2026 Goals
Goal Structures
I've tested many theories and frameworks on how to write goals, but the five that matter most to me are:
1. SMART Goals (The structure)
2. Emotionally motivated goals succeed (The fuel)
3. Align your identity with your goals (The person)
4. Love the process (The path)
5. Play many games simultaneously (Fun and Productivity)
In 2026
This year, I am using 7 archetypes as identity archetypes to motivate roughly 100 public goals and about 20 "secret" goals. These archetypes have some overlap, but are distinct enough that I can reframe any given goal between several of them. When one motivational well runs dry, the others may be full. I'm excited to play with identity as a way of both motivating action and as a way to express the breadth of my interests and humanity.
Archetypes
Sherlock Holmes: Endless Curiosity, problem solving, and a Victorian sensibility.
Associated goals: Solve 3 Cold Cases at work, construct a 50-room mind palace, Diet improvement study and experiments, sci-fi reading and writing
Saturn: Saturn is the god associated with discipline, dominance, control. Big "Daddy" energy but also leadership, teaching, and grit.
Associated goals: Dog training, Velvet Rope policy, mentorship, lower caffeine intake, daily disciplines (writing and meditation)
The Ghost in the Machine: I am a cyborg with both digital and meat-space requirements, powers, and modules.
Associated goals: Personal automation, body maintenance, tracking biodata
The Ronin: A mercenary man with a code and a warrior-poet aesthetic
Associated goals: Razor-sharp headlock skills, tai chi push hands, poetry writing and publication
The Vajra Lord: A Tibetan Buddhist with a pure view, sound mind, and a tantric heart
Associated goals: Ngundro practice, sutta memorization, breathwork
The Rogue: A charmer, a bard, an aesthete. He has a clever tongue and loves a double entendre
Associated goals: Lockpicking, cooking, vanity projects, piano, character development, voice lessons
Conclusion:
I don't believe in the fractured self. We leave the artist at home when we go to work. We leave the warrior on the mats when we're with our families. All those ways of being, whether dark or light, are *our* many ways of being and they are what make us whole.
This framework is about integration, about the congruence. It is a permission slip to be wildly romantic, ruthlessly analytic, quietly spiritual, physically dangerous, all in the same week. All in the same person.
And so these roles have been written, the scene is set.
Happy 2026! May we all be the many facets of ourselves!
The game is afoot!
