Every year since 2019 I have set goals and resolutions as a way to challenge and improve myself. I have been using a spreadsheet to track my goals and resolutions and provide quarterly updates here.
I can honestly say that this annual tradition that I have kept up for seven years has worked extremely well for me. I consistently find myself doing way more throughout the year compared to before 2019.
Let’s find out how I did in Q2 2026.
2026 Goals and Resolutions – Q2 Update
Below is the spreadsheet I am using for 2026 to track my goals and resolutions. You can see my status looked like at the end of Q2:
Compared to the end of Q1 I didn’t finish any goals but I continued working on many of the annual goals.
Financial Goals
Dividend income over $72,000 – WIP $39,758.50.
At the end of June, we received $39,758.50 in dividend income. This put us slightly ahead of the $72,000 dividend goal.
Based on my own dividend income projection, we should be able to exceed this goal by a decent amount. We added quite a bit of new cash in the first half of 2026 and added more shares of dividend paying stocks and ETFs that we already own in our investment portfolio.
In the second half of the year, I anticipate that we won’t add as much new capital as we will be saving for next year’s TFSA contributions (I suspect the TFSA limit for 2027 will be $7,500 per person). Furthermore, since we have turned off DRIP other than in TFSAs, we don’t anticipate our forward annual dividend income to grow as quickly as when we were dripping everything.
Max out RESP $14k non-government matching portion for both kids – Done. A+.
We maxed out the $14k non-government matching portion for both RESPs in early January. Kid 1.0’s RESP is now completely maxed out ($50k total contribution). We have a few more years of contribution left for Kid 2.0 to max out the $50k RESP limit.
$35k in LTSS/cash wedge – WIP
In Q2, we continued to save money in our LTSS/cash wedge account but we’re not quite at the $35k target yet.
Since we aren’t dripping in our non-registered accounts anymore, I have been moving dividend cash into Wealthsimple chequing accounts to earn 2.25% interest. For tracking purposes, I’ll count money in the chequing accounts as part of the $35k cash wedge.
Blog/Podcast Goals
Publish blog post every Monday – WIP
I have been publishing a blog post every Monday. What helps is that I have been writing ahead consistently. At the time of writing, I’m already planning and writing blog posts for October.
Since some blogs are more time-sensitive, I reschedule already written articles.
Overall, I think writing ahead works very well for me and the consistent publication schedule works well for readers. Let me know what you think.
Find podcast sponsorship – WIP
Nelson and I finished Season One of the DIY Wealth Canada Podcast on June 29.
For the Season One Finale, we did a live recording on Twitter and answered questions from readers/listeners. It was an interesting experience answering questions in real time and not having any time to prepare answers. Overall, I think both Nelson and I did well.
When it comes to finding a sponsor for the podcast, we haven’t really made any progress.
Previously, it was costing us about $30 CAD to edit per episode. After episode 34, Nelson and I discovered an online editing tool to allow us to edit the podcast episodes ourselves. Since then, I have been tasked with podcast editing. The editing process was simpler than I expected and we decided to stick with the editing tool instead of hiring someone to save some money.
The per episode cost has come down significantly so it has put less pressure on finding a podcast sponsor.
We did sign up for monetizing on Spotify but we are still a bit off from qualifying.
Ultimately, I don’t know if we will find a sponsor by September but we’ll see.
Personal Goals
Read 15 books – WIP 10 books read.
I ended up finishing six books in Q2:
- The Wealth Money Can’t Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life by Robin Sharma
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
- The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins
- Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players by Phil Jackson and Sam Smith
- Arsene Lupin – The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc
- The Cobbler: How I Disrupted an Industry, Fell From Grace, and Came Back Stronger Than Ever by Steve Madden
As you can see, a mix of fiction and non-fiction books. I really enjoyed reading Shoe Dog and The Cobbler to learn more about Phil Knight and the stories behind Nike and the story behind Steve Madden and his ties with The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Wealth Money Can’t Buy and The Let Them Theory are two self-improvement books I quite enjoyed reading as well.
Replace 2013 iMac – Not started
Where do I begin with this? We thought the M5 Mac Mini would come out in the first half of 2026 but it didn’t happen. Then Apple raised prices for all of its products due to the crazy memory market. And here we are.
At the time of writing, we don’t have a definite timeline for replacing our iMac yet, maybe toward the end of the year when the M5 Mac Mini is available? The nice thing is that the 2026 Studio Display has appeared on the Apple refurbished store so we could potentially get it for a little bit cheaper.
Body fat <= 15.5% – WIP 15.7%
At the end of Q2 I was at 15.7% body fat, as indicated by our Renpho smart scale.
This is probably one of the goals I have struggled with the most. Although I have been careful with what I eat, it’s hard to say no to the occasional treats (also it’s hard to say no to chocolate when Mrs. T and I have our daily hygge). I tried tracking my food calorie intake for a bit but found I lost my attention span after about 1.5 weeks (weird, because I’ve been tracking our expenses for over a decade now). Maybe part of the issue with tracking calories is that some meals are harder to track and I am not motivated to measure everything I eat.
For the most part, I am happy with my fitness and how I look in front of a mirror. My body is well-toned with visible muscle definition. At the same time, it would be nice to get visible abs and the V-cut (or Adonis belt) that Brad Pitt made famous in Fight Club.
But perhaps that’s not realistic. I constantly have to remind myself to find the right balance for
my body – I don’t want to starve myself just to hit a certain weight and I don’t want to be super jacked at the risk of injuring myself.
In general, I feel like I’m in good shape and feel good with my body. Perhaps it’s reasonable that I don’t look like those men in fitness magazines or the fitness bros on Instagram…
Rowing machine 2k under 8 mins – WIP. 8:13.
I didn’t put any focus on this goal in Q2. I probably got on the rowing machine less than five times in Q2 because I was focusing on Ski Erg mostly.
Ski Erg 1k under 4 mins – WIP. 4:01.
As I said,one thing I worked on quite a bit was Ski Erg. I tried to change my strategy so I would have a slower pace in the first two minutes, then increase more and more in the last two minutes. This worked relatively well but I still couldn’t hit the 4-minute mark! The best I did was 4:01.1 or an average pace of 2:00.6 per 500 metres.
So very close!
I usually get on the Ski Erg machine after working out for 30 minutes or so. If I had done any arm-specific workouts, my Ski Erg time would be slower. Perhaps I should try warming up by walking on the treadmill, then doing Ski Erg, before working out to see if I can hit the 4 minute goal.
Sleep quality score >=80 – WIP 83
My sleep score in Q2 was significantly better than Q1. However, I’m not sure if I “slept” better. Fitbit/Google Health updated the sleep accuracy in mid-March and I have seen an improvement in my sleep score since. Therefore, I think most of my sleep quality score improvement was contributed by this update.
Having said that, I started taking magnesium before bed and wearing an eye mask for bedtime regularly. I believe these two changes have helped with my overall sleep quality.
Fun Goals
Learn how to make beef Wellington – Not done. Maybe in 2H 2026?
When I created this goal, I set a completion date of June, thinking it would be quite doable. In June I talked to Mrs. T and the kids about making beef Wellington and got some pushback – they thought beef Wellington would be too “heavy” for summer time and suggested I try making beef Wellington in the fall.
So I didn’t complete this goal as originally planned, but I plan to make the beef Wellington in the fall. Who knows, maybe we’ll serve beef Wellington for Christmas dinner?
Try a new restaurant with Mrs. T – Done. A.
We tried a few different restaurants during our 19-day Japan trip in March.
Experiment w/long exposure photography on beach – WIP
This is something I’ll have to play around with this summer.
Summary – 2026 Goals and Resolutions Q2 Update
I didn’t accomplish any goals in Q2 but made solid progress on most of them. I didn’t make beef Wellington so technically I failed on that goal. But I do plan to make it in the fall so maybe I can give myself a B- grade once I make one.
For Q3, the focus is on accomplishing the 4 minute Ski Erg goal and experimenting with long exposure photography.
