2026 - Year of Making

Work / Life balance is something that we talk about a lot at work. I think the problem with it is, work AND life are often intertwined and leaving the office, especially when you work from home, is challenging.

With this years theme, I want to get more hands on. I want to see the results of the work or craft that I put in. This can be seen as a rebranding of the year of learning where I wanted to learn certain skills in the shop and ended up learning the skills needed for a new role. While successful, it didn’t hit all that I was looking to do.

Sitting at a desk or a workbench with many half finished projects, I want to focus on finishing and making things. Sure mistakes are part of what will be made, but I want to see if I challenge myself. Can I accomplish and put in the work to make what I have had in my mind for many years now.

The year of making is not focused purely on woodworking projects, there are several technical projects that combine the two or are on their own something in the digital space that I want to make.

So here is the plan…

  • Get out into the shop more. Sure it might be cold, but there are shop projects, Christmas ornament ideas, other turning projects that I’d like to do, and some general art that I wanted to play around with that I have had in my head.

  • Unplug from work This has become easier with the separation on my phones, but I need to get off my phone more and do more hands on. Get back to coding in a regular cadence.

  • Stop and smell the roses part of the year of making is also making some memories. Whether with friends, family or people I meet along the way, I hope that I can look back at 2026 and feel some sense of accomplishment personally and hopefully professionally as well.

Off we go!

A wise man named Bob Byrnes once said…

Whatever you do in your life, you have to work really damn hard to make it special.

Time to go to make it special.

Past Themes

You can see past themes here: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020

More about the Theme System

In case you have missed it in the past, I’ve decided to switch from the usual goals for a year to a theme. Sure there are some measurement or ideas on where I would like something to go. But this is more about making choices and having some momentum towards a certain change in my life that I’d like to make. If you would like more on setting a theme for a year or season, I suggest you check out The Theme System or watch this quick video from their page: