12/31/2025
Happy New Year from Vietnam 🇻🇳
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions.
I resolve to get better every day and I never beat myself up for not accomplishing what I set out to do. Life happens.
When you think of every day as a fresh start, and sometimes every hour, it takes the pressure off.
I do pick a word for the year though.
This year my word is ruthless.
I know that sounds odd for someone with lotus, om, and chakra tattoos, but it’s actually one of the most spiritual words I know.
I plan to be ruthless with how I spend my time. If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no, unless I’m legally, financially, morally, or ethically required to do it.
I’ll be ruthless with who I work with and who I volunteer with. If it doesn’t help advance the legal profession, legal education, responsible AI, human rights, or the fate of democracy, I’m not doing it.
Unless it’s fun.
I’ll also be ruthless about rest.
There have been seasons where I worked fourteen hours a day for weeks at a time, weekends included.
When you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work.
But it still feels like work to your body.
So I’ll be ruthless with access to my time and energy.
And I’ll be ruthless about letting go of control. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be moving through several cities in Vietnam with a side trip to Cambodia.
Other than flights and hotels, I’m going with the flow. That’s usually when the best ideas and relationships show up.
I’m looking forward to the best year of my life.
Are you?
Do you have a word or mantra for 2026?