As I start each year, I like to take a moment to remind myself what leads to a great year and ultimately a great life. Here are some of the most important rules I live by, in a particular order. I hope you find some value in them, too. If not, I encourage you to create your own list and share it with me. God knows I can use all the help I can get.
26 Rules For How To Have A Great 2026.
Nothing works if you don’t. Success is a result of action.
Your habits are your most important asset. You form your habits and then your habits form you.
Add value before you try to extract value. Never forget the order of operations. Your value is directly related to your contribution.
Your best energy is early in the day. Do the big stuff in the morning. But not the Double Stuf. Save that for dessert.
In the end, the only thing that matters is the impact we have on each other. Put people first, and be a positive force in their lives. This is how you get people to show up at your funeral. (This and the all-you-can-eat ham sandwiches.)
Don’t be a jerk. We have enough of them. People need allies and compassion. Not jerkitude.
Get good sleep. Know your ideal amount of sleep and get it as often as you can. Sleep is nature’s power-up.
This too shall pass. Even the really tough stuff will soon be in the rear-view mirror. Just keep swimming.
Exercise is the best medicine. It’s better than an apple at keeping the doctor away. (But speaking of doctors…)
See your doctor and dentist every year. Your scans, blood tests, ograms, and oscopies help find things when they are small and treatable. This can add years or even decades to your life. Do it for your loved ones.
Do hard things. Nothing is better for building confidence and a repertoire of great stories.
Always do what you know is right. This rule has never failed me. Listen to your inner voice. It knows what to do.
When you are right, don’t act in a way that makes you have to apologize.
Invest as much and as early as you can. Let compound interest work its magic, Johnson.
Don’t put your hands in your pockets as you walk up or down stairs. If you trip, you’re going to need those hands to protect your face from the floor.
Travel as much as you can. It provides knowledge, experience, understanding, stories and ideas that last a lifetime. When you are old and can no longer travel, you can always go back in your mind.
Put a case and a screen protector on your phone. It will save you a lot of money.
Burn more calories every day than you take in. That’s the simple formula to maintain a healthy weight.
Don’t worry about how much milk you spill as long as you don’t lose your cow. There will be unfortunate things that cost you money. It’s ok. Just make sure to hold onto the thing that helps you make more money, honey.
A happy marriage is the best thing in the world. I expect the opposite is also true. Prioritize your spouse. Even above your kids. It sets a great example for them.
Reading books is like weight lifting for your brain. Read as much as you can. If you need to you can always buy a bigger hat.
Don’t stick your tongue out when you are in a moving car. Because if you are in an accident, you will bite your tongue off.
Think long term. Don’t try to make or save money today that will cost you money over the years to come.
Take the red eye home from the West Coast. It’s like stealing time.
Spend time with your people in real life. People are better in person. It’s one of the best things you can do for your happiness and well-being.
Capacity is a state of mind. You will do more when you believe you can do more.
(Bonus) Yesterday is the most important day. What you did yesterday enables everything you can do today.
Key Takeaway
The best way to have a great year is to put your accumulated experiences and resulting wisdom to work for you. You’re wiser than you were a year ago. Take advantage of it. Let’s have a great 2026! I hope we get to see each other in real life!
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
One of your greatest responsibilities is making good choices. (Just like your Mom and Dad used to say.)
Your choices are always based on your decision-making criteria, which are based on one of two drivers.
Reaching a goal.
Avoiding a negative.
Ever since I was in high school, I have been making decisions based on my most ambitious goals.
Breaking a state record
Going to a great college
Having a noteworthy career in advertising
Being a good husband and father
Starting a business
Creating a blog
Writing a book
Keeping my teeth in my mouth.
My goals have informed my decisions about what to eat, where I live, which flight I take home from business trips, what time I get up, how I invest my money and a thousand other things.
To live a great life, to enjoy a great career, and to craft an enviable story, make sure that you are making goal-oriented decisions.
Always choose the options that advance you towards your goals.
Pick things that propel you.
Opt for the path to fulfill your dreams.
It’s valuable to take on risks that take you towards the life, the results and the rewards you want.
Always pick the door that leads to growth and expansion.
Be wary of your decisions to avoid.
Avoiding the work.
Or the pain.
Or the sacrifice.
Or the awkward. (I always find awkward is an awkward word to spell. Wouldn’t ockword be less awkward?)
It’s far better to set your north star of purpose, goal achievement, and nonnegotiables.
Those propel, compel, expand and improve your life. They energize and enhance. They help you make your dreams a reality. And that is the hallmark of a life well lived.
Key Takeaway
A great life is built on great decisions. Once you decide what you want your life to be like, your vision should drive all your decisions. And the only things to avoid will be those things that hinder your progress towards your goals.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
The writing and publishing marathons are finite. You complete them and move on. (You should also shower and rehydrate.)
But the promotional marathon only ends when you stop. And when you stop promoting your book your book stops selling.
It’s a good reminder that when you have products or services to sell, you should never stop promoting them. Otherwise, they lose awareness and, in turn, lose value. Because they only have value when people see them, think about them, and value them.
Which means that more exposure leads to greater appreciation. Which leads to preference, desire and demand.
This is how you generate value for your organization.
It’s also how you generate more value for your personal brand.
People have to know you to know your value.
They have to desire what you have in order to give you their money, honey.
If you are unknown, you are also uncompensated.
If your offerings are invisible, they are inconsequential.
If potential customers and clients don’t see you, they won’t see value in you. Unless you sell Invisibility Cloaks. In which case, the opposite is true.
This is why advertising is so valuable.
It’s why trade shows are valuable.
And public relations.
And talking about your offering on social media.
And promotions of all sorts. Even the wacky stuff.
We created The Weaponry to help our clients with all of these activities.
Because the more people who know you, the more they help grow you.
Key Takeaway
Create products worthy of promotion. Offer services that people want. Then talk about them as much as you can. There are always more people who should know about you, your products and your services. You will reap the rewards until the talking stops. Which is why advertising is a never-ending discipline.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
On a recent Saturday morning, I was really lazy. Like, pro-level lazy. I was lazy like a boy in an overstuffed recliner.
I got up early, as usual. I made my son Johann breakfast and made sure he had everything he needed to take the ACT’s that morning. Basically number 2 pencils. But hey…
After Johann left, my wife and I had an empty nest. Our daughter Ava was off at college. Johann was testing at school, and then would be off to practice music with his bandmates. And our youngest son, Magnus, was at a water park for the weekend with his friend Phineas and his family. I assume Ferb was there, too.
So Dawn and I were alone. And we sat in our living room and read. We read for a long time. It was great. And lazy. It felt as if we were finally recovering from our very active trip to Arizona. I hadn’t allowed myself to feel that lazy for a long time.
But then something quite predictable happened. I got itchy to do something. I had sat long enough that I was now compelled to work, to do, to be productive.
So I went outside with a rake and trimming equipment. I cleaned up, cut down and spruced up all of the beds in the back of my house. I then took 3 loads worth of yard waste to the dump.
After that, I came in the house and had a light bulb moment, which sent me on a mission to replace every burned-out light bulb I could find in the home.
Before I knew it, I had 5 hours of productive work done on the laziest Saturday in recent memory. Because for me, laziness serves as a springboard to productivity. I saturate with laziness, and then I have to do something. I lounge until I must labor. Then I labor until I must lounge. It’s a strong and satisfying approach that I recommend everyone have in their playbook.
Key Takeaway
Everyone needs a little downtime to recharge. It provides both a physical and mental reset. As soon as your batteries are fully recharged from rest, get right back to it. Then go until you need a good rest. The cycle will leave you feeling both productive and restored. That’s a win-win.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
The more options you create, the more success you will find.
Comedians know this.
The more jokes you come up with, the more likely you are to have really funny jokes.
To be a raging success, you write lots of jokes. Perform those jokes in front of small crowds. Keep only the ones that work. Toss the rest. Repeat.
If you want more innovation, explore more what-ifs. While it may only take 3 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, it took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts to create a light bulb. (And it took Natalie Merchant 10,000 Maniacs to create a hit song.)
The more people you know, the more likely you are to know a person who can help you open the next door, overcome a challenge, or offer you a kidney.
To find your prince or princess, you must kiss a lot of frogs. Or frogettes.
To catch one muskie, studies show you have to cast an average of 3,000 times.
To create a bag of tricks, you need many tricks. (And a bag.)
At The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency I lead, one of our hallmarks is that we explore a lot of options.
We explore a wide variety of strategies.
We explore as many creative options as the time and budget allow.
Great advertising doesn’t come from crafting one great headline. And designing one look.
There are often hundreds of headlines explored when creating a single ad. And dozens, if not hundreds, of looks.
It creates a large population of options to choose from. And large populations increase the potential for greatness.
So consider many strategic options.
Consider many, many creative options.
Consider many candidates.
And life partners.
Write a lot of jokes.
Pick only the very best ones.
That’s how you do smart things that set you apart.
Key Takeaway
To be successful, you first have to be productive. Create lots of options. You will both become better and create better by doing more. So drill more holes. That’s how you find the gusher.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Like many avid self-improvers, I’m trying to grow into the best version of myself. This means adherence to healthy and productive habits. Which is hard. Because there are a lot of fun things on this planet that are unhealthy and counterproductive. Like sweet tea and turtle sundaes.
But I have found that if you gamify your life, your life becomes more fun and you get better results. This doesn’t simply mean playing more games. It means turning everything into a game. Like Milton Bradley. Or compulsive gamblers.
My life games start when my alarm first goes off in the morning. And they don’t stop until I am in bed again at night. These games help me feel like I am scoring points and winning all day long. It’s an easy way to make the actions that I know I should take each day more enjoyable and rewarding.
Fill Your Day With Games
Your work is packed with opportunities to win every day. But so is your home life, your social life, your health, your wealth, and your general self-improvement activities.
Consider the following ideas to get started.
You can gamify your sleep. Get to bed by a certain time, and you win. Wake up at a pre-set time and you win. Get a set number of hours of total sleep and you win. Don’t get kicked out of bed for snoring, and you win.
You can make weight loss a competition. Or make weight maintenance a game. I track my weight every day with the Happy Scale app, which gives me the opportunity for daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and even lifetime wins. Plus, you get bonus wins when you look in the mirror. And every time you can button your pants.
You can make your good habits a game. Stacking days in a row of consistently completing your good habits at work or at home is a win. There are so many good habits worth developing and maintaining that there are hundreds of ways to win every day. Like Lotto games say. (But don’t play Lotto. Bet on yourself.)
You can turn meeting new people into a game. Gamifying people-meeting incentivizes you to expand your circle of friends and grow your network. Give yourself points for every new person you know by name. Having more friends expands your opportunities, supports your mental health, and gives you more phone-a-friend options if you are ever a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Grow-Your-Net Worth is a game that pays you a cash prize. And increases your peace of mind. Definitely track and stack your assets. And if they hate, then let them hate and watch the money pile up.
I play the Drink-A-Glass-Of-Water-First-Thing-Every-MorningGame. And I am crushing it at this game. Proper hydration is key to great health and human performance. So play this drinking game every morning.
I gamify annual adventures with friends. Gamifying it makes scheduling our time together a priority.
I play the Start-Each-Day-With-A-Smile game. And I’m happier as a result.
I try to be the first one to apologize when I get into a quarrel with a friend or loved one. I also compete to keep the word quarrel in use, since it has been decreasing in popularity for like 500 years.
I track my time on my phone each week and try to keep it below a winning standard.
I try to get to church every Sunday during Advent and Lent to win the Advent and Lent games.
By turning the positive behaviors you want to see from yourself into a game, they become fun to-dos. You can quantify your positive actions. Through small actions, you can put points on the board every day. Which means you can always count the good things you did, even on bad days.
Key Takeaway
You win at life in small ways, every day. By gamifying the actions, habits and behaviors you value, you are giving yourself a fun and easy way to track them, and stack them. It’s a great way to make yourself feel like a winner every day. It’s builds confidence and positive self talk. And it creates a clear and easy guide that you can use to measure your life. So start gamifying your life today. You can play every day. And like the state lottery commission, you can add new games every day to keep your interest up and to encourage the behaviors you value most.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw the band Bombargo. They were playing a free concert in a park 2 miles from my house. The band is a bundle of energy and entertainment from the off-off Broadway, town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Which is also one of the cartooniest place names ever invented. The band was on their Disco Surf Rodeo Tour, because any one of those things on its own is just not enough.
For a flavor of their fun music, check out Let It Grow or Oxygen. (Songs I assume were inspired by The Lorax.)
An hour into their set, the band told an interesting story as they introduced one of their signature songs.
During the winter months, Saskatoon is often among the coldest places on the planet. And during one of those cold spells, the lead singer stopped by his brother-bandmate’s igloo home. His brother-bandmate was playing a new song idea on the piano. The lead singer really liked what he was playing and decided that they should write a song to it.
So they wrote the full song that day.
The next day, they recorded the song, shot a video for it, and shared it online.
Then something swiftdiculous happened. Taylor Swift, the most influential musician on the planet, heard the song, loved it, and added it to her Spotify playlist.
The song immediately blew up thanks to Swift’s endorsement.
The band shared that it was rare for them to work so fast and not tweak a song to death. But it was exactly this speed of creating and sharing that led to the success of the song Mr. No Good.
Reminder
Each of the ideas you bring to life is like a lottery ticket. It has the potential to pay off in a big way. So create it, share it and move on. Don’t analyze it to death. Great work doesn’t have to take a long time. Focus on creating work that you love. If you love it, there is a great chance that others will love it too.
Key Takeaway
Create things you love and share them quickly. It’s the key to being a successful artist, innovator, or entrepreneur. The world benefits from your ideas. And your ideas benefit from real-world exposure. Successful ideas are a percentage game. The more ideas you bring to life, the more likely you are to produce hits. And when you love your creations, there is a great chance others will too. So don’t die with your song in your head, your art in your heart or your startup in your soul.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
The greatest way to increase your value to yourself and others is through reading.
You could just stop reading this post now and go grab a book to read instead.
But I am going to drop some new reading knowledge on you that is worth 90 seconds of attention.
Why Should You Read?
Bill Gates reads about 50 books a year. Or about a book each week.
Warren Buffett famously reads about 500 pages per day.
Lin-Manuel Miranda bought the book Hamilton to read on vacation in Mexico.
So read books that expand your thinking and your knowledge base.
Read to understand how things work.
Read for inspiration, motivation, and all the other great ations.
Read to understand how successful people became successful.
Read about what worked in the past in your field of expertise.
And read to learn what is changing in your field, so you can surf that change, rather than get pummeled by it.
Read to improve your writing and expand your vocabulary.
Read to develop your focus and your patience for long-term goals.
But most importantly…
Read To Separate Yourself From The Pack.
Despite all of the mental nutrition and long-term success that sprouts from reading, a new study just released by researchers at the University of Florida and University College London (which sounds like the fakest British school name ever) found that reading for pleasure among Americans has declined by 40% over the past two decades.
In 2004, 28% of Americans said they read for fun.
In 2023, only 16% said they read because they wanted to.
It is not lost on me, or the researchers, that Facebook launched in 2004 and the iPhone was released in 2007. Together, social media and smart phones may be accomplices, killing reading softly, like Roberta Flack or the Fugees.
This all means that people who read books have a greater competitive advantage now than ever before.
However, this is massively skewed by the avid readers.
In fact, estimates reveal that between 25-46% of adults READ NO BOOKS each year.
And the median number of books read annually by adults is only about 4. That’s how much the average person hates paper cuts.
Which means there are fewer and fewer people after the pot of gold at the end of the Reading Rainbow.
There are fewer people who are willing to do the slow, steady, yet transformational work of knowledge gain through reading. While others are settling for bite-sized bits of video, podcasts, and tweetable wisdom served by algorithms, readers are accumulating broad and deep knowledge that helps make them more capable, valuable and irreplaceable.
The new study also revealed that those who do read for fun are spending more time doing so. Because while haters gonna hate, readers gonna read.
And in the era of artificial intelligence, it is the humans who can contribute more than the machines that will be in greatest demand.
Key Takeaway
Now more than ever, reading is your great competitive advantage. Your self-directed education makes you a valuable and irreplaceable resource. It improves your thinking. Which drives smarter decisions and actions. And it draws other people to you who want to tap into what you know.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
This spring, I began a Misogi Challenge. These are demanding personal challenges that push your limits in order to develop character, confidence and self-reliance. Win or lose, they create great stories that make your obituary a more interesting read.
Such challenges are meant to push your outer limits, with a high likelihood of failure. The 2 basic rules for a Misogi Challenge are that they should be really, really hard. But you are not supposed to die. I have found that there is plenty of room for suffering within those boundaries.
To bench press 300 pounds. Because it is hard. And it’s a nice round number. Especially the two zeros at the end.
To bench press 315 pounds. Because this is three 45 lb plates on each side of the bar, and it looks freaking awesome.
To bench press 335 pounds. Because this was my maximum bench press when I was an 18-year-old high school student. Today, I am 52 years old, and have a white collar job that requires practically no physical labor beyond keyboard tickling.
To live to fight another day. Because I also want to be smart and not push myself to an injury.
This past Sunday, I made my final push to complete my Misogi Bench Press Challenge. #punalwaysintended
I took on the final challenge in my home gym, with my 3 teenage mutant children Ava, Johann and Magnus as witnesses. Not only did I want them with me to spot me, but I knew that having my kids in the room watching would provide additional motivation. And I needed all I could get.
If I succeeded, I would be setting a great example of hard work, determination and personal accomplishment for my kids. If I failed, I would be showing my kids that sometimes we set lofty goals for ourselves, and we fall short. But it’s the attempt that matters. It isMan In The Arena stuff. Which is also Woman In The Arena stuff.
I started with a 10-minute warmup on my Matrix elliptical machine. Then I stretched well. I believe that my commitment to warming up and stretching before my workouts has been key to my performance, injury prevention and longevity. My body still works and feels mostly the way it should. And I still have most of my original factory parts.
So I readied myself for the goal weight of 335 pounds. This was the weight that I had been focused on for months. It would answer the question, ‘Can you be as strong at 52 years old as you were when you were a high school kid, training during the peak of your high school career?’ I was a strong 18-year-old kid. I was the state champ in the shot put. I was the New England Champion in the discus. And I never saw another kid in my high school bench 335 lbs or more.
To hit that same weight 34 years later was a daunting task. But a major win if I could do it. Because coming up just 5 lbs short of the mark would mean that I wasn’t quite as strong as I was at 18. Certainly understandable. But also a bummer to lose the competition with my 18-year-old Zubaz-wearing self.
I prowled around the room, yelling motivation to myself. I have always been my own best hype man. I worked myself into a lather in a process I call Summoning. The basic premise is that we all have some maximum physical capability. The key to acheiving the maximum physical performance is to summon as much of your capacity as you can. So I summon as much energy, focus and fury as I can. It may be a little embarrassing to see on film, but it has always driven results. So I go with it.
I had Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)on 11 in my AirPods. This is my go-to bench press song. Something about the lyrics (Breathe In now Breathe out, Hands up now Hands down…) feels highly appropriate for bench pressing. Plus, swear words get me hyped. (Sorry, Mom.)
I lay down on the bench, gripped the bar, and twisted it until it felt just right. I counted aloud, 1…2…3! And hoisted the bar off the red Rogue rack. I lowered the fully-loaded bar down to my chest and pushed with everything I had.
And the bar began to rise off my chest.
I knew I had it.
I began to yell as I pushed the bar through the full range of motion.
My kids didn’t even get a chance to yell encouragement at me, because I was yelling at myself. And the bar was obviously moving north.
I locked out the top position, re-racked the bar, and went freaking nutz-o!
I was so hyped I just kept yelling, and celebrating. I grabbed the hands of each of my 3 kids who were spotting me. Johann, then Magnus then Ava.
Then I turned and yelled at the camera. It was a Seven-Yeah Celebration. Like Usher would do.
I was so freaking hyped!
I had set a high bar for this Misogi Challenge.
And I met it.
With all 3 of my kids as witnesses.
And 2 cameras rolling, to catch the result, win or lose.
But I knew I hadn’t hit my limit. So I decided to try one more attempt. This would be above my goal weight. So I turned to Ava, my most experienced offspring in the iron arts, and asked, ‘Should I go for 340 or 345 lbs?’
Without hesitating, she said, ‘340. You always tell me to make sure I get the lift, rather than stretching too far.’
So she served up the good advice I had been dishing out. And I took it.
Now I was playing with house money. Plus, at that point, I had happy-hype coursing through my system.
5 minutes later, with Black Sabbath’s Iron Man sawing through my AirPods, I lay down under the bar, again. I un-racked the bar, lowered it and pressed. The weight moved. My kids blasted me with encouragement. I pushed at full strength until I had locked out the weight. Then I re-racked the bar.
I was instantly flooded with my favorite feeling: MaxHap. It’s the term I use for maximum happiness. It’s my version of self-actualization. Or flow. Or euphoria. It’s the drug that Huey Lewis was seeking. And I still haven’t found a negative side effect.
Everything had gone right. I set and met a hard goal, with a high chance of failure. Then I exceeded it. Which meant that I can say definitively that I am stronger at 52 than I was at 18. And I was 6 feet tall and 215 pounds back then. And headed to the University of Wisconsin to throw for the Badgers. Yet somehow, 34 years later, I was still pushing myself. That’s some crazy train stuff, Ozzy!
But even better, I experienced this with my kids. They were all in the room where it happened. They saw me attempt something hard and succeed. They saw me working towards my goal for months. They saw me fail reps along the way, but I kept on going. They saw the focus, determination and craziness that I tapped into to rise to the occasion. They were there to encourage me. And to catch me if I failed.
That was an amazing experience.
Now I am done with this challenge. I have banked the results in my list of life experiences. It has bolstered my confidence and my belief that I can handle hard things. So I move forward, mentally stronger than I was before I started. Which is the whole point of the challenge.
Key Takeaway
Push yourself to do hard things. Stretch your limits. Test yourself. Make commitments to yourself that are hard to keep. Then keep them anyway. It will build your confidence and self-reliance. It will toughen you up. The work and the suffering and pushing past your past limits make you feel alive and ready for anything. Give yourself a Misogi Challenge. Because when the world becomes too comfortable, you need to seek out discomfort to grow and experience life more deeply. Make it a regular part of your life. It will help you live a life worth talking about. Which means that whether or not you win or lose your self-challenge, you win at life.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Adam Albrecht Blog 