6 months or so. I think I’ll be able to just see the effect, though. I am also monitoring my weight. My goal is to be able to lift more weight, but weigh the same.

For my business, my goal is to sell copies of Swimming in Tech Debt, and my plan is to do one book marketing action each day. If I can’t keep a good enough selling pace, I will have to change that plan. In November, my experiment was to blog every day, which helps me reach my RSS subscribers. It also generates LinkedIn Post, substack, and email marketing ideas. So far, it’s been good enough to keep doing this in December.

For my personal improvement, I am embarking on a multi-year plan to become fluent in Spanish. I started six months ago with DuoLingo and my own flashcards. I do some studying every day, but in 2026, this will have to become more serious. This month, I will have to try to develop that plan, probably from looking through Fluent Forever.