25 Things to Start in 2025
It’s going to be hard to top the list of 24 Things to Start in 2024, so if you’re new here, take a peek back.
Times have changed, but starting a new year is the same glorious start-fest. We have a fresh new year to mess up, and the more messes we make, the more beauty and growth will leak out. Click here for a refresher on that, too.
From me to you, ideas to start in 2025!
A play list.
A journal. I know, this was on last year’s list. It will also be on next year’s list. Because journals are the way we talk to ourselves to remember what we started and why. My daughter JUST NOW called to tell me of a major life decision she made because she was rereading her journal yesterday. “I have felt this way for a year. What makes me think this will change if I don’t make a change?”
Yep. Start your 2025 journal.
A travelogue. A journal about your trip that you can share.
A tiny book. Do you have a book in you? Of course you do. Start small. You can buy tiny blank books online and fill them with your first steamy romance or short How-To lesson. Then you can put “author” on your resume! It’s awesome.
A better system. Is there something you do often that will be more fast, easy or excellent with a better system? Not to brag, but I make amazing smoothies for myself every day and I have a system of prepping ingredients that makes it go so fast I would NEVER grab a pastry instead.
A signature smoothie. What do YOU put in the blender to make a flavor that is uniquely yours? Play with it, get it just right, commit it to a recipe and tell the world about it, so we can make it too. And you thought you couldn’t change the world before lunch!
A morning routine. Do you have one? If you have a go-to smoothie, you’re halfway there. Most of us don’t have a true routine, or we could use a better one. Make 2025 the year you figure out how to get your day off to its best start.
A new stacked habit. Give new healthy habits a head start by pairing or stacking them. Habit stacking or pairing is a well studied method of reinforcing habits by combining a new behavior, like doing breathing exercises, with a rock-solid habit, like waiting for your coffee to brew. Or, you can pair a task you don't yet enjoy with something you like to do.
A walking habit. We can all benefit from regular walking. Did you know it boosts creativity? This year, I’m stacking on – when I walk or work out on the elliptical, I’m listening to my Spanish podcasts.
A riding club. Horses, bicycles, Harleys, paddle boards…it’s always more fun with others moving in the same direction.
A posse! A group to ride at dawn with – to resist the stuff you worry about and deputize the good guys and cowgirls you discover along the way.
High tea. Dress up, make cucumber sandwiches, invite your posse!
A book shelf. Create a space to put more books. You know you need it. Maybe it’s an upcycling project?
A word for the year. Choose your own 2025 rally cry in ONE WORD. Here are some I like from family and friends: enjoy, courage, yes!, persist, joy, reach, presence, calm.
A pop-up. What would you do if once was enough? Don’t want to commit to a long-term podcast, but have an idea for one jaw-dropping show? Do a pop-up! A pop-up book club, a pop-up poetry class, a pop-up woodworking collaboration, a pop-up mastermind group, a pop-up dinner club. The advantage of a pop-up is that you don’t need long-term rules, a brand, consistency, and repeat performances. Once is enough.
An Etsy shop…or a garage sale. If you’ve got stuff to sell, start your store. Facebook Marketplace? EBay? A consignment shop? Do your homework to decide which selling platform suits you, and move your stuff out to make room for more.
A photo collection. I collect photos of numbers I see while traveling. Then when I want to celebrate a number like my mom’s birthday age, or the year of our lord, I have enticing art supplies! Some people collect doors, doorknobs, windows…you know, things that make us look like crazy stalkers when we’re taking the pictures.
I’ve also started a collection of rural Missouri billboards, horses, old bikes, street graffiti, and mailboxes.
A neighborhood cleanup — for your neighborhood or one in need.
A compliment. What’s something you can say to a perfect stranger that will make their day? Overheard in the wild: “You bag groceries like a pro.” “You could be a hand model.” “Your smile always makes my day.” “You’re the reason we come here.”
A survey. Turn your hypotheses into data and feel like a genius. Use SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Mailchimp and others to make a free survey.
A garden — indoors or out!
An animal rescue. You can foster or weekend sit for full-time pet fosters.
A yarn bomb. It never gets old – seeing a tree bundled in crochet or a bridge splashed with color. If you’re craving a creative outlet that will put smiles into the world, put out the call for fiber artists and bomb your favorite public place. Sometimes referred to as Grandma Graffiti, yarn bombing is fiber art installation wrapping buildings, bike racks, stairs, statues, trees, lampposts and more with knitted, crocheted or woven pieces.
A family “chain” letter. No, not the creepy pyramid thing, just a letter or email that moves from sister to uncle to mom to fabulous aunt, accumulating info and funny business along the way.
On noooooo — I can’t stop…
A tag team. If you have a friend or cause in need, pull together a group to take it on as a tag team. Many hands make light work.
A room redux. Bring back a room with new decor or a new use.
I hope a few of these ideas help inspire new starts in this fresh new year. You don’t have to start ANY of them. And you certainly don’t have to finish them.
As I say in Start More Than You Can Finish, the point is to act on our ideas — to see where they take us. That’s what you deserve in 2025.
“We are not the sum of our failures and missed opportunities, or our unfinished work. Nor are we made only of our big wins, the handful of things that turned out just like we wanted.
We are the sum of the imaginings we ignite, our ideas acted upon...our efforts, our tries, and all they illuminate in us.
We are the sum of our starts.”
— Start More Than You Can Finish —