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I’ve Been Saying “This Will Be The Year” for 10 Years… The Year I Finally Get Rid of My Man Boobs

Every December it’s the same thing. I look in the mirror, promise myself this time it’s for real… and by March I’m back to square one or worse.

This year was no exception. I failed again.

And now that 2026 is coming… I caught myself saying the exact same thing. Again. But this time instead of making a new plan, I stopped to ask myself something different:

Why have I managed to be consistent in other things… but not in this?

What Has Actually Worked for Me#

I looked back and searched for behaviors where I’ve actually been consistent… even when many people (including myself) thought I couldn’t:

  • Running a half marathon. I used to hate running. I’d get annoyed just watching people run. Now I’m one of them.
  • Learning to code when I come from a 100% administrative background.
  • Constantly shipping new things at the startups I’ve worked at… No matter what happened during the week, we were always delivering.

And when I analyzed what these things had in common… I found a pattern that was missing from my health goals.

Two words: Forcing Function.

The External Pressure That Creates Accountability#

With my health goals, the only judge was me.

If I failed one day… nothing happened. There was no external pressure. No real pain.

And I know what you might be thinking: “just have more willpower…”

But being honest, that strategy has three problems:

  1. Willpower has a limit. We don’t have unlimited resources.
  2. It’s proven that without external pressure, we’re much more flexible with ourselves. Social exposure has incredible power.
  3. It’s exactly the strategy I’ve been using for 10 years… and it hasn’t worked.

Plus, I’m 35 years old. And after a recent diagnosis that was a yellow light for my health… I don’t want to keep playing tough. It’s a bill that comes due and can’t always be paid.

The Patterns I Found#

So I asked myself: How have I created external pressure in things that have actually worked?

And I started to see the pattern:

  • At Digitt we had weekly all-hands where we had to present progress. There was no way to hide.
  • When I started running it was because we publicly signed up for a half marathon and shared our results…
  • GitHub’s green squares helped me see my progress. Throwing in the towel meant breaking the streak in front of everyone.

What I was missing was giving public exposure to my efforts. Not to the results. To what I’m doing each day so results happen on their own.

The Personal Dashboard#

So it hit me…

Why not vibe code a personal dashboard?

I’ll pin it to my LinkedIn and personal site. I don’t know if anyone will see it. But it’ll be there. Public to the world. Showing how I’m living my day to day.

Ufff… Let’s freaking do it.

A week later, this is the result:

Dashboard Overview

Progress metrics and daily habits

Habits Tracking

Anti-habits and social media tracking

Full Dashboard View

Complete accountability dashboard

→ Check out my live dashboard here

What do I share in the Dashboard?#

Progress metrics:

  • My body composition progress using the Navy method

Daily habits:

  • Exercise — Non-negotiable after my diagnosis.
  • 5 minutes organizing my closet — Applying BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits. Let’s see if it works, plus I earn points with my wife.
  • Daily macros goal — Years ago I lost 30 kilos doing this. Time to get back to it.
  • Drawing — Last year I invested hard in this hobby. I want to dedicate 30 minutes daily no matter what.

Anti-habits:

  • No eating with the TV on — A behavior I’m not proud of.
  • Alcohol — A must due to my diagnosis, at least 5 months.
  • No unnecessary purchases — Sodas, cookies, random Amazon stuff…

Social Media Posting — I want to document what happens if I commit to posting consistently.

And the best part…

I’m not going to measure how many people visit.

That uncertainty of “Are they watching me or not?” is exactly part of the recipe. The simple fact of knowing that maybe one, two, or many more people are watching… that’s enough.

Yes, It’s Intense. And That’s the Point.#

As Naval Ravikant would say:

“Radical actions lead to radical results.”

With everything going on in the world, I think now more than ever it’s worth taking the risk to bring out the best in ourselves.

Do you have a forcing function that’s worked for you? I’d love to hear it.