As 2025 comes to a close, everyone is reflecting on their year and thinking up goals and resolutions for 2026. I invite you to ditch the overdone basics and think outside of the box!
No more:
Run a marathon
Lose 5kg
Become a vegan (when you’ve never tried it before and expect it to happen overnight!)
Buy a new car
Buy a house
Go to the gym 5 times a week
Save more money
Start a side hustle
Write a book
Boring!! There’s a reason we all think of the same things each year, but it could be great to add something fresh and new to the mix. To either get oddly specific about a particular goal. Or make it funny or strange. Or make it like a game, a fun challenge or task that takes you all year rather than something you aim to tick off quickly.
Let’s see my ideas…
Fresh new year’s goals ideas
- Set a challenge to take your dog to a new park once a month (or seasonally)
- Complete a park run (if you haven’t already) or a new park run (if you have)
- Join an Anti-Brainrot challenge to read more widely and critically in 2026
- Write a letter to someone you admire
- Find a new artist or album that you love and review it in a journal
- Create a new fun writing ritual
- Support your local community in some way: gardening, litter picking, giving to a shelter or kitchen, buying from local independent stores or charities, give financially to the political party you support or share their services to help raise awareness
- Bring a book everywhere you go and vow to not use your phone while out and about
- Watch a 5 star movie
- Watch a 5 star tv show
- Watch all the films from your favourite actor
- Read all the books by your favourite author
- Read a a 5 star book
- Allow yourself to be bored – allocate boredom time in your schedule
- Allocate specific phone time – and don’t use it outside of those hours!
- Try a new hobby that you allow yourself to be bad at forever as long as it’s fun
- Book to meet your favourite author or artist if they have an event this year
- Create a new tradition to do with family or friends
- Celebrate things that are outside the norm: finishing a milestone read of the year; finishing a draft of a novel; running a milestone run or pace; a launch party for a favourite TV show’s new season etc.
- Sleep more
- Host your friends at your house for cozy hobbies or reading together or watching a film together like you would as teens
Check out Leena Norm’s video about personal growth and personal goals being secondary to goals that relate to supporting the wider community…
Sincerely,
S. xx
S. R. Crawford 