New year’s resolutions are, to me, akin to superstitions. There is really no reason to let a human construct define your goals. However, even though they don’t make much sense, I can’t help but keep making them every year. Perhaps, like most people, I want to find ways to motivate myself—whether it’s meeting goals or setting up new habits.

I usually don’t write my resolutions down. Instead, I reflect a little on how I feel about the way things are going in my life. From there, I start considering what can be done in an unstructured way. There are no deadlines or strict targets.

This approach to setting resolutions has been working so far. By not making targets too strict, I don’t get frustrated if the resolutions aren’t fully implemented or achieved. However, something changed this year. I’m not sure if it’s my age or the times we live in, but I’ve been feeling very dissatisfied with how I’ve been living.

While good things happened in 2024—such as a wonderful time off work to spend with my little kid and acquiring German citizenship—I’ve had the nagging feeling that I’ve been wasting my free time on things that neither bring satisfaction nor lead anywhere meaningful.

Namely, my habits of reading news and browsing social networks are bringing more misery than joy. I’m really tired of wasting time mindlessly scrolling through my phone for hours, consuming information about things I can’t control, which only leave me feeling depressed, or bingeing on tech articles consumed like fast food.

Since becoming a father, my free time has, as expected, become shorter. Wasting that precious time on mindless consumption eats away at opportunities I could better use for exercising, learning, or even enjoying more fulfilling forms of entertainment.

This year, I want to change. As I learned from the book Atomic Habits, adding friction is a great way to stop bad habits. Here’s what I’ve done to combat mindless media consumption:

  • Set up NextDNS with deny rules to block access to time-draining websites.
  • Deleted social media apps from my phone. Today, I even deleted Twitter—it felt great.
  • Made it a rule not to keep my smartphone within reach at all times.

Here’s what I plan to do with my recovered time:

  • Exercise more. At the very least, I’ll do the scientific 7-minute workout.
  • Become a producer instead of a consumer. I’d like to write more, and perhaps find joy in an outside-of-work programming project.
  • Continue learning Japanese as a hobby and German as a necessity. Last year, I felt I didn’t find the time or energy to put in the necessary effort for language learning.

So far, six days into the year, it seems to be going well. I’ve revived this blog’s dependencies and deployment workflow, so I can start posting more often. Hopefully, this is the first of many posts. I’m not committing to a specific number of posts—I’ll write whenever I feel like it.

I also don’t care whether anyone reads these posts. Writing is mostly for myself. That said, if I create something worthwhile, I might share it in relevant spaces. The most important thing is not to get frustrated if writing doesn’t work out. While I’d like to share my thoughts, staying fit, healthy, and continuing to learn remain my top priorities.

I’m not sure if this post will ever be read (and I refuse to add counters or comments to this site), but to anyone who stumbles upon it: I wish you a happy 2025 and much success in achieving your goals and dreams!