Why hello there! It’s good to have you all reading here in 2026. This has been my longest break from writing on this publication. And I’ve missed it!
It’s been a strange couple of months to end 2025. Let’s recap a little bit.
Back in October, I left my job at the marketing agency I had been working at for seven years. It certainly wasn’t unexpected, the proverbial writing had been on the wall for a while. There was new management that brought different viewpoints on how the job should be done. And of course, there was plenty of new AI software that could do aspects of my job far quicker and more thoroughly than I could ever imagine.
Seven years is a long time to work somewhere. In that span of time, a company will inevitably start to recycle ideas that didn’t work the first time around. You start to feel like the institutional knowledge and experience you possess becomes more of a liability than an asset. I had simply just outgrown the position and there was nowhere to go but out. It’s never easy leaving a role you’d been in for that long, but I had come to terms with it long before it actually happened.
So that left the end of 2025 feeling even more transitional or transient than the holiday months typically feel. The new found freedom gave me more time to spend with my kids and really dive into my community. I found myself volunteering for everything I could at my daughter’s elementary school. It gave me time to wrap up training for a half marathon in which I bettered my time from a year ago despite being older and more gray this time around.
Perhaps it was just coincidence that I also managed to take first place in two fantasy football leagues this year. Not a bad way to pocket some extra cash during the holiday season but also a very fun way to stay in touch with old friends while making some great new ones as well.
In the last few months, I also completed my certification as an electrification coach through Rewiring America. With so much awful news everyday about the state of our environment and what little our government is doing about it, I found solace in the things I could control. I could make sure that my home had no appliances that were powered by fossil fuels. No gas dryer. No gas stove. No gas water heater. No gas furnace. No cars with internal combustion engines.
It was way more complicated and expensive than it should have been, but I was able to fully electrify my home and remove the gas meter in December. And I installed a 16kwh battery system to store energy collected from the rooftop solar array. And all the information that I learned along the way just needs to be shared with other homeowners (and renters for that matter) so they can do the same. Hence the electrification coach certification. After several weeks of in-depth classes learning about heat pumps, EV charging, and solar panels, I wrap-up the certification with a capstone project that lets me share what I learned and help others. So this weekend I’ll be hosting an event at my home to show off the work to interested community members so they can attempt to replicate it. By no means do I have all the answers to climate change, but I think I know more than the average citizen and I’m happy to help others in any way possible.
Since moving on from my previous job, I’ve given more focus to the work I do at Caveday. If you’re anything like the millions of people who’ve set intentions to get more done this year, you should book a session at Caveday to see what it’s all about. I will likely be ramping up the number of caves that I personally lead each week, and you’ll certainly see me attending plenty of other caves where I can block out distractions and make those meaningful community connections that help keep motivation high. Nearly all of the writing I do in this space is completed in the friendly confines of “the cave”.
And after a bit of a hiatus while my son was born, I am getting back into coaching. Yes, did you know that I’ve been helping clients improve their relationship with technology and build positive productivity habits since 2014? My how time flies. In addition to Caveday being an amazing New Year’s resolution tool, maybe you just need some one-on-one time with someone to help clarify your intentions and hold you accountable. And if you’ve enjoyed reading my writing, you’d likely enjoy having me as your coach. Feel free to check out the coaching page of my website or just send me a direct message on Substack if you want to chat about it. I’m open to taking on a small group of new clients in addition to revisiting some of my past clients in the coming weeks. It would be great to get some Iterate readers on board.
It wouldn’t be a proper new year update without some tech and gadget news! What new gear have I been enjoying lately? After a few years of toying with the idea, I finally swapped out my MacBook Pro for a Mac Mini and I’ve been loving it. From roughly 2008-2021 I had an iMac on my desk. Yes, I had plenty of other laptops along the way, and there was a stretch when my outdated iMac felt more like home decor than a productive machine. But the point is that I really do love a solid Mac desktop computing experience. The current line of iMacs just don’t do it for me. The Mac Mini is arguably the best deal in computing right now. I scored the base Mac Mini M4 through a Microcenter deal for only $399. It works great with my existing Samsung Smart Monitor and the Apple keyboard and trackpad that I had been using with my laptop setup.
When away from my desk, I still loving using my Pixelbook. I know it’s probably on its last legs but it hasn’t made me miss my Mac laptop at all. Its battery life is still better than the far newer Macbook Pro I just traded-in. I like typing on the keyboard better than a MacBook keyboard. It has a touchscreen and can flip into a tablet while weighing barely more than an iPad. It’s a magnificent little device and can even let me remotely access the Mac Mini for any Apple-specific things I need to do.
In conclusion, Mac Mini + Pixelbook = still an amazing computing combo in 2026.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading my rambling new year update and apologies for the lack of new writing over the past few weeks. I’ve been busy. But I’m very excited for all of the possibilities of 2026. I may still take a break from the steady twice weekly updates, but there will be new and hopefully very interesting writing coming your way soon.
Hey! Could you use some help establishing healthy habits? Do you have a big project or new business that you want to get off the ground but could use some advice? Maybe you could benefit from hiring me as your coach. If you’re interested, read more about my coaching services here, or go ahead and book some time on my calendar to discuss further.
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