A Formal Declaration of War on the Year 2026.

2025 was the best year I’ve experienced.

I went on a million fun dates with the love of my life. I made meaningful memories with friends and family. I went on epic trips to Italy and Argentina. I grew stronger than I ever thought possible in the gym. I started playing basketball again and it’s brought me so much joy. I earned an advanced Spanish fluency certification and became a founding member of our Language Strategy team at my tech sales job. I worked incredibly hard on writing my first novel.¹

It’s been nothing short of magical.

More than anything, I feel that my mind has reached a new level of calmness. I now have this feeling of deep, ever-present relaxation in who I am and what I’m about. It’s as if so much angst and negative thought patterns of the past have evaporated. They can’t win anymore. They just can’t. I’ve learned too much.

Needless to say, this year was not perfect. I’m embarrassed by how much time I spent playing video games, or how often I snoozed the alarm, or didn’t lift on a day when I told myself I was going to lift, or got stuck doomscrolling, or talked too much and listened too little, or just flat-out procrastinated on things, almost always out of fear of judgment.

The good news is that problems are solvable.

Now, in the past, I’ve been in the camp of people who think that there is little use in making New Year’s resolutions, because if you were serious about making certain changes and efforts, you wouldn’t need a calendar change to do so. I’m still sympathetic to this view.

But I’m not talking about a mere new year resolution here. I’m talking about an attitude toward life. I’m talking about building on momentum and entering kill mode.

NBA star Damian Lillard once said the following:

“That was my whole mindset. Still is. When I step out on that court, I’m trying to take your soul. It’s not personal. Off the court, we’re cool. But when we get out there, it’s different. I’m not here to talk trash. I’m here to take the life out of you. That’s just what it is.”

And that’s pretty much the essence of how I’m feeling about this upcoming year.

This is my formal declaration of war on 2026.

I will accept nothing less than total victory.

1. Which an editor is now currently working on, by the way. They told me they will have their copy edit and developmental edit done by February 4th.