$❯ CrowderSoup

I’m sitting here writing this on the couch of the in-law suite at my girlfriend’s parents’ house in St. George, Utah.

Now that is a sentence I never would have guessed I’d be writing last year. Honestly, it’s not even a sentence I think I could have guessed I’d be writing back in April. But here I am.

That feels like as good a place as any to pause, look forward, and write down a few goals for 2026. I’m a firm believer that growth without goals is mostly accidental, and I’d like to be a little more intentional this year.

Personal

I want my personal goals to be simple, measurable, and rooted in showing up consistently.

• 40 hikes. Each over two miles, on dirt. Less treadmill, more trail. More being outside and less being online.
• 40 blog posts. Writing is how I think best, and I want to keep treating this blog as a place to work things out in public.
• 12 books. Actual books, read slowly, without trying to optimize for productivity.
• More presence. Fewer distracted moments, more intentional ones, especially with the people I care about.

Nothing flashy here. Just a steady bias toward doing things that make my life feel bigger and quieter at the same time.

Professional

Professionally, 2026 starts with a big change. On January 12th, I’m starting a new role as a staff engineer at getoutlaw.com.

My goals here are less about titles or outcomes and more about how I want to show up.

• Ramp quickly and earn trust by shipping real, useful things early.
• Learn the domain deeply, not just the codebase, but the customers, constraints, and tradeoffs behind it.
• Operate at the staff level, by making the people around me more effective and the systems I touch easier to understand.
• Be boring and reliable. Fewer heroics, more consistency.

If I look back at the end of the year and feel like I helped create clarity and momentum, I’ll consider that a win.

The blog and side projects

I also want to keep investing in this blog and the software behind it.

What started as “my personal blog” has slowly become something more interesting to me. I want to keep pushing it toward being more than just my home on the internet. Something that encourages writing, ownership, and connection rather than feeds and metrics.

I don’t have all the answers yet, and that’s part of the appeal. The goal for 2026 is simply to keep building, keep experimenting, and let it evolve in public.

Looking ahead

These goals aren’t contracts. They’re anchors.

Plans will change. Life will do its thing. But having a direction written down makes it easier to notice when I’m drifting and easier to come back when I do.

I’m excited for 2026. Let’s see where it goes.