Busy in the New Year
Two weeks into the New Year, and I’ve barely been home. Between a major surgery for my dad and speaking at one of the largest photography conferences in the country, January arrived exactly as expected—full. Heavy. Demanding. The kind of month that doesn’t ease you in gently but kicks the door open and says, hope you’re ready.
I knew January would be busy. Busy has been the theme of my life for a while now. But as I closed out last year, I started paying closer attention to the kind of busy I was living in. Because not all busy is created equal. Some of it had forward momentum. Some of it was meaningful, aligned, necessary. And some of it—if I was being honest—was just noise. Habit. Obligation. Stuff I had always said yes to because I always had. And that’s when the question hit me:
With a new year, would this just be the same old bullshit as last year—wrapped in a fresh calendar?
At almost the exact same time, I picked up Essentialism by Greg McKeown. And there it was. The answer I didn’t know I was looking for, spelled out plainly and unapologetically. The premise of Essentialism is simple but confronting!
Less, but better.
Not doing more. Not hustling harder. Not cramming in one more obligation because you “should.” Instead, it’s about discerning what actually matters—and having the courage to eliminate the rest. That word—eliminate—hit me harder than any motivational quote ever has. Because the truth is, most of us aren’t overwhelmed because we lack discipline or ambition. We’re overwhelmed because we say yes to too many things that don’t deserve it.
Which brings me to how I approach the New Year. I’ve never been big on long lists of resolutions. I don’t overhaul my entire personality on January 1st. Instead, I choose a word. A filter. Something that guides decisions when motivation fades and real life shows up. This year’s word was not subtle.
NO.
No to the things that aren’t the wisest use of my time.
No to people, commitments, and conversations that drain more than they give.
No to anything that quietly pulls me away from my purpose while pretending to be “important.”
We’ve been conditioned to see “no” as rude. As selfish. As something that needs to be softened, justified, and apologized for. But Essentialism reframes “no” for what it actually is:
A boundary.
A strategy.
A requirement for doing your best work and living a life that doesn’t constantly feel like you’re drowning.
Every time you say yes to something nonessential, you are saying no to something that could have mattered more—your energy, your creativity, your family, your health, your peace. And here’s the uncomfortable part: A lot of what fills our calendars doesn’t align with our purpose—it just fills space. That’s the bullshit I’m not interested in repeating this year.
I don’t want to look back at 2026 and say, “Wow, I was busy,” without being able to say, “And it mattered.”
What No Isn’t
Saying no isn’t about doing less for the sake of it. It’s about making room for what actually moves the needle. For the work that feels aligned instead of obligatory. For relationships that restore instead of exhaust. For a life that feels intentional, not reactionary.
So yes—it’s a new year.
But if I’m not willing to question my defaults, challenge my habits, and protect my time with the same intensity I protect my goals, then it really is just the same bullshit with a new date at the top of the page.
This year, I’m choosing less—but better.
And I’m letting “no” do a lot of the heavy lifting.
