Sure, it probably makes more sense to write about New Year’s resolutions closer to New Year’s. That is not how things work here at Joel’s Substack.* Instead, a few weeks into the new year, I take the time to carefully consider ways in which I shall improve in 2025.** Or not. Maybe at the end of the year I will revisit this and see how I did. Also, I decided the concept of resolutions feels too limiting, rather this post is 19 things I want to do in 2025. Why 19? I don’t like being a slave to 10s and 5s and 19 is also the championship my beloved Boston Celtics are pursuing this year. That’s reason enough for me. Time for some bullet points!
*I think I’ve settled on a new name for this Substack. Look for that in the coming days.
**The spacebar key on my laptop is not working very well, making it unlikely I do anything on this list related to typing!
Post two new substack posts per week. Longtime readers will likely roll their eyes as I make another grand proclamation about how much I’m going to write. Much like my choice of 19, many of the things on this “hope to do” list are a compromise. In a perfect world I would write more than two posts per week, but two per week feels attainable yet challenging. Much like myself in high school.
Read eight new books. I turned 45 years old in 2024 and it’s time to accept something about myself: I am not a good reader. I wish it were not the case, but I rarely make time to read, and often spend months (perhaps even years) finishing books. I tend to do a bit better with non-fiction, but I can’t recall the last time I became engrossed in a novel to the point where I couldn’t put it down. Maybe I’m reading the wrong books. Anyway, eight feels like an achievable number. Five is too few, 10 too many, etc.
Listen to more music and fewer podcasts. I love many of the podcasts I listen to over the course of the day, either at home, or driving around bucolic central Connecticut. It feels like having music on as background over the course of the day is better for my brain. I will certainly still listen to podcasts, but I think the ratio needs balancing.
Make more playlists. Ohhhh a related goal for the new year. Some of these are tangible goals that can be measured. Others, like doing “more or less” of something are more ethereal. Technically if I make a single playlist then I can check this off the list. Either way, music playlists are fun. I cajoled my friend Meg to send me one of her playlists recently, and the way she acquiesced made it clear she had many playlists. I need more playlists and musical variety. Time to explore the studio space.
Take smaller bites. Speaking of the ethereal we have this vague notion. My long ago boss, and devoted Substack reader (for which I am grateful) often messages me with a sage bit of advice whenever I bemoan my failure to conquer a specific task. His message: “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” For whatever reason, that is not how my brain works. I see a big goal (my endless dream of organizing our basement, for example) and plan to try and tackle it all in one bite. So I inexplicably stay up all night to catch up on laundry or other stuff. The goal for this year is to do more chipping away at big projects rather than assuming I will get some magical boost of energy and time that lets me accomplish it all at once. Smaller bites more often. That’s the plan.
Eat half a bagel. I love bagels. We have a wonderful bagel place in Cheshire that is probably my favorite food establishment. The program I’m on to try and get healthier doesn’t restrict food, it just has various goals to hit each day that make bagels a bit of a luxury. Yet I struggle to resist when I have them in the house — so I engage in a little melodrama. I compromise and eat half the bagel…then promptly eat the other half of the bagel within 20 minutes. This is the year, friends, where I actually eat half a bagel.
Run with Sunny once a week. Pretty straightforward. Sunny and I do a lot of walking, but we could both use a bit more energy burning. In fact…
Go for two runs per week. I’m not running a marathon again anytime soon, but mixing a little cardio in with hopefully regular gym workouts as part of the aforementioned get healthier program (p.s. if you want a guide for trying to get healthier, information on my very nice and motivating trainer can be found here: Coach Lo — maybe that’s something you want to do in 2025).
Get a little more sleep. I know I don’t get enough sleep, and I also am not going to drastically change how much sleep I get. Fortunately I am able to function without a tremendous amount of sleep, but I’m probably pushing things farther than necessary. Earlier bedtimes in 2025. Although that might mean less blog writing. Many of these things I want to do may be in conflict. It’s a long year, I can worry about that later.
Drink more water and less coffee. I don’t want to go out on a limb, but it is possible that my sleep habits and my coffee consumption are related. Again, I am not giving up coffee, but after years of rarely drinking it in the afternoons and evening, I have started drinking it in the afternoon and evening. Probably because I’m tired from staying up too late. Vicious cycle, etc.
Teach my son some goddamn respect. This is mostly a joke, but I was mad at Rory this morning so it’s added. For some reason he was scared in his room last night, and I promised I would sleep in the chair in his room all night. Which I did, much to my discomfort. Then he came down and yelled at me because I didn’t wait to get out of the chair until he woke up, rather I left his room when I woke up. The audacity. Anyway, he needs to learn some goddamn respect! Or not. I was just annoyed.
Since I just attacked him, here’s a nice picture of Rory taking a nap after the tumult of his birthday party. He’s a good kid. I was just irritated with him. Put my phone away. I’ve covered this ad nauseam so I won’t belabor. I realize my attention span stinks and I want to practice focusing on things, so I want to spend more time with my phone out of reach and not tempting. Especially when the Celtics are on.
Office hours. I flunked stay-at-home dadding a few weeks ago. There are parts of this job I’m good at, other parts I’m quite bad at. Sometimes being bad at those parts come home to roost, especially when I focus an unjustified amount of my attention on the things I’m better at. I suspect this is a common phenomenon, but it leads to me avoiding doing important, necessary tasks. The goal for 2025 is to dedicate 30 minutes every day to “office hours” in which I tackle those tasks I tend to avoid. No excuses, play like a champion.
Create one crossword per week for Rory. Pretty straightforward. Caryn likes doing crossword puzzles, and Rory often wants to help — but they are typically beyond his comprehension. I found a site that lets you create your own free puzzles, so I will occasionally make a Rory-themed puzzle for him. Hoping to do that more often this year as part of the never ending effort to get him off a screen and use his brain.
Find “something new.” One for Rory, one for Declan. Our guy Declan has a very specific and well-worn list of activities he likes. We follow grocery store robots, we go places and chase geese, we watch animals, we go to construction sites, we watch hockey, etc. (though there isn’t much etc., that’s basically the list). Lately he’s been asking to do “something new” but doesn’t offer much in the way of suggestion. Time to add find something new for Declan to the to-do list.
Watch 25 movies with Caryn. I regularly listen to a movie podcast, but I rarely watch movies. With this being 2025, this podcast is going to be discussing their 25 favorite movies of the century thus far over the course of the year. I thought this framework would give me a reason to watch those movies with my lovely wife, as much like reading books, I think watching an actual full-length movie is a good bit of mental stimulation and a test of my attention. We will have to come up with an alternate plan if we’ve seen the movie already, but I’m guessing we can find a different one. Also, I have not mentioned this idea to Caryn before writing this. So, hi Caryn, I think we should watch 25 movies.
Stop making fun of myself. I have a pending post coming on this topic in greater detail. In the meantime, several people have pointed out I often belittle myself (typically in an effort to be funny) in these posts and that it is tiresome. I have already made an effort to do this less, but I shall eradicate it in 2025.
Get a job. Pretty clear. Seems like it might be time. If you know anyone hiring, please let me know.
Write Declan’s book. I have been sharing assorted and random thoughts in a blog of some form or another since 2020, and I think I first mentioned writing Declan-inspired children’s book in January of 2021. It is now January of 2025 and all that exists of said book is a Google Doc titled “Detective Declan” with one (incomplete) sentence. To be clear, I know nothing about writing a book, and perhaps I’m simply not capable. But I want this to be the year. Maybe I can do it while keeping my phone away from me…two birds with one stone and such.
That’s it, that’s the list. Sound off in the comments with things you want to do this year. Maybe I will steal them. Or write a post about how inspiring they are. I’m unpredictable.
Bravo! 👏 love it all. New name: Joel Inspiration Cookson. But really, great goals! I should come up with some..
This one was a great one. Keep up the good work in 2025.