An introduction is due

A new and exciting 2025 goal of mine

I’m a huge fan of the clean slate that the new year brings. A new year hits very differently than a new month or even a new day. Way back in 2013 is when I started the habit of creating goals for the year. That year, I conveniently created 13 goals and missed most of them. Though, I don’t look back at that list and call myself a failure or anything. I approached the year with purpose and still carry some of the successes I’ve had over the years.

I look at a new year as providing an opportunity to slow down — usually in December — to evaluate what I’ve done and where I’m heading. The credit goes to having a growth mindset that can’t stop trying to improve some element of life.

In 2024, I wanted to put a focus on weight training so I set a goal to hit the gym every morning at 4:30 AM. During the pandemic, my focus was on cardio and I really wanted the motivation of seeing people at the gym. The folks just grinding away had no idea that they were inspiring me to show up and work. I went to the gym Monday-Friday for 6 months and dropped my weight 25 pounds; from 200 to 175. I would consider it a moderate success, which is win in my mind. Some bigger wins was reading 5 pages every day of 2024, which resulted in finishing 11 books. And journaling every day.

In 2025, I’ve set 10 goals for myself. One of them brings me here. In the distant past, I shared content through Medium and a personal blog. I’m a fan of leaning on publishing platforms like this—far less friction. I’ve always enjoyed writing process. In fact, I ended my independent contracting journey that involved making apps in 2021 to become a technical writer. Since then, I miss being able to create and share my own “product” with folks like you. So, the big goal in 2025 is to create my first non-fiction book and go through the process to publish it. I don’t expect to publish anything this year, but I at least want to start walking that path to learn.

This Substack isn’t a space to share technical content, which isn’t allowed. Instead, it will involve other passions of mine across smart self-help, productivity, and general life reflections. It’s a space to connect and share while I work on the book, and hopefully help one or two of you out there. The last thing I want to do is work on a product in complete darkness for 12+ months so this’ll give me a space to connect. Don’t expect this to be highly edited, but hopefully valuable as I share thoughts and any research I dig up and experiments I conduct.

While my big goal is to write every day, I’m not sure how this fits into the picture yet, so bare with me while I figure that out. Maybe one post a week—every Sunday—will be a good starting point. Follow along here or over on X for updates, and don’t hesitate to reach out to say hello.

Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. Nice to meet you. I’m David, and I can’t shake the self-improvement itch. Hopefully it wears off on ya a little!

I’ll see you next Sunday. Maybe we’ll talk a little neurodiversity. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what your top three goals are for 2025. Let me know!

---