Good luck babe, your 2026 bingo card is almost ready
How to strat plan for happiness
We are somehow less than 30 days away from the end of 2025. Between Trump’s tariffs, Gen Z protests, the Louvre heist, and nuns escaping to their abandoned convent, it has been unhinged. Truly. And somehow, Zaldy Co remains at large, and I’m just here waiting for him to become another podcast bro.
I’ve tried many ways to process this year’s chaos (especially the parts none of us could control), but there is absolutely no sane or logical method for making sense of it. So instead of forcing logic, I decided to just fuck it, be happy.
Here is my personal strat-planning guide for 2026. The intention is to plan for happiness because being happy amidst this chaos is productive, strategic, and essential.
Part 1. A 3x3 audit of everything you did great/your highlights reel
Before you attempt to architect a happier 2026, you need to review the receipts. This section is divided into three parts: the internal work, your attempt to expand your world, and the effective rituals for grounding and sanity. Sample (fictional) answers in parentheses.
Doing the work
Where did you show growth, restraint, or upgraded emotional skills? (I finally learned how to ask for help without feeling burdensome or small)
What did you do that made you quietly proud?
What accomplishments felt earned, not accidental?
Touching grass
What conversations, places, or ideas energized you? (I saw a 76-year-old woman crushing those Hyrox wall balls)
What experiences made your world feel a little bigger this time?
What activities made an hour feel full in the best way?
Staying sane
What rituals helped you regulate, reset, or breathe again? (Reading for 45 minutes first thing in the morning)
What moments made you feel genuinely grateful or present?
Which relationships or communities made you feel supported, steady, and held?
Part 2. 3x3 - Your Bingo Card
Part 2 is the Bingo Card itself. This is where you name a few ideas for progress, a few for curiosity, and a few for basic human sanity. Take a cue from Part 1 and reflect on the quality of the experiences/interactions, so you can make it part of the following year.
Note that these are tiny upgrades and not sweeping transformations because we don’t want to be part of the January gym crowd. Make them manageable, humane, and low-pressure (for y’all avoidants JK).
Three things for progress
One thing I’ll continue improving (Continue Hyrox training on Saturdays 1-3 PM at Gym X)
One habit I’ll formalize
One tiny upgrade with the potential to compound over time
Three things for curiosity
One thing I want more of (Conversations with strangers whose jobs I don’t understand)
One thing I want to try
One thing I want to learn
Three things for sanity
One thing I’ll protect (My reading time and snuggle time with fur children)
One thing I’ll simplify
One thing I’ll ask for (support, time, space)
Part 3. Systems and Resources
Part 3 is where intentions (should) turn into infrastructure.
This is the section that helps you create the conditions for your Bingo Card to actually happen, rather than relying on motivation or hope. Think of it as giving your future self a supported runway for the year ahead.
Set time and energy. Give your plans a home on your calendar with specific dates and times, so they become an appointment rather than a vague aspiration. “Someday” needs to have a date: daily Spanish practice, weekly Hyrox classes, or that annual physical you avoid until the HR manager alerts you.
Procure the tools and set up (physical) space. You can start with the free ones. An app, a book, running shoes, or software that makes your habits easier to manage. To quit smoking back in 2020, I used the Smoke Free App (and joined a community of quitters on Facebook). And then I replaced the lighter and ashtray with a cart full of snacks.
Involve the community. Invite people into the process. Friends, mentors, trainers, coworkers, group chats, or even that one overly enthusiastic classmate can turn a lonely goal into something supported, witnessed, and occasionally lovingly bullied into existence.
Allocate money. Look at the costs attached to the life you want and plug the costs into a working budget.
So that’s the whole experiment: a tiny strat-planning system for happiness, sanity, and only the amount of productivity required to remain employed.
If you use it, please tell me what landed and what absolutely did not.
This is a prototype, and your feedback is the only way it evolves into something real.
Good luck, babe!
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