Define Where You’re Going
Build Your Best 2026 · Part 1 of 5
A lot of people roll into January with excitement but without a real direction.
Goals end up being picked on the fly, if at all. Plans get built on top of chaos and old routines. And by February, the whole thing feels too heavy, and most people just default back to who they were the year before.
So we’re switching things up here for the next few weeks.
December is going to be a five-part series designed to help you build the foundation for a stronger 2026. The same slow, deliberate work I’m doing right now to make next year my best one yet — but laid out in a way you can follow too.
By the end of the series, you’ll walk away with:
A clear direction for 2026
An honest look at what your goals will require
The habits that actually support your goals
An environment that makes those habits easier
A simple timeline you can trust going into the new year
Why Your Direction Matters
A strong year starts with more than a bunch of goals. It starts with a direction you actually believe in for your life.
When you know where you’re headed in the big picture, every choice gets easier. You stop chasing random ideas. You stop reacting to whatever pops up. You stop building plans on top of old routines that don’t fit the life you want anymore.
Most people fall apart in January because they build the year backwards.
They pick goals first, then try to force their life to match.
A strong direction flips that.
It asks you to step back, zoom out, and decide what you want this next chapter of your life to be about before you start stacking plans on top of it.
Direction doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be meaningful enough that future-you recognizes it as the right path. When you get clear here, the rest of the year has something to anchor to — your habits, your decisions, your effort, even the way you recover.
This is where 2026 actually begins. With a clear sense of where you’re going and why it matters.
“Begin with the end in mind.” — Stephen Covey
If you’re ready to build 2026 with more clarity and structure instead of guesswork, let’s talk. Book your FREE Discovery Call, and we’ll look at where you’re headed, what you want to create next, and how coaching can support the year you’re building.
How to Define Your Long-Range Direction (2030+)
Big years don’t happen in isolation. They fit into the larger shape of your life, and the clearer that shape is, the easier 2026 becomes.
Long-range direction isn’t about predicting every detail. It’s about choosing the themes, priorities, and outcomes you want your life to move toward over the next decade(s).
Start by zooming out and looking at the broad strokes of where you want to be in a few years
The kind of work you want to be doing
The health you want to have
The relationships you want to be in
The challenges you want to take on
The way your daily life looks
This is the part where you look past 2026 — toward 2030 and beyond — and ask:
What do I want to be true by then?
What do I want to have built?
Who am I trying to become?
The answers don’t need sharp edges. They just need weight. You’re setting a horizon line — something far enough away to guide you, but close enough to feel real and achievable.
This is where you name the big ambitions you want your life to move toward.
Sharpening 2026 (What Matters Most Right Now)
Now that you have the broad direction for the next chapter of your life, the next step is deciding what you want to build in the first year of it.
Look at the direction you set for the kind of life you want to be living several years from now, then choose the goals that deserve real commitment over the next twelve months. These aren’t quick wins or one-week projects. These are the big, year-shaping goals that take steady work, patience, and consistency — the ones that feel a little intimidating because they actually ask something of you.
Try to land on no more than three powerful goals for the year. These aren’t single wins. They’re meta-goals — the kind that stretch across months, break down into smaller milestones, and ask you to show up again and again.
Think about the goals that build the most toward your long-range ambitions
Improving your health or fitness base
Developing a skill that opens the next stage of your work or creativity
Creating stability or structure in part of your life
Strengthening an area you want to grow into over the next few years
These goals earn a place in your year because you know they matter. They aren’t guesses or reactionary resolutions. They’re the pieces that move you closer to the life you outlined in the first step.
This is how 2026 becomes intentional instead of another round of old habits. You’re choosing what’s worth building — and you’re giving yourself the time to actually build it.
The Clarity Check
Before you close out this first step in planning your best 2026, take a moment to make sure the direction you set and the goals you chose are aligned. This part is quick, but it keeps you from building a year that feels busy instead of meaningful.
Look at your long-range direction — the life you want to be living several years from now — and then look at what you chose to focus on for 2026. The two should feel connected. It should be very clear why the goals you chose for 2026 build toward the bigger future you want.
Here’s a simple example.
If someone’s long-range direction is something like:
being strong enough to take on real outdoor adventures again
building a creative career path of their own instead of staying in the job they’ve outgrown
creating a calmer daily rhythm that doesn’t burn them out
…but their 2026 goals are running a fast 5K, redesigning the living room, and reading more books, nothing in that list moves the bigger life forward.
But if, instead, they choose to build a real fitness routine, start one creative project that develops new skills, and shape a weekly rhythm built around consistent stress-reduction practices, then the year supports the direction they set.
That’s all the clarity check is — making sure your goals matter, match where you’re trying to go, and deserve a full year of your effort.
When your goals and your direction line up, 2026 stops feeling like guesswork and starts feeling like the first real step toward the future you outlined.
“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” — Seneca
The first step to building your best 2026 isn’t hustle or motivation — it’s direction.
When you know what you’re moving toward, the year stops feeling random. Your goals have purpose, your plans have context, and the work you take on has meaning instead of pressure.
This is the foundation that everything else in the series will build on.
Next comes the reality check, the habits that support your goals, the environment that makes those habits possible, and the timeline that keeps the whole thing grounded.
But it all starts with choosing the life you want and giving yourself a full year to begin building it.
What kind of year do you want 2026 to be?