At the start of every new year, I come up with a list of resolutions and every year, I give up on them within the week. This year, I’m trying to be more organised in how I approach the changes I want to enact within my life. I’ve started this off by making a visual representation of my goals via Pinterest, as opposed to a never-ending to-do list. This has resulted in a social media platform whose algorithm is set to suggest things that are advantageous to me achieving my goals. The above image is such a suggestion and I’m going to share how I ticked off these little goals for starting my year off right.
Choose one word as your 2026 theme
I will preface this by saying that I didn’t stick to these prompts completely. I adapted them to my own season of life. To that end, I’ve chosen two words for 2026: Discipline and Consistency. Two things I’ve sorely lacked in my day to day life.
Do a spending review of the last 3 months
I used a Google sheet to review how much I spent each day of Oct-Dec 2025, as well as what type of expense it was and where I spent my money. My biggest takeaway was how much money went to dining out and how little went to my groceries. Returning to meal planning now that my morning sickness has eased and figuring out how to avoid buying food when I’m out will be two big goals I’m working on this year.
Create a stop doing list for 2026
As mentioned above, my biggest stop doing is eating out, my second being impulse buying. Most others are related to not neglecting my duties.
Book twelve monthly personal days
I’ve decided to book these on the twelve major feast days of the Byzantine church. I can spend my morning in church and then relax/feast the remainder of the day, growing in my relationship to God.
List top 5 contacts and plan a touchpoint
Now I didn’t manage to do this before the year’s end but I’ve booked in 4 friends to meet up with this year, with a fifth that I’m still sorting out plans with. It’s a little challenging as I’ve started back at work and am already losing the energy to put towards this but I neglected a lot of my relationships due to burnout and sickness last year. That’s not a mistake I want to repeat.
Draft a done in 2025 brag sheet
I’ve had a lot of major wins in 2025: I got married, I’ve gotten pregnant, I’ve moved apartments, I’ve bought a car, and I’ve completed my traineeship! Lots of major milestones were achieved last year. My one regret is that I don’t believe I had much personal growth in this past year. I had started meal planning and eating better but my severe morning sickness put a stop to that. It’s still present but not anywhere near as bad so I’m hoping to regain that habit this year.
Clean up your phone Home Screen
This one was easy. All social media apps were removed from the Home Screen. I’ve replaced them with my podcast and library apps. I’ve also created a folder containing all the apps I use to track habits and goals. I also went through all my apps and deleted any unnecessary ones.
Create a simple weekly reset ritual
My weekly reset ritual (which I’ve not tested yet oops) will take place on a Saturday. It will consist of: washing my hair, washing my face, doing my nails, doing a deep clean of my teeth and retainer, and trying a new outfit. Just some simple self care.
Unsubscribe from ten email lists
Alright so I have completed this one. However, I’m going to take it a step further and empty out all my email inboxes of unnecessary emails and old bills. My Google storage is just about used up.
Identify one skill that would raise your value
To be clear, I don’t believe skills raise your value as a human. Our dignity is inherent and given to us by God. But learning new skills is always a good thing. This year, I’m going to once again try and learn to sew. There is certainly a financial value to it: I’d be able to sew us some simple clothes and cloths which would save us money.
Practice saying no kindly
Won’t provide details on this but my no consisted of refusing to enable a family member’s destructive tendencies. I definitely struggled with a lot of guilt saying no but ultimately, I’d just be hurting them if I said yes.
Decide on one habit you will track all year
Okay, so I have chosen four. But I believe this a very worthwhile four. They are: praying, cooking, reading, and exercising. I’m still building the habit for them but they are the four things that will most benefit my family and I this year.
