It's cool to be a New You

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In an ambition recession, you might think trying is uncool, or feel too discouraged to dream. Don't buy into that! Here's some help.

New Years Resolutions are cool

Dreaming, trying and planning are not cringe. They are awesome and so are you. You are a shifting, changing, morphing chameleon, goddammit. You are the culmination of all the things you've been, done, tried - and decided not to be anymore - and you have no idea how great you can still be.

(Your life is still filled with problems, sure, because that's how lives work, but hopefully those problems have been upgrading over time.)

New Years Resolutions are not gauche. This is the perfect time to reflect and change. You've got space and time, and there's a big temporal milestone on the way - with a handy break ahead of it. The holiday break isn't a time to worry about 'wasting' your energy. You're not lazy for taking a rest. You don't need to complete your renovations, tidy up your to-do list or get stuff done. This is the socially sanctioned Chill Out and Take Some Space time. Use it accordingly.

Let your pen run wild

New Year reflections and intentions don't need to be detailed. You don't need a master plan to follow. Allow yourself some openness and wondering. (AND for the love of god, stay off Chat-GPT. Use a pen and your own brain, or you won't remember or remain invested in anything that comes out.)

If there's one thing I'm convinced of, it's that strategists get what they want - as long as they know what that is. And who the hell knows what they want? Fact is, you probably don't know how great you can be. Not yet. It's not until you expand your possibilities, put yourself in interesting situations and dream big with some CRAZY SMART goals that you start to find that out.

Let your pen run wild. Think of all the things you'd still love to do and be, and trust your brain to spot opportunities to have a crack at them.

Leave the malaise behind

If you've had a flat year: been made redundant, struggled to keep your job or business moving along, got fat or sad, lost the pep in your step... that's cool. It sucks, but it happens. It's time to leave that behind now, and remember you're in charge of your life. Start here with 10 ways to take control of your life.

Set higher order goals

Or, if you're an Ambitious High Achiever prone to burning yourself out, lean in the other direction. Commit to your Renaissance era. Set goals around your personal and creative fulfilment, intellectual flexibility, information diet, or social connections instead.

Here's one of my 2026 intentions you can borrow on that front, if you like:

For processes, possessions and expectations: embrace simplicity, resist the urge for complexity. For emotions, opinions, and ideas: embrace complexity, resist the urge for simplicity.