My 2026 New Year’s Goals & Resolutions
January is the most cliche time of the year to re-invent yourself, but it’s usually the easiest month to actually change your habits. Not only is it the very first month of the year, but there’s a lot of marketing money spent to motivate you to jump back into the gym, purchase a fancy new planner, or even go back to school and advance your career. Fresh off the grind of the holidays, January is an easy way to get back to normal life. While I didn’t make any resolutions or goals last year, I’m in the mood to see what I can make shake in 2026.
I’m a person that does well with tangible tracking methods. I can accomplish almost anything I set my mind to as long as I have a clear understanding of the finish line and what I need to do to get there. I excel with task-based work, especially if it involves checking things off in a step-by-step process. Unfortunately, once you enter the real world, you have to set your own goals and decide what you want to accomplish, which can easily lead to complacency if you’re not consistently challenging yourself.
Personally, it’s so easy to just put my head down and tackle each day with little to no variation, however that’s when I find myself falling into a rut of boredom…and boredom makes me antsy. It makes me unmotivated to do anything outside of my normal requirements. It makes me believe that I have to wait for an arbitrary day to do things instead of figuring out a way to incorporate my passions into my daily life. I worked against that complacency during the last quarter of 2025 and I’m ready to continue building on that growth.
My 2026 goals and resolutions aren’t arranged in any sequential order since I honestly would feel blessed to accomplish any of them. They also aren’t set in stone and are designed to be more fluid just in case they need to be adjusted.
First up, I want to challenge myself to find and make a new recipe at least twice a month. I genuinely enjoy cooking and trying new things, but it’s incredibly easy to get stuck making the same exact meals over and over again. On a weekly basis, my husband and I cook every single meal except for two, Friday dinner and Saturday lunch, so keeping things fresh and interesting has become a slight struggle.
Taste factor, time of preparation, and how far it’ll stretch are all three important things I consider when looking for new recipes. I personally don’t mind buying new ingredients, but I love those recipes that call for things that I keep regularly stocked in my pantry. I also want more meals that are quick, easy, and enjoyable so I can actually look forward to eating dinner. I’m almost certain that I can incorporate some new meals in my weekly seven meal rotation.
Next, I want to read at least 60 books by December 31st. Even though I read 73 books in 2025, I’m building in a little gap just in case life gets exponentially busy to the point where my reading has to take a back seat. I’m also teetering on the edge of purchasing a physical copy of one of my favorite books, so we’ll see if I grow my library or just spin the block and reread it digitally for the fourth time.
My next goals are more focused on my habits and, as such, are probably going to be the hardest things on my list to accomplish. I want to get serious about waking up earlier, not skipping any workout days, and actually finishing my 48-ounce water bottle at least once a day. At face value, these are all soooooo incredibly easy that they shouldn’t even be on my list, but realistically, I struggle with them so much. I literally fill up my bottle on Sunday nights, and I promise by Friday evening, there is usually still water left in it.
When my alarm goes off at 6 AM, I literally just lay in the bed until 6:20 or even 6:25 instead of getting up and allowing myself plenty of time to get ready. It’s so incredibly difficult moving in the mornings. Years ago, I’d turn on music to wake my brain up, but since I don’t sleep alone anymore, that’s not a realistic option. Even if I turn on my phone’s flashlight, I can easily just roll over and go back to bed if I’m not careful. I would love to get up as soon as my alarm goes off, but I just can’t.
As for my workouts, I haven’t been intentionally skipping like I was about six months ago, but sharing the treadmill has started to become a baby problem. When I want to walk, my husband needs to run, so I just skip the entire day. It’s a simple timing issue that can be easily resolved but it will take effort on my part to fit the workouts in. I need to figure out a way to workout early in the mornings so my evenings are completely free. Mentally I think I have the willpower, but realistically, I think I’d fall off the wagon so quickly.
I also want to do better with not procrastinating on things. When I get the flash of motivation to do something, I need to just go ahead and knock it out instead of trying to push it to another time and hoping the motivation will come back. I struggle with this in almost all aspects of my life from cleaning the shower to trimming my dogs’ nails to cleaning to cooking to working out to my business and everything in between. There are times when I’m firing on 110% and other times when I can barely top 40%. I’ve got to do a better job of taking advantage of when I’m super productive to overcompensate for when I’m not.
My content goals have basically stayed the same from last year to this year since I’m making slow, but steady progress towards them. I haven’t had my random moment of going insanely viral, so it’s taking a while to check landmarks off, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Setting goals can help me focus on what really matters and keep things interesting as the days, weeks, months, and years fly by. Even though everything isn’t in my control, I can recognize what I do have influence over and try to put some positive energy into the Universe.
We’ll see how things go. I might just have to do a six month check in to see how much progress I’ve made or to see if anything needs to be realigned. No matter what, I’m giving myself grace so if I can’t achieve something, I know it’s not because I didn’t put my best foot forward while trying.
If nothing else, I hope to expand the little pocket of heaven I’ve cultivated by leaning into my passions of reading, writing, and watching sports, jumping outside of my comfort zone a little, and loving my family all year.
Let me know your 2026 goals and resolutions down in the comments below!
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
