January is a time to make a fresh start on personal improvements, from hitting the gym to decluttering. When you think about it, the same sort of promises can track well when it comes to our work lives.
Here are seven familiar resolutions reimagined for writers and other communications professionals. Some advice here may feel obvious; resolutions usually are. We don’t need new wisdom, just new resolve to put into practice what we already know. Getting into these habits can help you produce cleaner, leaner and more effective messaging in 2026.
1. Exercise more
To improve the craft of writing, that means more reps. This workout involves warm-up drafts and stretching out ideas. Build your writing muscles with uninterrupted sessions where you can tone and hone your words.
For the sake of your audiences, exercising more also relates to communicating consistently and through more touchpoints. The more that people hear from you, clearly and reliably, the stronger your relationship grows.
2. Lose weight
Waistlines can bulge, as can your writing. So don’t waste lines. Cut filler, jargon, run-ons and the passive voice. They’re weighing you down. Keep tightening until there’s no fat on your body of copy. Concise, direct language is all muscle, and makes your messaging pop.
3. Save more
Usually this resolution is about money. But you can be economical with your messages too. Spend words wisely – fewer but stronger ones – so that audiences can focus on what matters most, and spend their attention where it counts. Just like money in the bank, you want your communications to earn interest.
4. Spend more time with family and friends
As you might do with your loved ones, prioritize empathy and connection with your audiences. If you were catching up with them, what would they need to hear first? What’s on their minds? What are their hopes? Fears? Worries? Needs? Tune in to them.
Whether you’re trying to inform, persuade or reassure, you’re not engaging with an abstract market. You’re reaching out to real humans.
5. Quit your vices
Speaking of real humans, you are one, right? So don’t outsource your brain to AI. Cutting down on alcohol or nicotine is often high on resolution lists. Like those vices, AI can have toxic impacts too. There’s a reason why the Merriam-Webster dictionary named slop as its 2025 word of the year, defined as “digital content of low quality that is produced…by means of artificial intelligence.”
Sure, AI can be a handy tool for some tasks, and produce a facsimile of writing. But it doesn’t replace your ingenuity, instincts or voice. It’s an appliance. Keep your communications natural and human, without artificial colours or flavouring.
6. Get a new hobby
Maybe this is the year you try ceramics, learn pickleball or pick up the piano. Don’t stop there. Expanding your horizons is also about taking on new skills and creative outlets as a communicator. That could include tinkering with new channels, formats and storytelling techniques. Test different ways of delivering your message, and you might find some new favourites.
7. Travel more
If the previous resolution is about how you create, this one is more about who you create for. Travel broadens your perspective. So explore new audiences, sectors and communities. Learn their “language”, and adapt your communications accordingly. The more you wander, the better you can see your own story from fresh angles.
For all of your resolutions – professional and personal – good luck on making 2026 a year of positive transformation, growth and fulfilment.
Stuart Foxman is a Toronto-based freelance writer, who helps clients’ products, services, ideas and organizations to come alive. Connect with me here on LinkedIn, or check me out at foxmancommunications.com where I share these blogs too. More original posts coming regularly about communications, information, motivation, writing, branding, creativity, media, marketing, persuasion, messages, learning, etc.
January 7, 2026