What Do You Want to Take into 2026?

This time next week we will be in a new year, which often lends itself to setting goals and resetting our priorities. I would like to offer a second approach which involves using the next few days for reflection, rather than immediately determining what needs to be different about 2026.

I let go of rigid New Year’s resolutions years ago. It might have been because I lost momentum after a few months, or sometimes the goals were short-term and once accomplished, I lost interest. Over time, I realized I was more motivated by examining a few core values and using those as a basis for how I lived, rather than deadlines or goals to meet. Progress and practice, not perfection.

For example, the fitness goals – building strength and flexibility and losing weight, eating healthy, and prioritizing sleep and rest. Nothing wrong with these as goals, I thought I only needed to set metrics to measure success. But what if instead I accepted that these goals were the foundation of my approach to physical well-being, incorporated them into my daily rhythm, and treated them as core values? One less resolution, one more practice.

As a recovering MBA, I am familiar with the need to set goals, deadlines, identify deliverables, and measure progress. But these days, I value time for reflection. In marketing we used to talk about the difference between “what’s so” or the facts, and “so what?”, which was more about making meaning out of the facts. Using this approach in reflection, I seek to slow down, sit still, and consider what has happened and what is going on. Then I go deeper into the “so what?” and consider what it means to me. What was the impact, what has changed, how do I integrate this knowledge into how I move forward?

In this way, reflection is like the light that shines back after bouncing on a surface; it is the understanding that follows allowing yourself to sit with your thoughts and experiences.

I have already blocked out a day for reflection on 2025, in preparation for thinking about how I want to enter 2026. Call it superstition or the wisdom of the elders, but we were taught that you should enter the year doing more of what you want in the year to come, and leave behind those practices that no longer serve you. For a yogi friend, it is why she offers what she calls her Big Momma practice on January 1. Her grandmother had shared her wisdom about heading into the new year with her, and she chooses to gift those of us who show up with a yoga practice in the afternoon. I will be there, on the mat, in a sanctuary loft that looks over the altar where light is reflected through the stained-glass windows.

The next day is my day dedicated to reflection. I have a ritual, it includes dressing comfortably, making sure water and delicious food are nearby and ready. I light a candle when I enter the room and might play a little music for background as I settle in. I will grab a journal for writing down notes and thoughts, and have my calendars, digital and paper, nearby if I need to schedule events.

First, I consider the year in review – key events, people in my life, travel, what I accomplished, maybe what I left undone. Going through the calendar helps me remember.

Then, I consider and write down my responses to several questions that I have gathered over many years. Some questions are:

What went well?

Am I learning?

Where was joy?

What felt hard?

Where was God in my journey?

What would I change?

Often, musing over one question might lead to another question I want to consider. I stay open to whatever the time of reflection offers. Only after I have given enough time to reflect will I begin to dream about what might be next for me, and that can be the foundation of practices reinforced, or new goals imagined and planned for.

In my spirit, I believe that 2026 is going to be amazing, and I am excited about the day I have set aside for next week. I have the time and resources in this calm season to slow down and consider what I want more of in my life, and how I want to use my gifts, curiosity, creativity, and time.