New Year 2026

 Happy New Year, Everyone!

It has been a crazy year for me. I graduated from grad school at the end of the previous year, became a Dean of Instructional Development, and then jumped into being the assistant principal mid-way through the fall semester. A lot of my personal goals fell by the wayside in all of that. However, I was still able to read 72 books over the course of the year and I successfully started a running habit (although, I've been off it for about 2 and a half weeks at this point). It was a good year when judged by several metrics.

I'm hoping that 2026 is just as good but maybe a little less hectic. Professionally, my biggest goal is to settle in to my new position and develop some more specific goals.

Personal Goals:

Reading: 

1. I've put together a list of 100 books that I should have read, but somehow haven't. It's a highly personal list and runs heavy to classics. Many of titles are either very dense, very long, or both which accounts for why I haven't read them yet. The goal is to read at least 2 of them each month. I don't think it's feasible to think that I will polish off the list in one year, but I'll consider anything over 25 of them a win. 
2. Because of the size of the books on my list, my goal for the year is only 50 books. I will be reading books outside the list for sanity's sake and also doing Dekalb Library's 26 in '26 challenge.

Health:

1. Running - Back to Running at least 4 mornings a week. I was managing this most of the way through the fall, but fell off right before the holiday break. More specifically, I'm trying to get the 150 of moderate activity recommended by the American Heart Association. 
2. Screen Time - I've deleted all the games off my phone that aren't something I could do with paper and pencil. It occurred to me how much time I'm losing to games that aren't even winnable, they just take up time. I download them, play them obsessively for a week or so, and then delete them. It's a completely pointless waste of time that I will forgo for the year. (crosswords and similar puzzles are safe) 

Family:

1. Family Dinnertime - 5 nights a week, I'd like us to each dinner at the table without screens. There's no real reason we don't do this, we've just fallen into bad habits. However, there is something to be said for time where we only have each other's company for entertainment. I already cook the meals, so it's really only an issue of setting the table.
2. Weekly activities. For a while there, we were doing a good job of playing board games and going on outings. It's hard to keep it going... or rather, it's easy to let it lapse. I want to make sure we a doing something every week this year. It doesn't have to be huge, but it does have to be as a group. So, board games, trips to the zoo, walks in the park, etc. 

Ok, that's it! I'm trying for achievable goals this year and I think all of these are doable!