David Taylor Gonzales

Last Friday was Quit Day, the unofficial mark of the most common day for people to quit on their new goals for the year. If you’re reading this, I hope you haven’t given up yet. If you have, I hope my little summary of my goals inspires you to reconsider. I am posting my goals for 2026 as accountability to myself. If you don’t say them out loud, goals are just dreams. I have some personal and family goals that I’d like to keep private but here are (most of) my 2026 goals:

Take my son into the woods for a boy’s trip.
My son is turning 1 year old this spring. He’s too young for me to take him for an overnight camping but I want to go to Busiek, just him and I once he’s weaned off breastfeeding.

Ready her first fiction chapter book with my daughter.
She is a very smart girl and I think she’ll be at the point this fall where she will be able to handle reading a book without pictures. I’m so proud of her.

Teach my daughter how to swim.
I am really excited for this summer. We have had some friends who have already taught their kids how to swim and we are really excited for her to learn so she’s a little less afraid when she’s in the pool. She loves swimming but she’s (rightfully) afraid of putting her head underwater.

Finish reading the bible by August.
This one has been a long process. I’ve been trying to get through the Bible since last summer so my hope is to finish it in just over 1 year if I finish by the end of August.

Run 1,200 miles.
I ran 1,200 miles in 2025. With no marathon on the calendar, I don’t want to set an expectation that I’m going to blow that number out of the water this year. I think running 1,200 miles this year would be a great achievement since many of my races will be shorter distances (2 5Ks, 1 10K, 1 Half-Marathon)

Run 30 miles on my 30th birthday.
I am excited to give this a try. 30 miles will be a new distance PR for me and I decided a few weeks ago that it would be cool to run my age in miles at the start of every decade (30 at 30, 40 at 40, 50 at 50, etc.)

Ready 6 fiction or nonfiction books. This one I have a great start on! I finished Atomic Habits by James Clear. I saved this goal for last because I actually want to share a bit about this book. Many times, people quit on their goals because they haven’t set themselves up for success by creating new consistent habits that match their goals. This book was super helpful for understanding human behavior and what I can do to improve my own habits. Here’s a summary:
To create a new habit: Make it OBVIOUS (meaning make the cue to start the habit obvious. For example, when my alarm goes off, I wake up and put on my running shoes). Make it ATTRACTIVE (pair something you enjoy with the habit, like a podcast you love or join a club of likeminded people). Make it EASY (the habit should take less than 2 minutes to complete at first, remove as much friction as possible). Make it SATISFYING (give yourself the reward at the end, track runs on a calendar or app to record progress or drink your favorite smoothie afterwards).
To break a bad habit: Make it INVISIBLE (hide the cues. For example, stop buying M&M’s at the grocery store so they aren’t around the house). Make it UNATTRACTIVE (create a negative association with the habit. For example: sugar will disrupt my sleep or cause me to crash in the afternoon). Make it DIFFICULT (create an environment that makes the bad habit difficult to follow through on). Make it UNSATISFYING (have an accountability partner you have to text when you complete the bad habit or track the days you don’t complete the bad habit)

The book was really helpful for me and gave me some new tips on how to continue to stay engaged mentally with my goals even when life gets in the way or the training gets boring.

Keep Going!