2026
I'm not a massive life planner. However, I do have a few things in my head that I want to fix/improve/accomplish in 2026. So I thought I'd write them down and publish the list here, primarily to keep myself accountable.
Theme
I remember hearing this on a Relay.fm podcast years ago, and it was about each year having a theme. Which then could be quickly used when making big or small decisions throughout the year, to keep you on track.
For 2026 I don't really have a single word, but more of a rough plan. Which I guess could also work as a "theme".
My plan is:
Focus → Growth → Productivity
I want to first focus myself, whether at home or at work. I want to find my lane.
Next up is to grow in these areas. I want to be better at work, I want more time with my family, I want to waste less time, and I want to produce more.
Which leads into the third step. I want to produce more.
These steps may seem quite silly, of course I want these things. Everyone wants more focus, growth, and productivity. But I want it in a specific order. I don't want to produce 20 side projects that no one uses, and I don't want to work on improving in areas that aren't important.
Plans
Work
I work at Ant International as a Senior Software Engineer, typically on WorldFirst products.
Most of my projects were related to the multi-currency World Card product, but I started carving out a niche with one of our systems, which I currently own. So next year I plan to spend more time on the architecture level of this project, and to work out how to grow this system[1].
But I'm not just an engineer, I also lead a team of three other engineers. This year was my first experience of leading other people, so I've definitely got areas to grow here. Primarily being able to delegate work, and to let them take projects on with full ownership.
Technology
There's not much I want to change regarding my technology usage. I will likely keep using an iPhone, and also continue using both a Mac and Framework laptop interchangeably.
In that regard, I should spend more time unifying my dotfiles for these machines, along with my work Mac as well.
Other than that, the only thing I want to change is my email.
Social Media
For social media, I sort of want to use it less, but also more.
Currently I use Mastodon, X, and Instagram.
For X it's two things, following football, and the tech/programmer community that hasn't switched to Mastodon[2].
For Mastodon, it's sort of everything else that X/Twitter was.
And for Instagram, I share the occasional photo here, but primarily it's keeping up with friends and family.
But overall, I want to spend less time reading and consuming social media, and more time with actual communication. So less endless scrolling, but maybe more writing, and definitely more talking to people.
And as for talking to people, I want to find even more cool and interesting people to talk to this year.
Projects
I don't want to say anything too crazy when it comes to next years projects. But I have two main goals:
- Finish and release a revamped Text Case iOS and macOS app.
- Release a new project.
The Text Case project has already started. I've been using Claude to clean up the code and bring it up to speed. And in the new year, I have a few ideas of what I want to add to the app.
For the other project, this is intentionally vague. I don't really care what it is, a new app, or even a web service. But I haven't finished a big project in a while. And one way to incentivise myself to both build and maintain this project is if it generates some form of income. So that's the rough plan.
Travel
I travel a lot.
In any given year, I'll end up going to various cities in the UK, a few in mainland Europe, and a sunny trip to the Canary Islands in the winter time.
But if I could just note a few ideas for 2026:
- I want to go to Rome for the first time.
- I want to go back to Norway. This time taking my partner and daughter.
- If I can wrangle it through work, I want to also travel to China again.
Writing
- chrishannah.me - Personal blog
- codeandculture.uk - My "serious" writing. (Only just launched)
- journeysthroughglass.net - My various journeys with technology.
You can read this post if you want more details on the split between the three. My only goal for my writing in 2026 is that I continue writing all types of content, and that I keep all three blogs active.
Listening
I haven't regularly listened to podcasts in some time. I want to explore them again, and maybe I'll find something to fill my commute time with.
Reading
This year I want to read 100 books.
But let's be honest, I plan on reading more books every year, and it doesn't really change.
So I want to focus on what I do read. And that is blog posts via RSS.
Firstly, I want to allow myself to skip more. Sometimes I feel like if I follow a site, I need to read everything from that site. I've now decided that's a waste of time, and it's a waste of mental energy. If I don't find something interesting, I'm going to follow Marie Kondo's advice.
And secondly, I want to expand what I'm reading. So now I'm becoming much quicker to subscribe to an RSS feed. Especially as I'm now releasing myself from the need to make sure I read everything.
In related news, I just went to my RSS reader and marked everything as read.
So now I've got a nice clean slate, ready for the new year.