2025 Goals & Plans for Habit Shifts & Personal Growth strategies

~ Music ~

I wrote the following words in large letters on an index card.

“MORE MUSIC.”

I mean it. It’s good for me. It’s probably good for you, too. It’s a break from the news, from keeping up with the state of the world, from worrying. It’s a source of “freedom from”. Maybe? I’m thinking of Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom.

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~ Podcasts ~

Podcasts, as you’ve probably heard, are going to be a big thing in 2025.

Here’s a little game. Think of 5 people you know who you would enjoy listening to on a podcast. Can you name 5 people? People you would look forward to listening to as opposed to saying that you had listened when, in fact, you were just being nice.

Anyways… In a glass half full mindset, my hope is that all this attention on podcasts will mean podcast creators will have to up their game. Hopefully the best rise to the top. Getting in the Top 200, especially Top 100, is a big deal.

We thought we reached “peak podcast” years ago… and yet… here we are. Now, large companies all think they need a podcast media arm. It’s going to make it a more confusing landscape to navigate as, at times, it may be unclear what is a labor of love, or at least more personal, and what is something that has been manufactured by a bunch of people in a bored room (ahem, board room) to maximize engagement, increase sales, etc.

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~ Health ~

• continue many vegan meals

• continue low dairy dinners (quasi-vegan)

• eat more dark leafy greens

Returning to a 2022 “goal” to learn to make decent veggie sushi at home.

Why? More “play” in the kitchen. I enjoy it. I believe it’s a good use of time. I’m using my physical body to do something as opposed to staring at a screen. There are rapid tangible results from cooking. It’s relatively straightforward to assess successes and failures unlike the nebulous nature of “knowledge work”.

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~ ONE ART ~

· 2x readership

o This has been successful YoY since ONE ART’s inception in 2020… with the exception of last year. That being said, our readership in 2024 was equal to 2023 combined with 2021— so not bad! Overall, ONE ART’s readership in 2024 was up 29% with 37% more unique visitors to the website, 71% more “likes”, and 133% growth in comments (!!) which I personally appreciate. I love when readers leave thoughtful feedback about their experience of reading the poems published in ONE ART and I know poets appreciate the responses, in part I expect, because this shows someone chose to spend valuable time with their work.

· Publish 2025 ONE ART Haiku Anthology (to be released on April 17, International Haiku Day)

· Continue ONE ART Reading Series

· Continue hosting ONE ART workshops

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~ Substack ~

· Double paid subscribers from ~40 to ~80

o Note: According to Substack, the average conversion rate from free to paid subscribers is 5-10%. Meaning that for every 100 subscribers you can expect 5-10 paid subscribers. 10% is considered a good “target”.

o I greatly appreciate my readership. It would be nice if a few who are regular readers, feel that they are receiving good value, and can afford to pay a small monthly or annual subscription fee would consider doing so. I don’t want anyone to feel pressured.

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~ Personal Writing ~

· Write something that I feel is good enough to share and I feel good about sharing.

· Aim to write a single line (or volta of sorts) in which I truly surprise myself in the best kind of way.

o Potential to pull this off a few times in a year.

· Work on a hybrid piece

· I’m interested in engaging in collaborative project (possibly ekphrastic)

· Write about a subject I have avoided writing about with no intention to publish the end results.

· Write a few well-executed haiku

· Write a few good aphorisms

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~ Social Media ~

· Spend less time on social media

· Spend less time scrolling on Instagram

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~ Ideas ~

· Spend more time looking at visual art IRL (museums, galleries)

· Experiment more with meditation

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~ Gentle Nudges ~

· Find ways to improve the relationships that matter most.

· Work on setting better boundaries.

· Reading goal: SSR for 15 minutes minimum each day with a physical book.

· Travel-adjacent goal: Be a tourist in your own backyard.

· Household cleaning schedule

· Daily gratitude journal practice

o Realistically, this will most likely be semi-daily

o It should not be difficult to list a few things we are grateful for each day

· Accept less energetic state in the colder months (find suitable workarounds)

· Develop a healthier work schedule

· Structured time for my own personal writing

· Restorative use of down time

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~ [some] 2025 Priorities ~

· Daily walk(s)

· Joy of cooking

o Learn new recipes

o Improve current recipes / common meals

· ONE ART

· Stay Curious (substack)

· VRS CRFT: poetry coaching & mentoring

Note: Along with a list of Priorities. I also have a list of areas that I intend to Deprioritize. Another list is for what I am deeming Low Priority. Then, there are “Considerations”. Importantly, a list of “Self-Care”. The list I need to work on involves determining misconceptions. Those daily, semi-daily, weekly, monthly activities that I engage in that feel important but are, in fact, Not Important.

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~ The Past ~

Plan of Action for 2024

Goals for 2023

Personal accomplishments (2023)

New Years Goals / "Resolutions" for 2022

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I shy away from “resolutions” since, stats show time and again, that people don’t keep them. It’s also a bit of a problematic framework. “Resolutions” have this weight of strongarming yourself into complicity. “Goals”, on the other hand, are a more positive and upbeat way of thinking.

Also,

“I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier...”

– Dogma (film, 1999)

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We need to calm down… when it comes to self-optimization.

This episode of The Happiness Lab really gets to the heart of the issue.

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“We often do things now that will make our lives more difficult or stressful in the future.”

We’re talking about the “yes…damn” effect. In short, it’s self-sabotage. We agree to something in The Now with a false belief that our future self will have [more] time, the desire, to follow through. When the time comes to fulfill our obligations, we say to ourselves “damn”. This goes in tandem with the notion that when you say “yes” to something, you have to remember that you’re saying “no” to all the things you could have done instead of that particular “yes”. We only have so much room on our plates, so many hours in the day and, if you’re lucky, 4,000 weeks in a lifetime.

Consider a conversation with your Future Self.

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~ Your Future ~

What are your 2025 Plans? Goals? Ideas?