All the Hacks Podcast: "Design Your Best Year: Goals, Tools & Mindset for 2026"

with Chris Hutchins & Kevin Rose
Date: January 14, 2026
Episode Overview:
Chris Hutchins sits down with friend and entrepreneur/investor Kevin Rose for a vulnerable, in-depth conversation on designing a more intentional, energized, and optimized 2026. In this annual goal-setting episode, Chris and Kevin reflect on the wins, losses, and curveballs of 2025, discuss how major life events (like house fires and family medical crises) reshaped their priorities, and offer tactical strategies and mindset shifts for the new year. The discussion covers optimizing not just for success but for ease, memories, and peace-of-mind—digging into tools, routines, spending habits, career and family balance, decluttering, and the transformative power of AI.

Main Themes & Purpose

• Reflection and Intention: Both hosts candidly recount upheavals of the past year and how these events reset their priorities.
• Goals and Resolutions: The episode is framed as a practical, deeply personal exploration of how to set—and reset—goals.
• Tools and Mindset Shifts: From leveraging AI to pursuing minimalism and introducing family-inclusive habits, actionable methods to elevate life in 2026 are discussed.
• Optimization for Ease, Not Just Output: Breaking the "optimize at all costs" mentality in favor of what Chris calls, "What if this were easy?"
• Spending, Not Just Saving: Mindsets about money, scarcity, and enjoying wealth are challenged, with new frameworks for thoughtful spending.
• Connection and Community: Both value creating energy through building community, whether online (e.g., podcast, apps) or in-person (hacker/maker space ideas).

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. 2025 in Review: When Plans Shatter (00:00–04:34)

• Kevin’s house burned down a week into 2025, destroying possessions and derailing all his ambitious plans:

  "It's kind of like what they say...Mike Tyson...everyone has a plan till you get punched in the face." —Kevin (00:19)

• The experience clarified what's truly important: family mementos, sentimental value over material things.
• Kevin describes the "blessing" of the fire as forcing a focus on essentials, leading to life-altering choices (quitting alcohol, embracing meditation).

2. Life Throws Curveballs—Adapting Goals (04:34–07:55)

• Chris had his own Q4 setback: his mother-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed major surgery:

  "It feels like Q4 was wild. And we're just trying to come out from it at the same moment...I feel like I lost my routine and everything in Q4, and it was a mess." —Chris (06:29)

• Reflection on how major life events can force reevaluation—Chris’s wife choosing to step away from work to be with their kids: "2026 can't come soon enough."

3. Optimization vs. Letting Go (07:55–11:37)

• Kevin teases Chris for (formerly) optimizing every last detail:

  "Chris used to optimize everything. Like, you go to Taco Bell and he'd be like, how do I get an extra salsa packet?" —Kevin (06:58)

• Both discuss the importance of focusing energy only on what matters, letting go of optimizing minutiae.

4. Money Mindset: Scarcity vs. Sensible Spending (09:39–15:55)

• Chris shares an intentional pivot to spending more (within reason), overcoming a deeply ingrained scarcity mindset:

  "When you live in this kind of scarcity mindset for too long, you end up defaulting to save everything and never spending." —Chris (09:51)

• Introduces Nick Maggiuli’s "0.01% rule" for guilt-free spending:

  "If you've got a million dollars, 0.01% would be a hundred dollars...just try to stop worrying about things over a threshold." —Chris (10:28)

• Real life example: splurging on a stay at the Four Seasons Lanai instead of always using points:

  "It truly was...one of the best hotel experiences we've ever had. And I didn't all of a sudden...go crazy." —Chris (14:29)

• Teaching kids the value of learning from experts (ski lessons, not just DIY).

5. Annual Reviews & Changing Your Mind (16:00–24:28)

• Chris shares Sahil Bloom’s 7-question annual review process, focusing on what he changed his mind about:
  • Stepping back from chasing YouTube algorithms/thumbnails.
  • Deciding not to pursue growth for growth's sake or plan listener trips he wouldn’t join.
• Kevin’s mindshift: The rise of AI enables solo entrepreneurship—founders can now build viable businesses without venture capital:

  "If you aren't using AI models several times a day...you're missing a massive opportunity." —Kevin (22:44) "This is the absolute best time to be an entrepreneur..." —Kevin (23:10)

• Personal examples of using AI for home repair and building financial apps; Chris created his credit card optimization tool, which would've required a dev team previously.

6. Energy Management & Organization (29:17–39:58)

• Chris and Kevin conduct "calendar audits" to evaluate what energized or drained them.
  • Chris: Found more energy in conversations vs. solo "masterclass" episodes; building things (apps, physical events); going deep rather than wide; letting go of optimizing family logistics.
  • Kevin: Realizing the physical body needs care ("consistency over absolutes" in exercise), front-loading workouts and meditation for consistent energy:

    "Consistency for me is better than absolutes. Meaning that I'd much rather just...work out shoulders for 20 minutes and check that box, than say I have to do a full body workout." —Kevin (34:19)

  • Both focus on decluttering—physical and digital ("spring cleaning" of email, productivity stack).

7. Decluttering & Boat Anchors (41:02–45:35)

• Discussing the weight of material possessions and digital clutter; donating unused items, reducing app/tool bloat.
• The negative side of uncalibrated comparison (FOMO) with peers who have different priorities or resources.
• Surrounding yourself with "tinkerers": people who are curious, playful, and generous with knowledge (Kevin’s anecdote of trading ideas with Sam Harris).

8. Designing Community & Physical Space (47:03–49:05)

• Chris’s dream: build a local maker/hacker space for creative community collaboration:

  "I would love to have a space where, like, that is the community..." —Chris (47:55)

• Kevin: Envisions long-term projects (car restoration, AI, podcasting) sharing physical space.

9. Hits, Misses & Overcoming Perfectionism (49:05–54:21)

• Chris: Hits include building the credit card tool, shifting podcast formats, taking kid-free trips. Misses include not shipping his much-anticipated health diagnostics episode—paralyzed by perfectionism.

  "A big miss for me is that I let perfection...get in the way of shipping an episode that I know would be valuable." —Chris (51:06)

• Kevin: Major win—open-door family office policy, leading by example (meditation) so kids naturally follow.

10. Goal-Setting: Process and Mindset (54:21–59:27)

• Burn the bridges: Kevin’s tactic for forcing new habits (e.g. quit alcohol by removing all access).

  "If possible, if you want to take on something new, if possible, burn the bridges." —Kevin (54:31)

• Yearly themes: Chris adopts "What if this were easy?" to guide decisions, simplify life, and focus on effort-to-impact tasks.

11. Making Life Easier, Outsourcing, & Family Focus (59:27–64:13)

• Innovative idea: hiring a house manager/home assistant instead of childcare, to maximize quality family time.

  "What if instead of hiring a person to watch the kids after school, what if we hired a person to do the things that you would otherwise do?" —Chris (60:01)

• Both discuss scaling up (from cleaning help to meal prep to possible in-depth family support), mindful that the concept can fit different budgets.

12. Memorables, Accountability, and Quarterly Goals (64:13–66:36)

• Chris stresses documenting memorable moments and not letting months slip by without something notable—proposes sharing in newsletters for accountability.
• Suggests quarterly goals instead of only annual, for greater consistency and to avoid "kicking the can down the road."

13. Learning New Skills & Playful Challenges (66:36–69:29)

• Kevin: Picking up fun new skills each year, recently enjoying Duolingo’s AI-powered chess mode. ("If you aren’t learning something new, you’re falling behind.")
• Both love puzzle boxes and create mutual challenges, inspired by creators like BitTorrent’s Bram Cohen.

14. Life Blender & Year Planning (69:29–71:32)

• Jesse Itzler’s "life blender" exercise: score all parts of life (work, money, relationships) and identify what’s lowering a "10"—those deficits become your focus.
• Tim Ferriss’s advice: fill your calendar early with things you love, before work/life crowds it out.

15. Public Accountability & Wrapping Up (71:32–72:20)

• Both hosts plug their newsletters as a place to publish goals and progress for 2026.

  "If you want to see where this nets out and what your goals are for the year and hold Kevin responsible and accountable, please do. Definitely, definitely go sign up and I'll do the same in my newsletter as well." —Chris (72:00)

Notable Quotes & Key Moments

• On plans upended:

  "I had a plan. I got punched in the face. I was like, wait a second. All bets are off. Everything has changed, and let's rebuild." —Kevin Rose (00:12)

• On what matters:

  "It had nothing to do with dollar value. It was all sentimental value at the end of the day... I don't really need a whole lot. Like I don't need more stuff." —Kevin Rose (02:35)

• On the danger of endless saving:

  "I remember talking to someone...I'm like, why are you sitting in economy in a middle seat...when you've saved millions of dollars?...they just never figured out how to shake that [scarcity mindset]." —Chris (09:51)

• On the transformational role of AI:

  "This is the absolute best time to be an entrepreneur for anyone listening out there...if you aren't using AI models several times a day...you're missing a massive opportunity." —Kevin Rose (23:10–23:28)

• On optimizing for energy, not just output:

  "Consistency for me is better than absolutes." —Kevin Rose (34:19)

• On decluttering:

  "Why keep adding? Everything you own, whether you know it or not, is a micro kind of like back office task in your brain... The one liberating thing from not having anything is all of that weight is lifted off you." —Kevin Rose (40:14)

• On family inclusion:

  "Nothing is off limits in terms of my office or my meditation... They can always come in and talk to me... I always say yes. And that has led to some moments...so happy that I said yes." —Kevin Rose (52:14)

• On changing habits:

  "If possible, if you want to take on something new...burn the bridges." —Kevin Rose (54:31)

• Yearly theme as mantra:

  "What if this were easy?" —Chris (57:56)

• On allocating help:

  "What if instead of hiring a person to watch the kids after school, what if we hired a person to do the things that you would otherwise do?...it's really fun to make a cocktail. But almost all the cocktails we're making don't have alcohol because the kids really want to participate." —Chris (60:01, 56:45)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–04:34 | Raw setbacks: Kevin’s fire, Chris’s family health crisis—personal resets
• 04:34–07:55 | Adapting goals in the face of life-changing events
• 07:55–11:37 | Letting go of relentless optimization, prioritizing where it counts
• 09:39–15:55 | Transforming money mindsets—from scarcity to intentional spending
• 16:00–24:28 | Annual review methodology; biggest mindset shifts from 2025 (AI, entrepreneurship)
• 29:17–39:58 | Managing energy, time audits, building and decluttering routines
• 41:02–45:35 | Decluttering, boat anchors, FOMO, and surrounding yourself with tinkerers
• 47:03–49:05 | Building in-person creative spaces, long-term community vision
• 49:05–54:21 | Hits & misses; perfectionism vs. "ship it," family inclusion
• 54:21–59:27 | Processes for goal-setting; burning bridges, yearly themes
• 59:27–64:13 | Outsourcing, mental workload, maximizing time with family
• 64:13–66:36 | Making memories, measuring accountability, switching to quarterly memorables
• 66:36–69:29 | New skills, playful learning (chess, puzzle boxes), Duolingo hack
• 69:29–71:32 | The Life Blender and calendar planning exercises
• 71:32–72:20 | Accountability and public sharing of goals for 2026

Conclusion

This episode offers a blueprint for anyone looking to design their best year—grounded in honest reflection, willingness to change, and embracing both intentionality and ease. Chris and Kevin remind listeners that life’s biggest turns can prompt the most meaningful re-calibrations, that leveraging new tools (AI, outsourcing, decluttering) can free up time and energy for what matters, and that growth often means letting go—not just adding more. The episode overflows with practical hacks, mindset shifts, and memorable anecdotes for making 2026 the most intentional, memorable, and easy year yet.