It's coming close to the end of the year and like so many individuals, I am reflecting upon 2025 and trying to recollect my achievements for the year. Unfortunately, my biggest achievement was simply surviving, which hey, a win is a win. But I don't want my 2026 to be that way. Granted, the only actual goal I made was reading 25 books in 2025, which, I'm on track to completing (currently sitting at 19 of 25 books). Something I can add to my achievement board. However, I'm aiming for a more diverse and intellectually stimulating 2026.
There are three books that I've read that gave me a different perspective in making change to my life more permanent and sustainable:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
All, essentially, broached on the topics of in order to make sustainable change you need to alter your habits and routines. We are all ingrained with daily habits and routines; we perform them without hesitation or thinking of what to do next. If we want to change our lives, we need to change our habits. In comes this blog, The Restless Archer.
For years this blog has sat, previously showcasing my transgressions with my life, woe is me mentality, yet not putting forth effort to create change. Reading back through my now deleted posts, I was blaming the world for my problems, envying people with far more "spectacular" (social media highlight reel) lives, wallowing in my own self-pity. How pathetic. The only person in control of your future, is yourself. You cannot blame society, your past, or individuals for actions you refuse to take in order to dictate your future. Like Bingo says, "Get it together, Sheila!"
So, what to do? Essentially, make goals, break down goals into actionable steps, but make them granular, as @gabbbyle mentioned on her IG reel. What does Gabby mean by granular? Making the steps you take so basic and easy to follow that it's almost impossible to not follow through. Her example she used in her reel was, go to bed at 10:30pm, so I can wake up at 6:30am to go for a run at 7:00am. Utilizing her ideas and merging them with what I have read, I'm taking the steps even further.
For example, say you wanted to be a 5:00am wake up person. Well, if you are use to waking up at 8am every morning, jumping from 8am to 5am is a huge leap and you are more than likely not going to stick with it. Here comes the gradual aspects from Atomic Habits. Instead of starting off trying to jump into the 5am morning routine... aim for 7:50am, just ten minutes earlier and account this into your bed time. Instead of a midnight bedtime, aim for 11:50pm. Do this for a week, then keep subtracting ten minutes each week until you hit your desired wake up goal. Make sense?
Another aspect of new habits is creating a reward system after you've completed the new habit. Let's say you want to be a morning workout person, after you have managed a morning routine where you now can add working out to your routine, maybe reward yourself with your daily coffee/matcha/shake after you did your workout. It takes a daily habit you already have an place it after your new habit, helping solidify a new routine.
Moving on to the BIG goals. These are goals that may take me several years to accomplish, but I'm going to utilize this list and break them down into smaller, more manageable goals.
01. Workout for 1 hour every single day.
02. Learn 6 new languages (Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Japanese)
03. Move out of the United States.
04. Read everyday for 45 minutes a day.
05. Learn how to play Chess.
06. Advance my math skills.
07. Leave my current line of work for a new field.
08. Have more hobbies.
09. Be a 5am Morning Girly!
10. Be Debt Free.
There are a few goals I have specific to 2026 which are to read 30 books in 2026 and craft a brand new daily morning and evening routine.
I have some ideas of how to break these down, that I have written in my journal. But right now, I'm going to be focusing on what I'm going to work on this week, what small changes I can implement this week to help me towards accomplishing my big goals.
In my journal, I wrote down small ideas for each day of the week. The goal is to incorporate at least 5 minutes of a hobby, 5 minutes of a workout, and wake up/go to bed 10 minutes early every day this week.
SUNDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Baking
Workout: Pilates
MONDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Learning Chess
Workout: Flexibility/Stretching
TUESDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Learning French
Workout: Boxing
WEDNESDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Math Practice
Workout: Karate
THURSDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Improving Typing
Workout: Strength Train
FRIDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Trying a New Recipe
Workout: Dancing
SATURDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Video Games
Workout: Walk
Luckily I do read every day but right now its been about (on average) 10 to 15 minutes. So my daily goal of actual reading will be a 20 minute goal. I'm very lucky with that at work I listen to audio books which helps me achieve my reading goal faster, but I took several months off of listening to audio books and switched it with music. It ebbs and flows with listening to books and listening to music.
One other goal that hasn't been mentioned is keeping up with this blog to help maintain accountability and progress. It would be amazing if I could update it everyday, but like I have stressed throughout this post, it's best to set small, granular goals in order to achieve the large ones. So, I'm setting a goal of every Sunday to report back how the week went and a set up for the following week.
What are some of your big goals? Whether it be for the new year or the next five years. Let me know! But also share how you plan to break these goals down into simple, granular steps that sets you up for absolute success. Until next week!
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