Instead of a List, I'm Making a 2026 Bingo Board

Hello, and happy holidays from the depths of consulting case interview prep! Despite the extra work, I have had a lovely holiday break so far, and I hope you have too. As 2026 fast approaches, I wanted to make a quick post to share my favorite take on new year’s resolutions: creating a bingo board of my hopes and dreams for the year ahead. It’s a fun twist on the typical lists that we’re all writing and preparing to abandon by the end of January. This year, some of my friends and family joined me in a creating bingo boards, so I thought I would share the idea here, too, along with a printable board that you can use if you’d like to give it a try.

The premise is simple: fill in each box of the bingo board with a goal for 2026, and cross the box off when that goal is completed. I just squeaked out a bingo for 2025, but also filled in over half of the boxes along the way, which is a result I’m pretty happy with! I’m planning to keep my bingo boards as a way to remember the big-picture vision of each year. (I added bullets in the margins for things that happened that I didn’t have on my bingo board, as well as context notes for goals achieved- there are no rules here!)

To fill in the board, you’ll need to come up with 24 goals, which is quite a lot. I like to include a mix of easy goals and stretch goals across four to six categories, with some silly or harebrained items thrown in. You never know how the year will play out, and the bingo board gives you some flexibility to roll with the punches- maybe you’ll knock out your hardest challenges, or maybe this will be a year that only has room for easy wins. On my 2025 board, goals ranged from ‘eat a ghost pepper’ to ‘finish 2 sketchbooks’ to ‘do a muscle up’- that last one is getting carried over into 2026, but I’m proud of the work I put toward it this year, even though I didn’t reach it. Some goals became less important to me over time, and I ended up not attempting them at all, while some goals motivated me for the whole year. Since you can ‘win’ the bingo by checking off only four goals, there is a lot of room to dream big or dream silly. Maybe you have a theme for the year, and craft your bingo board to support it. Maybe you have vague goals that you leave up to your future self to interpret (‘learn a new skill’ or ‘be kind to myself’), or hyper-specific S.M.A.R.T. goals. The board is your oyster, and you can craft it however you like.

I keep my bingo board on the wall next to my desk and look at it every day. As a chronic check-lister, I have found it to be a satisfying way to keep my goals in mind without the pressure of a typical new year’s resolutions list. If you want to make your own 2026 Bingo board, here is a simple, printable template you can use to get started:

Whatever your vision for 2026, I hope it exceeds your expectations. Wishing you a bright and beautiful New Year, and thanks for reading.