Arjen van Veelen no longer allows me to say that I am done with something. But I am done with something. With all those stories about good intentions. The entire internet is full of them.
“Here are your New Year’s resolutions.” ‘Do you already have good intentions?’ ‘You will keep these good intentions.’ ‘Positive resolutions work better than negative ones.’ “These are the royals’ good intentions.” Even on my dating app, men start talking about it. ‘Do you have any good intentions?’ Yes, swiping you away. Leave me alone.
But it is also not possible without good intentions. Then such an empty, new, gloomy year is completely unbearable. Without good intentions you admit that life is meaningless. That you are a plaything of the elements. And that it will never get better. And certainly not you.
And so I read all those stories again. In the hope of new insights. ‘More strength training’, ‘less screen time’, ‘less sugar’, ‘more nature’, ‘do more impulsive things’, ‘do less impulsive things’, ‘read more’, ‘eat less fat’, ‘eat more vegetables’, ‘less alcohol’, ‘drink more water’, ‘paste in photos’, ‘print out photos first, otherwise you can’t paste them in’. I already know that I’m not going to keep that up.
No one can keep that up.
Yes, Jesus. That one worked. To stick to his good intentions all his life. But that was also 2000 years ago. Moreover, we all know what happened to him.
The rest of humanity, on average, stops making good intentions after just two weeks (I think that’s a long time). Because it’s hard to do something all by yourself. Let alone keep that up.
And so I thought: what if in 2026, instead of making good intentions for ourselves, we started doing things for others? Altruism is so much easier than self-discipline. And if everyone does that, someone will do it for you too. Everyone wins.
Moreover, doing something for someone else – don’t tell anyone – is the height of selfishness. Because if people around you are happy, you will be happy too. And the best part: no one knows this! Yes, the people who read this column. This year the rest of the world thinks: how sweet! He does something for others! What a treasure! They should know. People who do something for others take best care of themselves.
So some suggestions this week. What you can do for someone else in 2026. This will change your life, just pay attention.
1 Act normally towards store employees
And greet the bus driver. The parcel deliverer. The waiter. Say hello, nod slightly, and interrupt your phone conversation. And not with: “Wait a minute. That leopard behind the cash register says something.”
2Buy something in a store, instead of online
Come visit EasyToys! A store where something is sold is also so much friendlier than a parcel point where people beat each other’s brains out.
3End each meeting after 21 minutes
Come up with an excuse, a gas leak if necessary. Everything is allowed in 2026, so that we will all be less likely to sit in a cubicle and watch a redundant PowerPoint.
4Are you lying on the couch with a bag of chips? Put it on the scarves
Then the people who have exercised will feel a lot better.
5Stand up for the elderly and pregnant women in public transport
Without looking around triumphantly afterwards. You can say to a fit fifty-something: “I normally get up for the elderly, but you are much too young.”
6Replace your folding bicycle for an OV bicycle
Less bleeding shins, less misplaced superiority.
7When it rains or snows, give priority to cyclists and pedestrians
If the elevator is broken, ask if you can help someone with a wheelchair. Without then thinking: ‘look at me being a good person’.
8Compliment Wierd Duk on his jacket
Compliment Johan Derksen on his mustache!
9Switch jobs without making a fuss about it on LinkedIn…
as if you have become the new Secretary General of NATO. If you have seen Jesus, stopped drinking, or will now work ‘agile’? Idem. Just keep it to yourself. The world will benefit enormously from this.
10Give that bumbler some space when merging
Without the appearance of someone who will soon make an Instagram post about it.
11Hold the door for someone – even if it’s a man
And without that tired expression of ‘yes, I’ll wait’.
12Help people on the train with suitcases and strollers
Even if you feel your hernia coming on again.
13Offer your friends to be the BOB
Even after Dry January. And not so that I can take embarrassing pictures of them all evening.
14Continue asking: ‘How are you really doing?’
Without hoping that the answer remains short. Take other people’s problems seriously. And not because they suddenly make your own problems relatively small.
15Are you a man? Then clear the conference table
And. Stop with New Year’s kisses. I repeat: stop the New Year’s kisses.
16When the container is full, take your waste bag back home
And immediately take all the bags there with you. Saves your neighbors another fine. Clean up your dog’s poop. Have a laugh.
17Wash your sandwich or your flute –
or what do you call it nowadays – before you, as Peter Pannekoek calls it: ‘visiting someone’ (google it if you don’t know what this is). And wash your hands after urinating. You will please many people.
18Wish everyone a happy new year!
(Allowed until March 22). Believe me. Then you have one yourself.
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