It’s almost 2026. Life has been busy for many, but a time to slow down is looming. Christmas for me is always a great time of year. There are many things to be sad about, but there are also ways to view that sadness and find the good in it. This post is not about dealing with that topic, although some of the things here may indeed help.
The past few weeks, usually from Thanksgiving through to the last week of December, I tend to spend some time centered around a few specific practices, and I wanted to encourage you to consider them as well. No this is not a self help guide or a glorification post, but rather a plea, because I truly believe some of these will be life changing for you as they were for me. Over the next few weeks, we will explore these practices together.
Practice One: Organize Your Life
Life has a tendency to be chaotic. There is always something looking for your attention. Kids, spouse, that video game, that sports competition, insert what you will. But all of this inserted chaos that comes about from much of these things creates so much unneeded stress. Take a look at the list I laid out here. Only two of the four things truly matter, but for some, the other two will have more racked up time than time spent with the other…
So what should you do? It depends! For me, I like to get a blank notebook and a few sheets of paper, some sticky notes, a pen and a highlighter out on a table (a cup of coffee and about 1 hour of quiet is recommended). On a sheet of paper, write out four headers (suggested four columns) for the four areas of your life (some may have less- no worries!) For me this looks like:
Faith Family Work Personal
Now with those four categories or less depending on the person, grab the sticky notes and write out what habit, positive or negative, you have right now that impacts each of those categories. Take some time here. For faith, maybe it’s not having a Bible reading plan or not feeling like you are smart enough to understand the Bible. For Family, maybe your social media feed is taking away time or you work too much. For work, maybe you have a lack of drive or you are working towards a promotion, for your personal life maybe you spend more time investing in others than yourself or you are a gifted encourager.
Stick those notes under each category. Now on another blank sheet, write out the same four headers (or less- you get the picture) and then take the sticky notes and write out 4-5 habits you want to form, ones that would be ideal to help the deficiencies or areas you really want to grow in. This is not meant to be a totally negative experience, rather a way to take an honest look at yourself and your habits. You should have identified areas of growth you want to consider for 2026 as well as areas where you want to make some cuts. Now, use the notebook to build a plan. Come up with ideas, talk to someone about them, dialogue a bit. Find some blog posts on the topics. Find actionable insights for each one and look at how you can implement or cut out the things you identified. The trick here is to not do too much all at once. I try to do this around Thanksgiving in order to start the habit forming in early December, but it’s not too late. This is where I can iterate: What went well? What didn’t? Will this work for 2026? Did I make sustainable goals? The notebook should act like a planner, function to catalog your goals, map how you will implement them, and if you want, make weekly calendars to help ensure you are on track. I hope this exercise helps and see you on the next one!
