I finished an NYT Sunday crossword

Sometimes you really just need a victory.

At the start of 2024, my goal was to finish an NYT Monday crossword in less than 30 minutes and finish a Sunday one in any length of time. I tried, nearly every day, that year. I accomplished the Monday goal pretty quickly, and by the end of the year, I had worked my way up to finishing a Wednesday. I didn’t love that I didn’t meet my goal.

When 2025 came around, I started thinking about a new goal, and then, I thought: What if I just kept trying for the Sunday crossword?

And, readers, that I did. A couple of weeks ago, I finally did it. I finished an NYT Sunday crossword.

It took more than a year, but… who cares? Sometimes I remember that I’m an adult, and most “rules” are self imposed. There are so many moments where you can do whatever you want! So now my 2025 is focused on really interrogating all the times when I’m doing something because I feel like I “should.” Is it really necessary? Is the guilt of not doing something I should valid? This has been especially important during my work as a consultant where my days are less structured than they were with a corporate job.

(Also, therapy rules.)

What I’m reading

• Teen Vogue: News Influencers Are Reaching Young People, and the Media Is Trying to Keep Up

• Toby Mather: How I write updates for our investors, board, and team

• New York Times: AI starting in pre-k would be an “unmitigated disaster”

The best thing I made this week

This weekend I made herbed Instant Pot chicken breasts and banana chocolate chip muffins. For the muffins, I used half of the chocolate chips that it called for (extremely off brand), and it was still plenty.

See you next week,
Rachel

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