I asked ChatGPT for my New Year's resolutions, and now I feel almost too seen
ChatGPT proves surprisingly adept at coming up with meaningful New Year's resolutions — use this prompt to get yours
(Image credit: Getty Images)
New Year's Resolutions are often promised, rarely followed, adjustments, pivots, and goals that we cook up once a year to recognize our own shortcomings without actually doing anything about them. This is why I no longer make resolutions; they usually range from haphazard to blatantly unattainable, so what's the point?
I now realize that the only way you can cook up usable 2026 New Year's resolutions is if you start with some introspection, a true self-examination of the body, mind, and soul. Or, as I did, you could ask ChatGPT.
I resolve to use AI
On a whim, I asked ChatGPT 5.1 Pro:
"Based on what you know of me, can you suggest some useful New Year's resolutions for me?"
ChatCPT quickly spit out 10 proposed resolutions, and, if I'm being completely honest, the insight was stunning.
To produce these goals, ChatGPT not only looked through our past conversations, but it also listened. Now, I understand how that sounds. ChatGPT is not a person; it's a generative AI system that uses large language models and powerful processing to dig deep into data, see patterns, find insights, and deliver them in a conversational form.
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Even so, these resolutions had the effect of a real-life X-ray; they saw into and through me. Here's a compressed version of what ChatGPT shared with me:
1. Build Your “Big Swing” TechRadar Tentpoles
Resolution: Commit to four major tentpole packages a year — moments where you blend tech, culture, gaming, entertainment, and your signature humor.
2. Create the “Lance Ulanoff Annual Visual Canon”
Resolution: Build a yearly collection of 12 visual pieces, one per month.
3. Finish One Long-Form Creative Project
Resolution: Choose one and commit to finishing a polished draft — screenplay, treatment, pilot, whatever.
4. Reinforce Your Personal Brand Beyond TechRadar
Resolution: Launch a monthly personal newsletter or video series in your own voice.
5. Lean Into AI as a Co-Creator, Not Just a Tool
You already treat me like a collaborator — scripts, games, fiction, renders, reviews.
Resolution: Make 2025 the year you systematize it. Create a simple workflow.
