Design Your Year

“New year, new you” is a funny phrase. January 1 might mark the start of a new year, but you’re still you. 

And that’s a good thing, because the key to starting a new habit or accomplishing an aim is to figure out an approach that works for you. 

Ready to start designing your year? You’re in the right place.

How to Design Your Year

As the new year approaches, many people feel the pull to set goals or create resolutions. But while resolutions are popular, research shows that for many people, they’re not particularly effective.

Designing your year takes a different approach: instead of making sweeping promises to yourself, you’ll use three flexible (and fun) tools—a one-word theme, a yearlong shared challenge, and a list of aims for the year—to help you make consistent progress toward what makes you happy.

You can try one of these tools or use all three together, and you can start any time—January 1, your birthday, the start of the school year, or next Monday.

Design Your Year:
2026 Tools

My research and experience shows that when we set specific aims that match our personal preferences, energy levels, circumstances, and tendencies, we’re far more likely to achieve them.

These tools offer different approaches so you choose the ones that feel right. Whether you’re a New Year’s resolution person (or not), you can put these strategies to work:

  • Choose a one-word theme
  • Join the ’26 in ’26 Challenge
  • Write a ’26 for ’26 List
Get 2026 Tools
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Build Momentum

I’ve been using this Design Your Year framework for years, and while the three core tools stay the same, I create new resources each year with fresh themes, updated lists, and timely challenges.

Arrow pointing in direction of a path

How to Use Determination Day to Get Failed Resolutions Back on Track

Gretchen Rubin's No-Spend Month worksheet thumbnail

No-Spend Month Worksheet

Red piggy bank

How to Do a No-Spend Month (and What I Learned)

How to get organized

My research on habits and happiness shows that for most people, outer order contributes to inner calm. Getting control of your space doesn’t require a major overhaul. The right strategies, applied consistently, make a real difference.

LEARN MORE
Photo of paper organized by color

September is the Other January

New Year’s Day isn’t the only time for a restart. Back-to-school season, or just getting back to your normal routine after summer, is a terrific time for a fresh beginning. September feels like a good time to make a new push. Orange is the new black, breakfast is the new lunch, Monday is the new Thursday, sitting is the new smoking, self-expression is the new entertainment, and September is the other January.

Back to Routine

When September and back-to-school season arrive, the air seems charged with possibility and renewal. Even if you haven’t been in school for years, it’s a terrific time for self-evaluation and reflection. Whether you’re restructuring your days around school or not, take a moment to reset your routines and start new habits.

DOWNLOAD PDF
Back to routine guide

Podcast Episodes

 Episode 601 

Try “Do-Spend September,” Plus a Five-Senses Hack For a Memorable Vacation

LISTEN

 More happier 

Get Ready for Fall in Just 30 Minutes [Revisited]

LISTEN

 EPISODE 443 

Clear the Decks! We Try Something New to Get Ready for September, the Other New Year

LISTEN
Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast key art 2026

Refresh your routine with these resources

A chalkboard with three erasers on top of it
08.20.2026 | Post

Why September Is the Other January, and How to Take Advantage of This Clean Slate.

Four Tendencies colored folders
08.18.2026 | Page

The Four Tendencies

08.15.2023 | Resource

Clear the Decks Bingo

sun illustration

Design Your Summer

Every year on the Happier podcast, we talk about “designing your summer.” The challenge is to identify what you want out of the season and mindfully design your approach so that the months don’t slip away in a blur of obligation and missed opportunity. 

The idea was initially inspired by Robertson Davies, who writes:

“Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather. Circumstances have not allowed me to make a good summer for myself this year…My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures, and adventures are what make a summer.” (The Enthusiasms of Robert Davies). 

Whether you want a season of reflection, refinement, or celebration, there’s no right way to design your summer; just the way that’s right for you.

Design Your Summer Worksheet

How will you design your summer? Every year on the Happier podcast, we talk about “designing your summer.” The challenge is to mindfully design your season, to make sure that you have the summer experience that you want.

DOWNLOAD PDF
Desgin Your Summer worksheet thumbnail

Podcast Episodes

 Episode 587 

How to Design Your Summer

LISTEN

NPR's Life Kit

How to reclaim the magic of summer, according to Gretchen Rubin

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 Episode 379 

Choose Your Summer Song

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 Episode 329 

Explore the Five Senses of Summer

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 Episode 138 

Always Leave Some Room in the Suitcase

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Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast key art 2026

How Will You Design Your Summer?

blue yellow and green balloons
06.30.2026 | Post

This Summer, Design a Daily Recess: 7 Ways to Have More Fun

a row of yellow stars sitting on top of a blue and pink surface
06.25.2026 | Post

How to Review Your Mid-Year Goals: Lessons Learned from Halfway Day

Sunset over mountains and cloouds
05.20.2026 | Post

How to Design Your Summer

a person reading a book
08.15.2025 | Post

How to plan your perfect reading retreat

Gretchen and Elizabeth laying in the grass
06.10.2025 | Post

Build Your Summer Reading List

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10.21.2017 | Post

What's the difference between work and play? It depends.

Webby Awards 2026

Read 25 in 2025

Gretchen Rubin partnered with Bookshop.org, the online marketplace that supports indie bookstores, for her annual group challenge which, that year, was to read 25 minutes a day in 2025. The campaign was selected as a 2026 Webby Honoree.

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Design Your Year: A Guide

The Design Your Year Guide

Life feels richer and more memorable when each season feels distinctive. This guide is designed to help you shape your year, season by season, with reminders to stop, reflect, and consider what changes could make your life happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for happiness and good habits. The exercises in this guide, inspired by the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, offer many creative ways to approach building habits and accomplishing your aims for the year. You can start any time.

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