Plan for 2026 by Focusing on Your Best Self
December is a special time of year. There’s holidays, end of year wrap-ups, and of course, planning for the new year ahead. We probably begin to imagine grand aspirations and visions for ourselves in the upcoming year. Yet, sometimes we fail to plan how we are going to accomplish said visions. Yes, this is just another “how to be a better version of yourself” article that comes out mid-December right before you settle on your New Year’s Resolutions – but I would like to share how I actually did it in 2025, in hopes that you can do the same.
In 2024, my life flipped upside down. I was young, about to get married, and a homeowner all on my own with a great job and a healthy family. But I was miserable. I blinded myself with constantly being “busy.” After all, I was planning a wedding! What I failed to realize was that in my pathological next, next, next mindset, I was not actually following my heart. I was following my brain. I was checking off the to-do lists with gusto! I was ahead of schedule! Every day, week, month was planned out and the spreadsheets were updated.
As we all know, life does not follow spreadsheets. I found myself alone; separated in my mid-twenties in a town with no friends or family. Yes I was a homeowner with a steady job, but my personal life was falling apart. So, I stopped and reflected on what I needed to get through this time in my life. I knew that if I followed the grain, went with the flow, and took the time I wanted to wallow in my self pity, I would be worse off. Instead I chose to use this time to make impactful decisions to improve my life, for me.
Before I set a goal, I first explored the areas of my life that I felt needed some attention. Wellness and community were top of mind. I decided to do 75 Hard, without an accountability partner, while going through a divorce, during the holiday season in an isolated town where I lacked community. And sheesh, it was HARD. 75 Hard is an extreme wellness challenge developed by Andy Frisella and the purpose is to drive discipline and consistency over everything else. A brief overview of 75 Hard is two workouts every day – one has to be outside, ten pages of a nonfiction book, daily progress pictures, drinking a gallon of water, and adhering to a diet (any of your choosing). Andy claims the challenge has far greater impacts on your mindset than the physical changes you are bound to notice. During this emotionally turbulent time in my life, I needed something to fully commit to. I chose this challenge for many reasons, certainly for the physical benefits, yet I wanted to take this time in my life to focus on healing in a healthier way.
I joined a workout community, I created meal plans, I built schedules, I found nonfiction books I was interested in and I set prescheduled alarms and reminders in my phone. Everything was written down and taped on my wall where I would see it every day. I planned to succeed.
In Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott describes isolating herself and taking time away from the internet for a set period of time every year to reflect deeply on her life and where she will shift her focus to next. We may not all have access to a cabin in nature or be able to leave our living situation for an extended period of time, but Scott makes a good point here. Prior to determining your goal(s) for the next chapter of your life, I recommend reflecting on resources that will aid you in identifying what areas you are doing well in and where you may need improvement or support.
Writing out your goals and the steps necessary to accomplish them “encodes” this data in your brain, a concept Mark Murphy explains in Neuroscience Explains Why You Need To Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want To Achieve Them. Murphy says we are more likely to remember something if we write it down because of the “generation effect.” This means we remember information better when we create it ourselves rather than reading it. By visualizing our own goals and determining the steps necessary to achieve them, we are generating our own information, increasing the likelihood of remembering.
The most effective goal setting tool I use myself is to follow the SMART model:
Specific - Remember, a grand vision of the future is not a goal. Narrow your focus to an activity or area of your life.
Measurable - How are you going to measure your progress? Is there an allotted amount of time you will set aside every day to practice an instrument? Are you decreasing the time spent on your phone?
Attainable - In other words, realistic. The goal you have set must make sense for you and your circumstances.
Relevant - Choose a goal that will be fulfilling in this era of your life. Take time to reflect on the areas of your life that may feel lacking. Determine one thing that you could do that would make the most impact.
Timely - Set a start date and an end date to your goal. And then celebrate every success along the way, not just the finish line!
In order to accomplish the goal I set for myself, commitment in all things was extremely important. Most weekends, I travel four hours round trip to visit my family. This goal was 75 consecutive days of continued habit building. I did not have the luxury of taking the weekends or even a day off. Scheduling my workouts and reading around birthday parties, holidays celebrations, and reunions with friends was imperative. Many times I also had to prepare and bring my own food to make sure I adhered to the diet I had committed to.
If you want to be active, learn a new skill, or improve a passion project you started ten years ago, then you have to put time into it. But you also must choose where you are going to get this time back from. Less phone scrolling? Less time with people who drain you? As painful as it is to say, it is true – we all have the same 24 hours in a day. You cannot simultaneously be the version of yourself that follows your dreams while maintaining the status quo. But I am here to tell you, it is worth it.
As you approach the end of this year and the beginning of 2026, take time alone to decide what it is you need and then plan to succeed in filling that need. You deserve it. You deserve community, physical health, mental wellbeing, and joy.
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