For the past couple of years, I've set myself a year theme. The idea is that rather than setting new year's resolutions – which often have an implicit fail state and can lead to disappointment and loss of motivation – you set a theme: a word or phrase that guides your year and informs the choices that you make. I got the idea from Myke and Grey on the Cortex podcast.
As someone who does a lot of journalling, year themes have been a great addition to the way I work. They are intentionally broad and can cover many areas of your life, not just work. As I review my week or quarter, I use my year theme to guide how I make decisions and stay focused on what's important to me.
Grey's video does a great job introducing the concept and is worth a watch:
Last year, my year theme was The Year of Fatherhood (coincidentally the same theme as Myke).
My daughter was born in December of 2024, so last year was all about navigating life as a new dad: figuring out a new work-life balance, learning how to change nappies, understanding what 'colic' means, wondering if I'd ever have a full night's sleep again, and so on.
It was an easy year theme for me to follow since it was obviously the most important thing in my life last year (and will be for the foreseeable future). The theme helped me be a better dad and husband throughout the year.
This year, my year theme is The Year of Connection: I want to work on becoming a better communicator, a better listener, and get better at creating and maintaining friendships and relationships.
I'm in my eleventh year of running 16by9 and the work I do continues to evolve. I'm working on bigger projects, taking on more responsibility, and getting deeper into strategy and consultative work. This work requires that I communicate with more clarity and confidence and get better at active listening.
I'm also thinking about how I market 16by9 this year. This might mean more podcast appearances and webinars – things that, quite frankly, terrify me. I have a number of workshops scheduled for the first quarter of this year, so public speaking is increasingly becoming a bigger part of what I do.
Towards the end of last year, I organised a dozen or so calls with fellow freelancers. There was no agenda: just saying hello, discussing what we do, sharing war stories, and exploring how we might work together. It was a really rewarding experience, and a reminder that there are so many kind and talented people out there. I want to keep this up and continue to create space to have more spontaneous conversations with interesting people. One of the ways I facilitate this is through my Unoffice Hours.
On the personal side, I want to build stronger connections with my family and friends. My wife and I want our daughter to feel like she can talk to us about anything, but to get there, we need to model that behaviour ourselves. So I want to work on how I communicate with my wife. I tend to keep things bottled up rather than share them, and this is something I've been working on over the past few years. This theme is a continuation of that journey.
In my circle of friends, I'm the guy who often makes things happen. I've often found this frustrating but I've learned to accept this is my role, and I want to lean into it by being the one who organises meals and social events.
If you are someone who reflects on your work regularly, I recommend giving a year theme a try. For more inspiration, Myke recorded a video about his year theme for 2026.