Cover image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Beloved,
I know you can change your life at any time but making new year’s resolutions is just so satisfying. I set new years resolutions every single year and track them through my journals. I don’t get all of them done – the usual case of the heart is willing but everything else isn’t. But over the years I’ve managed to tick off a few goals. If you’re part of the new year’s resolution brigade but can’t really figure out how to go about setting and achieving them, then this is the post for you.
Before you start your list:
I believe the best way to go about ticking off resolutions – like any goal – is to make sure you hold them against the S.M.A.R.T framework. (School was definitely right about this.) All goals (resolutions or not) are easier to achieve if they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound. The good thing is that the time is already set for you. (The entire year, duh). Relevance and achievability are very subjective. All I can say is that they rely heavily on not overestimating yourself. This list will deal mainly with being specific and measurable.
What you’ll need:
- A checklist of some sort: please write down all your goals and tick them off as you get them done. It’s just a good way to know what they are and also keep yourself accountable. Also ticking things off is just real satisfying. I write all my goals at the back of that year’s journal.
- A habit tracker: You need something to measure your progress and a way to remind you about what you’re trying to achieve, especially if it’s a habit. I used to do this manually (still kind of do) through a weekly planner that my aunt got me. But this year I discovered the app Streaks which is really simple to use and doesn’t have a lot going on.
- Alarms: Some of your resolutions require you to do things at certain times and a good way to be reminded of those is by setting at alarm.
Practical resolutions you can set:
With that out of the way, here’s a few things you can work towards in the new year:
1) Fix your sleep schedule
Full disclosure, at first I wanted to start with saying, sleeping and waking up early will drastically change your life. But that’s propaganda for morning people. I think what time you wake up doesn’t matter more than making sure you are consistent with your sleep hygiene and schedule.
The best way I think is to i) decide what time you want to wake up each day. ii) Figure out how many hours of sleep make you feel the least like a zombie. iii) Subtract those hours from your decided wake up time and try to go to bed that time each day.
Alarms really come in clutch with this one. One or two to tell you to get ready for bed. And one or two to make sure you wake up.
You can also use a habit tracker here. Tick every single time you go to bed early. Tick every time you wake up on time.
2) Decrease screen time
Hate to say it but the studies were right. Get off that dang phone of yours and your quality of life will improve. Now I’m not saying you should go full monk who sells his ferrari iPhone 17 pro-max two terabyte, but maybe you can decrease the amount of time you spend mindlessly scrolling by doing literally anything else – reading, stretching, staring into space dramatically.
This year I was more intentional with my screentime and I managed to half it down. I went from an average of 10hrs a day to five.
I did this using the Forest app , which guilt-trips you into staying off your phone by letting you grow a little digital tree. I also use Stayfree, which limits how long I can use an app per session and boots me out once the time’s up for a set amount of minutes. Additionally, I’ve also set the accumulative amount of time I want to spend each day on my most distracting apps in my phone’s digital wellbeing app.
3) Start journaling – daily
I am a propagandist when it comes to journaling. I will not be neutral on this. Journaling is one of those habits I believe every single person should have. It helps you track patterns, process emotions, remember things you’d otherwise forget, and occasionally expose your own nonsense in real time.
Daily journaling doesn’t mean writing pages and pages of spiraling prose and poetry. Sometimes it can just be three sentences or bullet points. The point is showing up everyday, not trying to win the Pulitzer prize for literature. Use an alarm to remind you to journal at a specific time and habit tracker to help with consistency.
If you don’t know what to write, start with:
- How did I feel today?
- What did I do well?
- What drained me?
- What do I need tomorrow?
Alternatively, if you’re an android user you can check out my app here for daily prompts. If your a damned iOS user, try this website here. And if you’re looking for a more a more detailed guideline on how to get into journalling, I wrote a post here.
4) Give Back to The Community
Perhaps this year you partake in some sort of social responsibility. I have been trying (and failing) to do a bit more volunteer work over the past couple of years. Hopefully 2026 is the year I finally cross it off the list. Here’s a few ways you can give back to the community:
- Donate blood
- Join Red Cross
- Contribute to a donation drive
- Volunteer at a local school
- Offer your skills to an NGO that supports a cause you believe
5) Exercise more
I’m simply of the belief that every single person should move more. Whether it’s going to the gym, taking more walks or learning a handstand. I make a physical based resolution every year, and I try to keep it as practical as possible. So again, just saying exercise more isn’t very??? Trackable? I personally usually aim for something measureable like: I’ll participate in a marathon. I’ll get to ten pushups. Or I’ll will spend x amount of time in the gym per week. I recommend getting a habit tracker for the last one.
A few more exercise based resolutions:
- Walk x amount of times a week
- Lift up an x amount of KGs
- Go to aerobics x amount of times a month
- Train to be able to hold a handstand
- Get a white belt in some martial art
6) Learn a new skill
Every year I try to learn (or get better) at something new. For the past couple of years it has been swimming. Sad to report I’ll be carrying this goal yet again into another year. Despite swimming being a bust, there’s a few other skills I have acquired over the years. Here’s a few you can try to learn in the new year.
- The basics of a new language
- Baking bread (or any other good of your choice)
- Learning to sew/ knit/ crochet
- Getting your driving license
- Actually, also learning how to reverse or parallel park
- Pickling vegetables
7) Acquire (or get back) into a hobby
Hobbies and skills can overlap in certain places but I generally think a hobby is something you intend to do more just for the sake of it. Having hobbies adds a certain Je ne sais quoi to life. Take it from me, my government name is literally Serial Hobbyist Kanjaye. Here’s a few hobbies you can pick up.
- Learn basic juggling
- Solve 1000 piece puzzles
- Figure out how to hulahoop in both directions
- Try some card tricks
- Read
- Take care of some house plants
8) Take yourself out
Not with a gun abeg – no matter how tempting. But like on a proper date. I personally struggle with taking myself out on dates or just treating myself but I want to get into it. Next year if I can even take myself on maybe three coffee dates, I’ll consider it a win. Here are other self date ideas. And it has to be a proper intentional date.
- Go to X amount of restaurants alone
- Go on vacation
- Take a road trip
- Visit a new place (e.g. a museum, bookshop, a farmers’ market.)
- Try a new activity (e.g rock climbing, go carting, pottery)
9) Consume an x amount of media
I’m going to be honest that what I wanted to say is that you should read X amount of books, but not only is that discrimination against the strange weirdos that do not read, it is also quite limiting. Like I can break my own reading goals into many many categories. Now imagine what you can do with all other media. I am actually planning on sharing all the media I consume on my substack throughout the year, so do check that out. It’s a whole world out there and there’s quite a number of ways to spin this. Here’s some media you can commit to consuming next year. Again you can use a habit tracker for this
- An x amount of fiction books
- An x amount of nonfiction books
- An x amount of documentaries
- An x amount of essays
- An x amount of music albums
- An x amount of poems
- An x amount of movies
- An x amount of podcasts
10) Try a new recipe
Life’s to short to play it safe in the kitchen. This coming year I personally want to see if I can make bagels or some sort of focaccia – which is crazy because I hate produce in baked goods but whatever. Trying out new recipes is really cool because well, you get to walk away with a new skill, a new meal and the satisfaction that you did that. Triple win if you ask me. Here’s some recipes you can try out (I get all of mine from Pinterest.)
- Mushroom soup from scratch
- Grilled Cheese with tomato soup
- Creamy Mac and Cheese
- Butter Chicken
- Garlic Naan (to go with the butter chicken)
NB: Always modify these recipes. Trust me you’ll figure it out as you cook.
11) Declutter part of your life
It’s crazy how many things we hoard as human beings. Every year, I aim to “clean” a certain part of my life. In 2025 I aimed for my wardrobe and successfully did that. In 2026, I think I’ll aim to declutter my Instagram. There’s so much in my saved content that I’ve definitely forgotten about. Here’s a few more things you can try to declutter in the new year:
- Folders in your phone gallery
- Folders in your Google photos
- A certain section of your home/space
- Your Spotify / Apple music
- Your emails
- Your subscriptions
- Folders in your laptop
A last note
Beloved, it’s important to remember that the point of all this isn’t to become a perfectly optimised human by December 31st. You might not cross out all your resolutions or achieve all your goals. That’s fine. You can always try again and again. Resolutions are there to make your life a little easier to live, a little nicer to wake up to, and a little more intentional and interesting than last year. Pick a few things. Keep them specific. Miss a day. Start again. Progress is built in the showing up. So show up. And remember – I’m rooting for you.
