My 2026 Goals - the year of treating my body better

After sitting down and thinking through last year’s goals and reflecting back on the year, it was clear to me that the biggest thing holding me back from growing further personally was my inability to consistently get rest. My physical and mental state tends to fluctuate significantly. One day I’m feeling rested and positive and everything comes easy. The next day I feel tired and irritable and I’m a horrible person to be around.

Unfortunately a lot of this is self-inflicted. I tend to stay up too late mindlessly scrolling on my phone. I did way too many social activities in the last year exhausting myself on the weekends. I had too many unnecessary drinks also on the weekends which greatly impacted my sleep.

In 2026, I want to become a much happier person and that leads to me being a better partner and father. To do that, I want to finally address a major issue for me and that’s making sure I treat my body better and get more rest. So here are my 3 simple goals for myself in 2026:

Get back to a consistent sleep schedule

Being a father has forced me to a more strict schedule in that I am up by 6:30am everyday rain or shine. The one inconsistency is the time I actually go to bed. I try to be in bed by 10am but I often stay up on my phone until 11am. It’s time to kill this bad habit. I can noticeable feel when I go to bed at 10am versus 11am. In addition, I want to make sure to keep the schedules on the weekend as well where we’ve made a lot of exceptions.

For this goal, I plan on implementing an earlier schedule and building better habits with Sophia. It’s going to take both of us and a lot of discipline but once we get to consistency, things will be much easier.

Limit the social events

2024 was like a last hoorah before I became a father. 2025 became a year of slowing down on the social events, but towards the end of the year, things picked up again once we got to a much easier state with Colin. It was definitely hard to say no — we are in a big transition phase and we still enjoy going out with friends often.

Being a parent comes first and sometimes being bored is the best thing for our mental states. In 2026, I’m hoping to limit our social events and perhaps make adjustments to a much more parent-friendly social life. That likely means less dinners and nights out, and much more brunches and daytime events.

Slow down on the drinks

And finally, related to the above goal, I want to slow down on the drinks. I noticed that in 2025, we went out less as parents but that often led to more drinks at home on the weekends and that had a major impact on my sleep. Alcohol definitely is one of the major impacts on my rest and sleep quality, and in 2026, it’s time to start peeling things back.

Unfortunately a big part of this is just getting older and our bodies not being able to handle the alcohol as well. While I don’t have those excruciating hangovers in the morning again after those late nights, even having a few drinks can really impact my sleep. That extra beer at 9pm is not worth that extra exhaustion the next morning. I’m almost 36 now and it’s time to transition to that next stage of life where alcohol is not the main driver of every social event.