How Jesse Itzler Plans His 2026

Author

Joel Hansen
January 06, 2026

HNY Friends,

Hope you had a killer holiday break off the laptop. I was able to spend mine with family, good coffee and plenty of sunshine, which made for the dream trifecta.

But now that’s over, and I’m upping the ante for my newsletter this year. That’s right. We’re putting some money on the line to kick my butt into gear. It works like this:

  • Every Tuesday of 2026 I’ll be writing a newsletter to you

  • If you notice by 12:01 am on Wednesday that you haven’t got one

  • You can email [email protected] and I’ll e-transfer the first person to notice $100

I’ve noticed I’m best at delivering on my goals when there’s money and public shame on the line. So I’mma leverage the heck out of that for 2026.

Here’s my 1st 2026 edition of the Stay Curious Newsletter, friends:

Welcome back to Stay Curious — a newsletter I write once per week (or I send one of you $100) where I share or interview people on 3 things keeping them curious in the world of startups, tech and health.

In no particular order, here’s some things keeping me curious:

  • Jesse Itzler’s 2026 goal-setting playbook: I slid my way into a Jesse Itzler zoom call a few weeks ago and it did not disappoint. My favourite takeaways were:

    • “end the year light”: donate clothes, unsubscribe etc

    • “write 10 letters” to those that helped or inspired you

    • “pick a misogi so decade defining it scares you”: one biggie

    • “schedule mini-adventures”: plan your life adventures as tightly as you plan your work KPIs

    • “put it in the calendar” to look forward to

    • If you wanna watch the zoom call recording with Jesse Itzler’s click here, but don’t tell him it came from me

  • High school dropout Stephen Beckta (one of the best restaurant founders in Canada) just got named to the Order of Canada.

    • one of the things I’ve come to respect more out of the last couple years is the role chefs, restaurants and cafes play in the social fabric of a city. The margins are tight af, talent is insanely hard to recruit and real estate ain’t cheap.

    • So when you find a chef or cafe owner who'‘s firing on all cylinders, it’s a joy to see. Stephen’s team in Ottawa is one of the teams. So I was stoked to hear he won Canada’s highest orders

    • Stephen is so nice of a Canadian that when I reached out to say congrats, he asked what I was up to and I told him I was in NYC this week. He then went on to introduce me to a few restaurants he loves just to help out with a fun date night I’m planning. How cool is that eh?

  • Ryan Beedie, a developer in Vancouver, writes a big list of ideas each January. See his NY goal playbook here. I think this is cool for a few reasons

    • it gets every idea out on paper

    • it can span from work to personal to fitness or travel

    • it’s a great mental exercise to just get the ball rolling

      • a few years ago Ryan launched a $50m grant for university students (that gets C’s and B’s, not 90s and above).

      • If you know anyone who fits that bill, send them here: beedieluminaries.ca

P.S. if you know any good cafes or fun things to do in NYC, drop me a reply.

Liked today’s deep dive? Forward it to a friend.

Joel

You can hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn. But the true besties hit me up on Strava and IG.

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