I’ve done a goal-setting episode at the end of every year for the past 6 years, but I don’t think I’ve ever done a review of the year that just ended. This episode will show you a simple, proven way to review your year (or your day or your round of golf) that you can and should use. And I of course set some golf and podcast goals for 2026, which I think can help you do the same.
Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Mental Golf Show. As always, I’m your host Josh Nichols, and it is the end of 2025.
Something I’ve done at the end of every year of this podcast since 2019 has been, in some form, a goal-setting episode for the following year. But I don’t know how many times I’ve done a past review at the end of the year where I review how the year went—both for me personally, for the podcast, for my golf game, and things like that.
So I actually want to do that here. I want to review how 2025 went with a structure that maybe you could use for yourself. It’s something that I’ve learned, and if you’ve been listening for long enough or close enough, you will recognize this structure.
I also want to turn toward 2026 and set some goals—set some intentions—for how I want 2026 to go.
Before I get into this review of 2025 and goals for 2026, I want to remind you that I do a free mental game assessment.
It’s a really cool, useful tool that I use with my clients, with my one-on-one mental coaching clients. You take basically a survey or a questionnaire—however you want to say it—and it takes about 15 minutes.
You answer statements like “I love the challenge of golf” on a scale from one to five. Or “Golf affects my personality. I feel great when I’m playing well and I feel down when I’m playing bad.” You rate yourself one to five on that. There’s a bunch of those.
Once you complete that, I get your results. I manually create these assessment reports and send them back to you. So if you’ve done one in the last couple of weeks, I’m still working on getting those out to you.
If you haven’t taken it yet, I really encourage you to. It’s a really cool, free resource where you’ll learn your mental strengths and the areas most in need of improvement just by filling out this questionnaire.
You can go to joshnicholsgolf.com/assessment to check it out.
I want to review how 2025 went using a structure I’ve talked about a bunch over the years. Maybe you recognize it. Maybe you’ve used it yourself. I know a lot of my one-on-one players have implemented this.
It’s called the 3&1 Exercise.
The idea is simple: you list out three things you did well, one thing you want to improve, and then specifically how you plan on improving that one thing.
This concept was first brought to me by my coach and mentor, Robert Limbaugh, who learned it from a book. I can’t even remember the book now—this is like a ten-year-old exercise for me. If I can find it, I’ll put it in the show notes.
The idea behind this exercise is that we all have a negativity bias. We all tend to heap up negative things—negative experiences, things that went wrong, things we failed at, things we need to improve.
That pile gets really big.
So we have to work extra hard and extra intentionally to flip that bias. A good way to do that is to outweigh those negatives with things you actually did well.
These aren’t fake, empty positives. These are real things—things you worked on that led to real results.
I’m not a “just think positive” guy. I don’t believe in covering everything with positivity or pretending things are great when they’re not. I’m much more about staying neutral, accepting reality as it is, and working from there.
But even still, we need to intentionally acknowledge what went well.
The first thing is the podcast.
I was extremely consistent with the podcast this year. I never missed a single week the entire year.
This episode you’re listening to right now is either episode 51 or 52, depending on how quickly I turn around an interview I’m doing with a really cool guest. But regardless, I will not have missed a single week this year.
I’ve never been able to say that before.
I’ve always had stretches of consistency—three or four months here, maybe daily releases for a short period—but I’ve never just plotted along week by week for an entire year.
This year, I did.
The podcast became the non-negotiable. Everything else fell to the side. And that’s something I’m really proud of. That process matters to me more than numbers or growth.
The second thing is golf related.
I practiced really well with the resources I had. I have a backyard setup—foam golf balls, a bed sheet, artificial turf—and while it’s far from perfect practice, I’ve been really diligent about getting out there.
It keeps me swinging. It keeps me from getting rusty. It helps prevent injury. And honestly, it’s good for my mental health.
I let go of the all-or-nothing mentality of “If I can’t get to the course, why practice at all?” Instead, I told myself: hit balls for ten minutes. Just do something.
I didn’t track it perfectly, but it was probably 40–50% of the days this year. That’s way more than in recent years, and that matters.
The third thing is related to that all-or-nothing mentality.
Working with Nerd Fitness has been the single most important change I’ve made in my golf life over the last 20 years.
Fitness and nutrition have never been fun for me. I’ve always thought, “If I can’t do it perfectly, why do it at all?”
But over the last year, I’ve learned that one rep is better than zero reps. One workout is better than none. One cookie is better than two cookies.
That mindset shift—combined with accountability and structure—has been massive for me. It’s taught me self-forgiveness, grace, and consistency over perfection.
The biggest thing I need to improve is getting to the actual golf course.
There is no substitute for real grass, real balls, real putting greens. Backyard practice helps, but it doesn’t replace being on site.
The biggest barrier is time. The course is about 20 minutes away, which makes short sessions feel inefficient. But they’re still valuable.
So the plan is simple: put it on the calendar and let myself go, even if it’s short.
I want to go to the golf course once a week and do something—play, practice, putt, chip.
I also want to qualify for:
I want to improve my interview skills.
I love preparing for interviews, but I know I can do better in the moment. I want interviews to be an even bigger part of the show in 2026.
I want to not miss a single week of The Mental Re-Grip newsletter.
In 2026, I want to start working on a book.
Specifically, I want to outline it and write something for each chapter. If we put a number on it, I want to write around 25,000 words.
That’s not a finished book—but it’s meaningful progress.
I encourage you to use this three and one exercise for yourself—whether yearly, weekly, or after a round of golf.
Review what went well.
Choose one thing to improve.
Decide how you’ll improve it.
Then define what you want to be able to say about the year ahead.
Thank you for listening to The Mental Golf Show in 2025. The feedback, emails, reviews, and support have been incredible.
Here’s to a great 2026.