Why This Year Demands a Different Approach
We’re entering 2026 in a peculiar moment. After five years of what felt like continuous crisis management since 2020, many of us are exhausted. The traditional “set goals and push harder” approach isn’t just ineffective anymore—it’s dangerous.
I’ve been hosting this annual planning session for nine consecutive years now, and I can tell you: this year feels different. There’s a palpable hunger for real change, not just incremental improvement. People are done with survival mode. They want expansion, meaning, and authentic progress.
But here’s what most won’t tell you: 2025 was difficult for a reason. It was a structuring year—a year of building foundations, learning hard lessons, and clearing out what no longer served us. And now? We’re standing at the threshold of a new nine-year cycle, ready to capitalize on everything we’ve learned.
The Two Camps: Which Will You Choose?
Right now, humanity is polarizing into two distinct groups:
Camp One remains stuck in blame, waiting, cynicism, and pessimism. They’re contracting, trying to control the uncontrollable, paralyzed by fear of what might be lost.
Camp Two chooses to create, elevate, transform, and move forward despite uncertainty. They understand that while we can’t control external events, we absolutely control our response to them.
The question isn’t whether you’ll face challenges this year—you will. The question is: will you let those challenges diminish you, or will you use them as fuel for becoming someone greater?
What NOT to Do in 2026: The Guaranteed Path to Failure
Before we explore what works, let’s be ruthlessly honest about what doesn’t:
The Waiting Game
I see people every year at the same seminars, investing in themselves but always “waiting for the right moment.” The truth? The perfect moment never arrives. The world moves forward with or without you, and those who wait pay the highest price: lost time.
The Fear Trap
Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of judgment. Fear of the unknown. Fear of losing what little security we have. Fear is the greatest inhibitor of progress, and in uncertain times, it multiplies exponentially.
But here’s the paradigm shift you need: Certainty is an illusion. You cannot control outcomes, but you can develop confidence in your ability to adapt, learn, and respond to whatever comes.
The Ignorance Tax
Want to know what costs more than taxes? Ignorance. Every year, you pay a debt for what you don’t know—about yourself, your craft, your finances, your relationships. The people who stopped learning after formal education are paying the steepest price.
The “More is Better” Trap
In an era demanding precision, many are still playing the volume game. More hours. More effort. More content. More, more, more. This is the fastest path to burnout without results.
What you need isn’t more intensity—it’s more accuracy. More alignment. More strategic focus on what actually matters.
The 7 Pillars for Your Best Year
Pillar 1: State and Intention
Everything begins with your state. Not your goals. Not your strategies. Your internal state.
Your state determines your thoughts. Your thoughts determine your emotions. Your emotions drive your actions. Your actions create your results.
Here’s the question most people never ask: What state do I need to be in to achieve what I want?
If you want transformation but remain in a state of fear, contraction, and reactivity, you’re fighting yourself. If you want abundance but operate from scarcity, you’re broadcasting the wrong signal.
Money is emotional. Business is emotional. Relationships are emotional. Everything that matters is emotional. Master your state, and you master your trajectory.
Your Practice: Define the state you’re entering 2026 with. Not what you’ll do—who you’ll be. What energy will you cultivate? What mindset will you maintain when challenges arise?
Pillar 2: Confidence
Confidence isn’t something you have or don’t have. It’s a muscle you build in the discomfort zone, not the comfort zone.
Impostor syndrome? That’s not a problem—it’s a sign you’re evolving. True impostors never feel like impostors. When you feel illegitimate, it’s because you’re stretching into a new level where you haven’t yet proven yourself.
The solution isn’t to wait until you “feel ready.” The solution is to act despite the doubt, because confidence comes from evidence you create for yourself.
Every time I’ve experienced a breakthrough—launching Flowtasking, writing my latest book, hosting my first major event—it started with acting before I felt ready. The confidence came afterward, built on proof I generated through audacity.
Your Practice: What will you dare to do in 2026? What would having more confidence change for you? Write it down. Then take the first step before you’re ready.
Pillar 3: Direction and Clarity
Intensity without direction is just noise. You can work incredibly hard and end up exactly where you started if you’re pointed the wrong way.
The biggest mistake people make isn’t lacking goals—it’s pursuing goals that don’t actually matter to them. They’re following “shoulds” instead of genuine callings. They’re checking boxes society handed them rather than designing their own scorecard.
Here’s what changed everything for me: Decision precedes clarity.
People wait to have all the details before committing. But that’s backwards. You commit first—you decide—and then the path reveals itself. I’ve launched dozens of projects without knowing exactly how they’d unfold. The commitment created the clarity.
Your Practice: What decision have you been avoiding? What do you know, deep down, you need to commit to? Make that decision now. Take one concrete action today that makes it real.
Pillar 4: Time and Energy
Time management is actually energy management. And energy management is really about standards.
You are what you repeatedly do. Your destiny isn’t shaped by occasional heroic efforts—it’s shaped by your daily habits, your consistent rhythms, your non-negotiable standards.
Tell me where you spend your time, and I’ll tell you your destiny. It’s that simple.
The compound effect of what you do daily—including rest and recovery—will construct your entire year. This isn’t about productivity hacks. This is about deciding what deserves your finite energy and then protecting that allocation fiercely.
Your Practice: What deserves your time and energy in 2026? Not “everything” or “success”—be specific. What are the three to five areas that, if you invested consistently in them, would transform your year?
Pillar 5: Money and Abundance
Money is one of the most emotionally charged topics, especially in times of economic pressure. And here’s what I’ve learned: Lack attracts more lack.
When you operate from scarcity—from fear of not having enough—you create more scarcity. Your desperation repels opportunity. Your anxiety clouds judgment. Your contraction closes doors.
The shift to abundance isn’t about pretending you have money you don’t have. It’s about changing your relationship with money itself. Understanding that you are your greatest asset. That your ability to create value is more important than your current bank balance.
Intelligence financière—financial intelligence—is both a mindset and a skill set. It’s about managing what you have wisely while simultaneously believing in your capacity to generate more.
Your Practice: What relationship do you want with money in 2026? Not how much you want to make—what relationship you want to cultivate. One of scarcity and fear? Or one of confidence and possibility?
Pillar 6: Relationships and Community
You cannot break through your ceiling alone. You cannot challenge your limiting beliefs alone. You cannot evolve beyond your current paradigm alone.
We are social creatures, even the most introverted among us. We need a tribe—people who understand us, who challenge us, who celebrate our wins and support us through losses.
But here’s what’s changed: trust has eroded. Connection has become transactional. People are more isolated than ever despite being more “connected” than ever.
Your circle determines your trajectory. The people you surround yourself with shape your thinking, influence your decisions, and either elevate you or hold you back.
Your Practice: Where is your tribe? Who are the people who truly belong in your circle? What relationships need boundaries? What connections need deepening? Define your ideal community and start building it intentionally.
Pillar 7: Career and Purpose
We spend a third of our lives working. Our identity is deeply tied to what we do. When someone asks “What do you do?” they’re really asking “Who are you?”
This year, the question isn’t just about career advancement. It’s about alignment. Are you being called to radical change? Evolution within your current path? Or a pivot—same direction, different approach?
Your career should fulfill you. It should provide meaning, usefulness, variety (especially for multipotentialites), and yes—fair compensation. Stop apologizing for wanting to be paid what you’re worth. Recognition, including financial recognition, matters.
The framework I’ve developed isn’t about “finding your passion” or “discovering your purpose”—those can be paralyzing. Instead, find your thread. What’s the throughline in everything you do that brings you alive?
For me, it’s transmission—whether through writing, speaking, coaching, or creating programs. The medium changes, but the essence remains.
Your Practice: What evolution does your career need in 2026? And more importantly: how can you be more authentically yourself in your work? The paradox is that differentiation comes from being more you, not less.
The Transformation Begins Now
Here’s what I want you to understand: Life is a continuous series of decisions.
Uncertainty is normal—we’re all in it. But within that uncertainty lies the opportunity to grow, contribute, create, and yes, even have fun. We take ourselves too seriously. The best work often comes when we’re enjoying ourselves.
The biggest regrets come from inaction. From passivity. From waiting. From playing it safe when your soul was calling for boldness.
2026 can be your breakthrough year. Not because circumstances will be perfect—they won’t. But because you’ll develop the state, confidence, clarity, habits, abundance mindset, community, and career alignment that allows you to thrive regardless of external conditions.
You’ve been through enough. You’ve learned enough. You’ve waited enough.
The decision is yours: Will you choose expansion or contraction? Creation or complaint? Possibility or pessimism?
Your First Move
Don’t let this be just another article you read and forget. Make a decision right now:
- What is THE decision you’ve been avoiding?
- What is your first act of audacity for 2026?
- What state are you entering this year with?
- What will you dare to do?
Write it down. Tell someone. Take one concrete action today that makes it real.
Because the truth is, the world will keep moving forward. The question is whether you’ll move with it, creating the year—and life—you actually want.
Your best year isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you deliberately construct, one intentional decision at a time.
Welcome to 2026. Let’s make it unforgettable.
What resonated most with you from these seven pillars? What’s the first change you’re committing to in 2026? Share your thoughts and hold yourself accountable by declaring your intention.