New Year's Resolution: Start a Brag Doc

Forget the gym membership. A brag doc is the one resolution that actually pays off. Here's why it matters and how to start in 5 minutes.

New Year's resolutions are mostly theater. You'll hit the gym six times in January. You'll read that book and never finish it. You'll swear off caffeine and break by February 2nd.

But there's one resolution that actually works. One that doesn't require motivation or discipline. One that literally pays off.

Start a brag doc.

Why This Resolution Actually Works

Unlike gym memberships, a brag doc has immediate, concrete payoff. You're not doing this for future-you in six months. You're doing this for future-you in three months, during performance review season. And three months is close enough that you'll actually care.

Here's the deal:

During reviews, you'll remember what you did instead of scrambling at the last minute. No more scrolling through GitHub at 11 PM trying to piece together what you actually accomplished.

During interviews, you'll have a running list of your wins. No more vague hand-waving. You can point to specific accomplishments, metrics, and impact.

During conversations with your manager, you'll sound confident because you've documented your work. You won't accidentally undersell something or forget to mention something important.

During salary negotiations, you'll have ammunition. You can point to concrete wins and their business value. That's infinitely more powerful than "I think I've done good work."

This isn't meditation. It's not one weird trick. It's giving yourself the best chance to advance in your career.

The Easiest Resolution Ever

Here's the best part: you don't need to become a different person. You don't need discipline or motivation.

You just need to keep one running document. That's it.

Every time you ship something meaningful, fix something important, help someone, or solve a problem—jot it down. One line. Two sentences max. No perfect grammar required. No elaborate formatting.

Just a list of stuff you did.

• "Fixed the N+1 query bug in the dashboard API"
• "Mentored Alex through their first major feature"
• "Reduced build time from 22 minutes to 8 minutes"
• "Led the on-call rotation for Q4"

That's your brag doc. It's that simple.

How to Actually Start

Today: Open a document (Notion, Google Docs, a Markdown file, whatever). Call it "2025 Wins" or "Brag Doc" or literally anything.

This week: Add 3-5 things you've already accomplished. You don't have to go back through your entire history. Just the wins you remember from the last few weeks.

Moving forward: When you finish something, take 5 minutes and write it down. That's it. One line per week on average. You can do that.

If you want structure, we have a template that organizes wins by impact type. But honestly? A plain list works fine.

The Resolution That Compounds

New Year's resolutions die because they feel pointless. You'll never actually look like the people in those fitness ads. But your brag doc? You'll use it in Q1 reviews. You'll use it in interviews. You'll reference it with your manager.

The resolution compounds. Every achievement you document this year becomes easier next year. By 2026, you'll have a two-year running record. By 2027, three years.

You'll never scramble during review season again.

Make It Effortless

The hardest part of any habit is remembering to do it. BragDoc solves that by automatically extracting achievements from your Git history. Your commits and code reviews become documented wins without you lifting a finger.

You focus on shipping. BragDoc handles the documentation.

Your New Year Setup

Make 2025 the year you stop scrambling during performance reviews. Stop underselling your work. Stop forgetting what you did.

Open that document today. Add three wins. Do it again next week. By March, you'll have a comprehensive record of what you accomplished.

Your future self will thank you. Your manager will notice. Your next raise will reflect it.

That's a resolution that actually works.

Ready to make this a habit? Check out our template for more structure, or learn why automated brag docs save time. Either way, start documenting today.

Your career depends on it.