Yearly Theme

  • January 2, 2026

    2026 Yearly Theme: Digital Detox

    There comes a time in everyone’s life when they’ve consumed too much of something, and they find the very notion of consuming more sickening.

    This could be the college student who drank too much vodka and can’t have it anymore. Or the person who ate far too much sushi, got sick, and is now repulsed by it.

    Someone who’s seen a movie or TV show so many times they just pick it apart now. Or someone who realized their favorite author just regurgitates the same ideas over and over again.
    Beyond overconsumption, sometimes our priorities/tastes/desires shift. I used to play video games daily. Now that ritual is basically reserved for long breaks1.

    My brother used to drink Coke almost exclusively. While he still enjoys it, he opts to drink water most of the time now because he’s prioritized his health.

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  • January 1, 2025

    2025 Yearly Theme: Being Present

    If you have kids, or have ever been a kid, you know how exciting the anticipation of a huge event can be.

    Since November 1st — the day after Halloween — my kids have been excited about Christmas, entirely ignoring the Thanksgiving buffer.

    None were more excited that my oldest, who would do impressive math for a 7-year-old to figure out just how many days, events, sleeps, and school days there were until Santa came to visit.

    On the day we got our Christmas tree — November 29th — I reminded her: “Be present. Christmas is one day, but it’s up to us to enjoy the season, and all the activities we’re doing.”

    I felt like Qui-Gon Jinn telling Anakin to, “concentrate on the moment,” before the pod race.

    My point was that I didn’t want her to spend the entire Christmas season anticipating Christmas Day while mentally missing out on everything we were doing. From cutting down our tree, to Christmas concerts, baking cookies, visiting family, and everything else, there are many wonderful things about that time of the year.

    But I also realized something: I do a pretty bad job of concentrating on the moment. Instead, I worry about the future. Or I escape into my phone. Or my work.

    I try to address problems I worry will happen, and defer solutions to problems I need to address today.

    I need to follow the advice I gave my daughter. That’s why my Yearly Theme for 2025 is The Year of Being Present.

    But before we get into that, let’s grade my previous yearly theme: The Year of Control.

  • January 3, 2024

    2024 Yearly Theme: Control

    The word ‘Control’ evokes various thoughts and emotions, many of which are negative. Control is often associated with an excessive desire to dominate or dictate every aspect of a situation.

    The bad guys in movies and in real life desire control at almost any cost.

    Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars said the only way to improve life in the galaxy was for him to seize control. Thanos said the only way to save the universe was to control the population by controlling the infinity stones.

    Countless dictators and wannabe dictators have justified taking control because they’re the only ones who can save us.

    It sounds micro-managy, almost authoritarian when you say, “I want to be more controlling.”

    But Control at the right scale is super important. If you don’t control your car, bike, or other vehicle, for example, you will end up hurting yourself or someone else.

    In thinking about my next yearly theme, a recent conversation I had with my therapist was top of mind. I told her that I didn’t feel like I was in control of anything.

    Not my health. Not my money. Not my time or schedule.

    As you’ll see when I grade 2023: The Year of Budgets, it was a pretty tough year. I don’t think I fared well.

    When I watch my kids play Super Mario Bros (the NES version, natch), they just kind of mash buttons and wonder why they died.

    2023 kind of felt like that for me. I wasn’t doing a good job of controlling myself — which is why 2024 is The Year of Control.

    But first, let’s look at 2023.

  • January 3, 2022

    2022: The Year of Retreat

    2 house keeping notes: if you need a refresher on yearly themes, go here. If you’d rather listen to this, check out episode 248 of How I Built It.

    In college, I had a friend named Marc. Whenever I asked Marc how he was doing, he’d say, “I’ve never had a bad day in my life.” He said even if there were bad moments in the day, he wouldn’t let it ruin the entire day.

    I know this was back in the before time1, and a lot has changed. But that point of view has stuck with me ever since: don’t let one point in a 24 hour period ruin all 24 hours. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how terrible 2021 was for them. I generally don’t look at full years as terrible, even if there were several terrible moments.

    Looking back at my journal, it’s easy to think my whole year was terrible. At the end of each day, I’d write how I was feeling, and the word “stressed” came up more than any other2. And several times, positive feelings were preceded by the word, “actually.” As if I were surprised to be happy for a moment.

    That isn’t true. But it was easier for me to capture the negative feel s for some reason.

    As I considered my yearly theme for 2022, I did a bit of an exercise. I wrote down what I felt worst about in 2021. Here’s the list:

    A photo of a notebook page with the text: What Problems did I face in 2021? Too much stress Too much work Too much phone time Too much spending Too much sadness Too much wasted time

    Too much stress, work, phone time, spending, sadness, wasted time.

    Seems like a year of less would do me good. But not really less of everything. I need to do less of some something specific — over commitment. So I’ve come up with The Year of Retreat.

    As is customary with these posts, before getting to that let’s see how I did with my 2021 theme: The Year of Opportunity.

  • January 1, 2021

    2021: The Year of Opportunity

    One of my favorite things to do at the end of each year is plan my Yearly Theme. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition and I’ve even got my wife in on the action this year. I find it’s better to have a guiding set of principles than a number of promises I may or may not1 complete. 2020 caused many people to change how they do things, and I was no different. that’s why for 2021, my yearly theme is going to be The Year of Opportunity.

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