Annual Reviews, New Year's Resolutions & Earning your Manpoints

Annual Reviews

I'm writing this on New Year's eve 2025 and currently my news feed is filled with two things; photo dumps from the year and messages about conducting an annual review.

For those who aren't aware, an annual review is an opportunity to take time and reflect on the past 365 days. This could be an open journal style review or you could answer specific questions to make you speak about certain aspects of your life in the past 12 months. While this isn't something I've completed every year, it is something I intend to do this year as I believe it will be helpful to plan goals for 2026. I'm currently torn between completing Chris Williamson's review or Ali Abdaal's review. Both are linked below, in case you're interested.

Chris Williamson's Review
Ali Abdaal's Review

New Year's Resolutions

As mentioned above, my reasoning for completing an annual review this year is so I can better plan goals for 2026. I'm not a big one for New Year's resolutions, at the end of the day if you can start something on the 1st of January then why not start it on the 4th of November (or any other date for that matter)? But I see their value. The turn of a new year presents us with a socially accepted time for reflection and goal setting that doesn't really exist at any other time (other than perhaps birthdays).

Though many people's resolutions are based on trackable metrics (and this is the research backed way of setting goals), it is important not to set too strict a target at the beginning of the year. Goals such as "go to the gym every day" are far too definite and strict to be achievable. What happens when you get food poisoning and can't go to the gym? Your resolution is broken, you get a dip in motivation, and suddenly you haven't attended the gym for two weeks. Instead think about a goal such as "attend the gym consistently, 3-4 times a week". This is far more achievable and also falls into place with one of James Clear's top tips for building a habit "don't skip two days in a row".

Earning your Manpoints

In recent years there's been a shift in the way we think about men's mental health which has "allowed" more people to openly share their struggles in public spaces. Despite this, there is still an element of "worth" required before it feels acceptable to do this. For example, no one questions Chris Bumstead (7 time Olympia bodybuilding champion) when he talks about his mental health struggles, but when someone opens up on the local village Facebook group the negative comments come in waves. It's almost as if you have to have gained a certain credit in "Manpoints" before you're able to show vulnerability. As if it is only okay to talk about your mental health struggles if you've been a world champion bodybuilder or sports star.

This is a reminder that this isn't true. Despite how it may feel, every person is entitled to speak about their struggles. In talking about your struggles, you enable others the space to do the same. It is only by people opening up that the stigma of men's mental health is shrunk.