# New Year's Resolutions

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 22 Jan 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/51ab8e7a-3fe3-409f-b4ff-b3cf000ef7da/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

Christmas doesn’t have to be chaotic — and New Year goals don’t have to fail by February. In this episode, Justin & Kylie share how they transformed Christmas into their most joyful (and calm) ever, and the surprising mindset shift that finally made New Year’s resolutions stick. Expect simple family wins, real-life honesty, and a powerful reframe that boosts health, energy & connection in 2026. KEY POINTS • Why “less is more” made Christmas our best yet • The simple shoe-box wrapping hack every parent should steal • The unexpected joy of giving (and getting) thoughtful gifts • How a family goals retreat changed everything • Why most resolutions fail — and what actually works • The habit shift that created more vitality, energy & presence • Small daily choices → big long-term family wins QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “Goals work — but only when they become a lifestyle, a rhythm, a routine.” ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS • Plan a “less is more” Christmas: prioritise time, fun & simplicity • Review family life quarterly: align goals, values, and expectations • Choose identity over outcome: e.g., “I’m a runner” instead of “I’ll run a marathon” • Track tiny wins: small daily progress beats big January promises • Build shared vitality: move, eat well, and model healthy rhythms See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:06] Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to the Happy Families Podcast. Today it's our
[0:09] Speaker 1: first New Year's edition of I'll Do Better Tomorrow for
[0:13] Speaker 1: those of you who might be new to the pod.
[0:15] Speaker 1: On Friday, each week we review the week that was,
[0:17] Speaker 1: or in this case, the last few weeks that were,
[0:20] Speaker 1: and have a look at what's working and what's not
[0:22] Speaker 1: and how we can do better tomorrow. Why because we
[0:25] Speaker 1: think as we're transparent about what we're doing in our family,
[0:28] Speaker 1: it will help you to make your family life better
[0:30] Speaker 1: as well. Today Christmas success or failure, we did a
[0:35] Speaker 1: few new things. Did it work or not? Plus New
[0:39] Speaker 1: Year's resolutions, we've got to talk about them and how
[0:42] Speaker 1: they're playing out for us so far. Stay with us.
[0:46] Speaker 1: All of that and more is next. Hello and welcome
[0:51] Speaker 1: to the Happy Families podcast, where you get real parenting
[0:53] Speaker 1: solutions every single day. This is austraightest, most downloaded parenting podcast.
[0:57] Speaker 1: We're really proud and grateful for that. Thanks so much
[0:59] Speaker 1: for listening. My name's Docs justin course. I'm here with Kylie,
[1:02] Speaker 1: mum to our six kids, my wife of Oh my goodness,
[1:05] Speaker 1: we're coming up to twenty eight years in a few weeks,
[1:09] Speaker 1: and it's older but it's Moorrow, Kylie. You're running this
[1:12] Speaker 1: one because there's been a lot going on the last
[1:14] Speaker 1: few weeks. And while we've been doing our best to
[1:18] Speaker 1: work with the family across summer, I've also been working
[1:20] Speaker 1: in the office a lot because there's this book about
[1:22] Speaker 1: boys that's coming out in a few months time, and
[1:24] Speaker 1: I'm putting the finishing touches on the finishing touches. The
[1:28] Speaker 1: final manuscript is oh so close, so close. I'm so excited,
[1:33] Speaker 1: so older bet it tomorrow. Christmas failure or success.
[1:36] Speaker 2: I am going to say we nailed it this year,
[1:41] Speaker 2: and I wish.
[1:43] Speaker 1: Witch lave.
[1:44] Speaker 2: Then I hate me twenty five years to learn these things.
[1:47] Speaker 2: So I'm going to share a few tips with you.
[1:49] Speaker 1: We had such a great Christmas this year, didn't we.
[1:51] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good in all the right ways. It
[1:55] Speaker 2: was just such a beautiful day, and I think there
[1:58] Speaker 2: were some really key factors that make the difference. So
[2:03] Speaker 2: we have three adult children working in a shoe store
[2:06] Speaker 2: at the moment, and I had this genius idea to
[2:10] Speaker 2: ask them to start bringing home shoe boxes. And I
[2:15] Speaker 2: decided to wrap all of the kid's presence into shoe boxes.
[2:19] Speaker 2: So it meant that sometimes multiple presents went into one box.
[2:23] Speaker 2: But it also meant that come time to opening presents,
[2:27] Speaker 2: everyone opened the same amount of presents. That was the
[2:31] Speaker 2: first thing. The second thing was it made rapping so easy.
[2:36] Speaker 2: Who does not love a box with square edges, clean,
[2:41] Speaker 2: easy to wrap made such a difference and I actually
[2:44] Speaker 2: went through less wrapping paper as a result. But lastly
[2:50] Speaker 2: I coded the wrapping.
[2:51] Speaker 1: That was so cool. The kids are looking at the
[2:53] Speaker 1: boxes like which one's mine, which one's mine?
[2:55] Speaker 2: Well, I said, I coded it, but I didn't put
[2:57] Speaker 2: any tags. There was no tags, so there was just
[3:00] Speaker 2: these beautifully wrapped presents, all boxes underneath the tree, and
[3:05] Speaker 2: they had no idea who was who's until the day
[3:08] Speaker 2: and we actually had some fun with it. I got
[3:10] Speaker 2: everyone to pick a different wrapping paper from underneath the
[3:13] Speaker 2: tree on Christmas Day, they each got to unwrap it
[3:16] Speaker 2: and then work out who's president was, and that's how
[3:18] Speaker 2: they determined what gift wrapped they got. Yeah, it was
[3:22] Speaker 2: just a lot of fun.
[3:23] Speaker 1: Can I jump in really quickly and highlight Generally I
[3:27] Speaker 1: kind of get overlooked at Christmas, and I'm pretty relaxed
[3:30] Speaker 1: about that, like I don't need much and just seeing
[3:32] Speaker 1: everyone experience the joy and giving is my favorite way
[3:35] Speaker 1: to celebrate Christmas. But this year, for the first time,
[3:37] Speaker 1: over the kids, there have been sporadic moments here and there,
[3:40] Speaker 1: but for the first time ever, all of the kids
[3:42] Speaker 1: really really thought hard about spoiling me and I had
[3:46] Speaker 1: the best Christmas ever as well, Like they were really thoughtful,
[3:49] Speaker 1: and as I opened the combined gift that they all
[3:52] Speaker 1: chipped in for, I just sat there and I was like,
[3:54] Speaker 1: I'm actually speechless, Like this is just so good.
[3:58] Speaker 2: And what was crazy is one of the it's actually
[4:01] Speaker 2: spilled the beans a few weeks before Christmas.
[4:03] Speaker 1: I totally forgot that you.
[4:04] Speaker 2: Number one, totally forgot. But I actually think part of
[4:07] Speaker 2: it was because you thought there was no way, no
[4:09] Speaker 2: way they would do anything like that.
[4:11] Speaker 1: And let's just say everybody's happy with the gift. Because
[4:13] Speaker 1: the pizza that we booked.
[4:15] Speaker 2: In that gift we call was delicious.
[4:19] Speaker 1: Was pretty hard to be so anyway, I think it
[4:22] Speaker 1: was a massive win. Just such a delightful, delightful opportunity
[4:27] Speaker 1: to sit down and celebrate and be with the family.
[4:29] Speaker 1: I loved it. We also did something a little bit
[4:31] Speaker 1: different so our particular church, we don't have Christmas Day services,
[4:36] Speaker 1: and I've always felt like that's a bit of a miss.
[4:39] Speaker 1: I feel like we should be going to a Christmas
[4:41] Speaker 1: Day service to celebrate the most important day on the
[4:43] Speaker 1: Christian calendar. So we went to another church with some friends,
[4:47] Speaker 1: and I just felt so great to have that moment
[4:50] Speaker 1: and our kids really like I was expecting resistance and pushback,
[4:53] Speaker 1: and there was a little bit, but then they all
[4:54] Speaker 1: were like, now that was really good. We're so glad
[4:57] Speaker 1: we did that. So that was another just another nice touched,
[5:00] Speaker 1: another nice element that made the day really nice.
[5:03] Speaker 2: And I think the other thing that really stood out
[5:04] Speaker 2: to me about the day was we actually kept the
[5:07] Speaker 2: food really simple. We had delicious meals, but we just
[5:11] Speaker 2: kept it really simple, so I didn't spend lots of
[5:13] Speaker 2: time in the kitchen and I got to be a
[5:15] Speaker 2: part of the family experience. We just focused on time together.
[5:19] Speaker 2: We got into the pool, we had a volleyball net
[5:22] Speaker 2: setup and we just played this big ball game together,
[5:25] Speaker 2: which we haven't done because we've had lots of little
[5:27] Speaker 2: kids for so long. So it was really it was
[5:31] Speaker 2: just a beautiful day. By the end of it, I
[5:34] Speaker 2: wasn't exhausted, I wasn't frazzled. I was actually just filled
[5:38] Speaker 2: was so much gratitude for the beautiful family that we've
[5:42] Speaker 2: created together and for the joy that we were able
[5:45] Speaker 2: to experience. And as I sat there and I reflected
[5:48] Speaker 2: on just the joy on their faces as they're open
[5:50] Speaker 2: to their presence. It's really easy to kind of, I guess,
[5:54] Speaker 2: get caught up in the materialism of Christmas. But in
[5:57] Speaker 2: those moments, what I actually was really grateful for as
[6:00] Speaker 2: I reflected on who give the best gifts, it's the
[6:04] Speaker 2: people that know us the best. Yeah, they know us
[6:07] Speaker 2: so well that they know exactly what we need, even
[6:11] Speaker 2: when we sometimes can't articulate what we need or what
[6:15] Speaker 2: we hope for or what we want. And I feel
[6:17] Speaker 2: like it was a little bit of a pat on
[6:19] Speaker 2: the back for you and I in recognition that the
[6:22] Speaker 2: effort that we've been putting in to build the foundation
[6:25] Speaker 2: of strong, loving relationships with our kids all kind of
[6:28] Speaker 2: came together in this beautiful bubble of goodness as each
[6:32] Speaker 2: kid just delighted in the things that were under the
[6:36] Speaker 2: Christmas tree for.
[6:36] Speaker 1: Them this year year one hundred percent, So that's a
[6:39] Speaker 1: big win. And hopefully those hints and ideas will be
[6:41] Speaker 1: useful for next Christmas. Make some notes come back to
[6:44] Speaker 1: this podcast episode in November twenty twenty six.
[6:48] Speaker 2: I do have to acknowledge a special mention to Santa.
[6:52] Speaker 2: I don't know where he found these mangoes, but these
[6:56] Speaker 2: mangoes were so big they were like in themselves.
[7:01] Speaker 1: We have a tradition that there's mango stuffed in every
[7:04] Speaker 1: child's stocking.
[7:05] Speaker 2: Which started when we were poor students who couldn't afford
[7:09] Speaker 2: to fill this kid's stockings. So I thought, if I
[7:11] Speaker 2: stick a mango in there, that'll take up the whole toe.
[7:14] Speaker 1: It'll clog the thing up, right. And now these mangoes
[7:17] Speaker 1: did not fit in the stock.
[7:19] Speaker 2: They did not.
[7:20] Speaker 1: They were literally as big as you had. Anyway, after
[7:22] Speaker 1: the break our New Year's resolutions, we're going for a
[7:25] Speaker 1: two for one here. We think that some ideas with
[7:28] Speaker 1: our New Year's resolutions will also be helpful for you
[7:31] Speaker 1: as you kick off twenty twenty six. Stay with us,
[7:41] Speaker 1: We're back. This is the Happy Families Podcast. Kylie. We've
[7:43] Speaker 1: won when it comes to Christmas, just gone the best
[7:46] Speaker 1: one we've ever had. It's taken us a long time
[7:48] Speaker 1: to get there. Now it's time to talk about our
[7:50] Speaker 1: new Year's resolutions, because I think we're nailing it's the
[7:55] Speaker 1: years of getting it wrong and then years of not
[7:56] Speaker 1: doing it all because we kept getting it wrong. We're
[7:58] Speaker 1: getting it really, really right. So just some context here.
[8:03] Speaker 1: Years and years and years ago, I was doing business
[8:06] Speaker 1: meetings every quarter, quarterly goals, what's your vision, all that
[8:10] Speaker 1: sort of stuff. And then I realized that if I
[8:13] Speaker 1: was doing that for my business, my family was way
[8:15] Speaker 1: more important. Why are we not doing that as a family.
[8:18] Speaker 1: So you and I started going away. Sometimes it was tricky,
[8:21] Speaker 1: babysitting was a bit of a challenge, but we started
[8:24] Speaker 1: going away every quarter to spend two nights talking about
[8:29] Speaker 1: the stuff that matters for our family and for our
[8:32] Speaker 1: finances and our spiritual lives and our physical health and
[8:35] Speaker 1: our children and all that sort of stuff. It got
[8:38] Speaker 1: too hard with the kids, and we didn't do it
[8:39] Speaker 1: for a few years.
[8:40] Speaker 2: Well, I think too. Sometimes you don't recognize just how
[8:46] Speaker 2: much goodness comes from something.
[8:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, can we que let it slide? Yeah yeah, yeah,
[8:50] Speaker 1: we're doing fine now, we don't need that. We're fine.
[8:52] Speaker 1: But we did it again in December for the New Year,
[8:55] Speaker 1: the new quarter, and we set some really big goals
[8:58] Speaker 1: for this year in all the dome ino our lives,
[9:00] Speaker 1: whether it's financial or spiritual or physical health, or time
[9:03] Speaker 1: with the kids and the way we support them, or
[9:05] Speaker 1: our relationship with one another. Like we went through everything
[9:08] Speaker 1: and the business we spent keeps time on that, and
[9:11] Speaker 1: like you said, it feels like having done that has
[9:14] Speaker 1: given us the recalibration that we need.
[9:16] Speaker 2: Yeah, when I think about the last few years, since
[9:19] Speaker 2: Emily came home from school and we started homeschooling. If
[9:22] Speaker 2: I'm being completely honest, the last few years, I feel
[9:25] Speaker 2: like I've been in a bit of a brain fog
[9:28] Speaker 2: and I have really I feel like I've been in
[9:32] Speaker 2: survival mode. It's been really hard to find motivation to
[9:35] Speaker 2: be intentional about how I use my time, and I've
[9:39] Speaker 2: just been really kind of floundering. And so having that
[9:42] Speaker 2: time with you before Christmas to recalibrate, to actually get
[9:46] Speaker 2: on the same page together. Because while we talk often
[9:50] Speaker 2: about the things that we want without setting intentional expectations
[9:55] Speaker 2: around how we will achieve what we're going to achieve,
[9:57] Speaker 2: it's kind of that cliche, you know, goals that aren't
[10:00] Speaker 2: written down are just dreams, hopes that just wishes, They
[10:04] Speaker 2: just they don't become anything, and it's given us the
[10:08] Speaker 2: clarity that we've needed to step into twenty twenty six
[10:12] Speaker 2: with intention and purpose.
[10:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, so what do you want to say about the goals?
[10:17] Speaker 1: Do you want to do some bragging here or what.
[10:18] Speaker 2: I kind of do? Because this is a really big deal.
[10:22] Speaker 2: Let's do this is a really big deal. On New
[10:25] Speaker 2: Year's Day, I went through all of the cuppets, including
[10:29] Speaker 2: oh my hidden stash in my wardrobe, cuppets that I
[10:34] Speaker 2: didn't even nobody knew about, including all of my New
[10:38] Speaker 2: Zealand chocolate that we brought on our recent holiday, and
[10:42] Speaker 2: lollies that are literally like childhood favorites that we brought
[10:46] Speaker 2: while we were overseas, and I packed them all up
[10:50] Speaker 2: and I gave them away. That was a really big
[10:54] Speaker 2: deal for me.
[10:55] Speaker 1: I feel like we need a massive out of a
[10:56] Speaker 1: court right now.
[11:01] Speaker 2: That was a really, really big deal. But I feel
[11:04] Speaker 2: like it was a huge win because for the first
[11:08] Speaker 2: time I was open to doing it. And can I
[11:12] Speaker 2: just say this is the big clap. We're almost three
[11:15] Speaker 2: weeks in and I have not eaten any process sugar.
[11:19] Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's the thing is no more process sugar,
[11:22] Speaker 1: full stop, and a story.
[11:24] Speaker 2: And the goal around that is we're not purchasing it
[11:28] Speaker 2: and if it's given to us, we'll regift it, and
[11:32] Speaker 2: it's just not allowed to be in the house. We're
[11:34] Speaker 2: just not doing it.
[11:34] Speaker 1: It's a massive win. And we started exercising like we've
[11:37] Speaker 1: got a routine. Gosh, I'm saying we've got a routine.
[11:39] Speaker 1: But for the last week I've been traveling Southeast Queensland
[11:42] Speaker 1: doing professional development in schools all over the place because
[11:45] Speaker 1: at the start of the year and this is.
[11:47] Speaker 2: You're still kind of sticking with a plan even though
[11:49] Speaker 2: it's not the plan. We're just we're trying to move
[11:52] Speaker 2: our bodies every day.
[11:53] Speaker 1: But I'm back on the bike like I'm riding except
[11:55] Speaker 1: for this week and next week. I'm running three hundred
[11:57] Speaker 1: k's a week, two hundred and fifty three hundred k's
[11:59] Speaker 1: a week again, and we're doing calisthenics. So it's not
[12:01] Speaker 1: like we're spending a mots are on lifting weights or
[12:03] Speaker 1: anything that's body weight exercises. But we've got somebody who's
[12:06] Speaker 1: given us some really good guidance around this, and we're
[12:09] Speaker 1: feeling the word that I would use is we've set
[12:12] Speaker 1: these goals. We're implementing it. We're eating well, we're moving
[12:16] Speaker 1: our bodies, and we're feeling vital, and it just it
[12:19] Speaker 1: helps around the house, it helps with the kids. We've
[12:21] Speaker 1: got energy that we haven't had for so long.
[12:23] Speaker 2: And here's the crazy thing. I don't feel like we're
[12:25] Speaker 2: being fanatical about things like there's no.
[12:28] Speaker 1: Calorie It doesn't sound fanatical at all.
[12:32] Speaker 2: There's no calorie counting going on with eliminated process sugars.
[12:36] Speaker 2: I mean, that's an important part, right, But we're also
[12:40] Speaker 2: just limiting our carb intake. It's not like we've kind
[12:43] Speaker 2: of gone cold turkey. We're enjoying an abundant variety of
[12:47] Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables. We're kind of living in that whole
[12:49] Speaker 2: food aisle instead of living in the processed aisle at
[12:51] Speaker 2: the shops. But I think the other thing that's really
[12:54] Speaker 2: important for me, I don't know if it works so
[12:56] Speaker 2: much for you, if it's I don't know if it's
[12:58] Speaker 2: a girl thing or not. But having that opportunity to
[13:02] Speaker 2: just daily reflect and affirm the goals that we've set
[13:08] Speaker 2: and our intention and then tracking my progress is making
[13:11] Speaker 2: such a difference. Because it's so easy to get distracted.
[13:14] Speaker 2: It's so easy to get discouraged and to be honest.
[13:18] Speaker 2: In Week one, there was a moment where I literally
[13:20] Speaker 2: kind of almost fell off the band. It was so close,
[13:25] Speaker 2: and then I just remembered what I'm doing and why
[13:27] Speaker 2: I'm doing it. The reality is I want to feel strong,
[13:29] Speaker 2: I want to feel capable, and I want to be
[13:31] Speaker 2: able to enjoy life with my grand baby.
[13:33] Speaker 1: You want to be able to lift up our granddaughter.
[13:34] Speaker 1: I wasting to say that.
[13:35] Speaker 2: Yeah, in twenty years, I still want to be able
[13:37] Speaker 2: to have fun with them.
[13:39] Speaker 1: So we need to wrap this up. The take home
[13:41] Speaker 1: message first off, when it comes to Christmas, less is more.
[13:46] Speaker 2: And coded wrapping tape is the most fun, so much fun.
[13:51] Speaker 1: And obviously there's a bunch of other things that we
[13:53] Speaker 1: talked about, but less is more would be how I
[13:55] Speaker 1: would summarize that and just focused on time and being
[14:00] Speaker 1: really thoughtful about the people that you love and what
[14:02] Speaker 1: would light them up. And the take home message from
[14:04] Speaker 1: this second part is people are really down on goals,
[14:08] Speaker 1: but goals work. But goals work best when you turn
[14:11] Speaker 1: them into a lifestyle, into a habit, into a rhythm
[14:14] Speaker 1: or a routine, into a pattern. You make the big call,
[14:17] Speaker 1: but then you do the work daily. You don't say, oh,
[14:20] Speaker 1: I'm going to do this triathlon in March, or I'm
[14:23] Speaker 1: going to run a marathon in November. Instead you say
[14:25] Speaker 1: I'm going to become a runner because that's what I
[14:27] Speaker 1: want to do, or I'm going to become a callousthenics, gym,
[14:32] Speaker 1: whatever's workout person because I value strength and vitality. And
[14:37] Speaker 1: making that shift is it's changing the game for us,
[14:41] Speaker 1: making a really big difference. There are take home messages,
[14:44] Speaker 1: have a great weekend. We need to wrap it up there.
[14:45] Speaker 1: Our time is done. Will be back. We won't be
[14:48] Speaker 1: back on Monday. It's Australia Day. Happy Australia Day, everybody
[14:50] Speaker 1: for the twenty sixth. We're back instead on the twenty seventh,
[14:54] Speaker 1: talking about creating a great relationship with your child's teacher
[14:56] Speaker 1: based on a question we've had from a mum who's
[15:00] Speaker 1: wanting to get twenty twenty six off to a great start.
[15:02] Speaker 1: At Plus, we're talking about why we're homeschool on Wednesday
[15:05] Speaker 1: next week as well. Lots of cool content coming up
[15:07] Speaker 1: on the pod that The Happy Families podcast is produced by
[15:10] Speaker 1: Justin Ruland from Bridge Media. Mimhammon's provides research admin and
[15:14] Speaker 1: all of our other support. And if you would like
[15:16] Speaker 1: more support yourself to make your family happier, you can
[15:18] Speaker 1: find it at happy families dot com dot au

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.