Every new year gives you a choice. You can repeat the year you just lived, or you can intentionally build the year you actually want. Most people want progress, yet without a clear process they fall back into familiar routines and drift through another twelve months wondering where the time went.
This time can be different.
Think of this article as a tool you carry with you. Something you can return to when motivation fades or clarity slips. Not just words on a page, but a guide you actively use while setting goals and taking action throughout the year.
As you read, treat each section like a checkpoint. Pause when something resonates. Reflect when a question challenges you.
This is not about rushing to the end. It is about setting a direction that actually holds when life gets hard.
Your journey starts now.
There is a moment from SEAL training that comes back to me every time I plan a new year.
It mirrors exactly what it feels like to step into goals that matter.
It was early morning in Coronado. Cold enough that it sharpened your focus. Our boat crew stood on wet sand while heavy surf crashed in front of us. Each wave rose like a moving wall, rumbling through the ground beneath our feet. The mission was simple. Launch the boat, paddle through the surf, and reach the calm water beyond the break. Yet as the waves pounded and the cold tightened its grip, hesitation crept in. It always does. Quietly. Making you imagine what could go wrong before you even begin. I felt it too.
Then our instructor cut through the moment with a calm reminder:
“Boats do not cross surf by thinking. They cross by paddling.”
That single sentence broke the hesitation. We lifted the boat and charged forward. The surf slammed us. We swallowed water. The boat nearly flipped. But we kept paddling until we finally punched through the chaos and reached quiet water.
That lesson has shaped my decisions ever since. Action beats hesitation. Movement beats fear. The first stroke is rarely perfect, but it is the one that begins the journey. As you think about your goals for 2026, you are standing on your own shoreline. You can stare at the waves, or you can take the stroke that moves you forward.
Before you can take meaningful action, you need a clear vision of where you want the journey to lead.
A goal that does not move you emotionally will not move you consistently.
Close your eyes and imagine yourself on December thirty first, 2026. Imagine waking up that morning and looking back on the year you just lived.
What are you proud of? What changed in your leadership, your relationships, your health, or your confidence? What did you finally confront instead of postponing? How does your life feel because of the choices you made?
Write this down with detail. Not bullet points. Not slogans. Describe the life you want to be living. This vision becomes your compass. Without it, even the best tactics drift. With it, imperfect actions gain power.
This is where I want you to zoom out.
The day after Thanksgiving is when I start my own goal setting process, not just for the next year, but for the next ten years. I always start with ten years because that horizon becomes my North Star. A ten year goal is not a plan. It is a dream that meets a vision. I think of it like a movie I want to star in.
At this distance, I allow myself to dream without constraints. I ask “what if” questions. What if anything were possible? What kind of impact would I want to have? Who would I want to help? What would my best life actually look like?
A ten year goal should feel ambitious enough that you honestly do not know how you would accomplish it. That is the point. Logic does not belong here yet. Dreaming does.
From there, I work backward. The three year goal becomes directional. More specific, but still aspirational. The one year goal is where execution lives. This is where structure, metrics, and discipline matter. SMART goals belong here, not at the ten year level.
Your North Star gives meaning to the work. Your one year goals give it traction.
When I was building Perfect Fitness, we faced a year that would determine whether the company took off or quietly faded away.
We were small, unknown, and operating against the odds. We knew the next twelve months mattered more than any before.
Instead of starting with tactics, I gathered the team and asked a single question.
“What do we want to be true twelve months from now that is not true today?”
We did not rush the answer. We talked. We debated. Eventually clarity emerged. National retail expansion. A stronger brand presence. A product lineup that could scale. Then we asked the next question. What actions would make those outcomes real?
We kept it simple. Measurable actions. Repeatable actions. Actions the entire team could align around. That clarity created discipline. Discipline created momentum. Momentum created breakthroughs.
Vision without action is fantasy. Action without vision is chaos. When they meet, progress becomes inevitable.
Every journey requires an honest pause.
There was a period in my life when I was pushing hard professionally while quietly neglecting the habits that grounded me. My workouts became inconsistent. Sleep suffered. I was giving everyone my energy except myself and the people I loved most. I was achieving goals, but weakening the foundation beneath them.
That realization forced a reset.
I identified three personal areas that needed attention. Health. Presence at home. Personal growth. Then I built simple daily and weekly actions to support them. Nothing flashy. Just consistent effort. The impact was immediate. More energy. More clarity. Better leadership.
As you prepare for 2026, identify three areas of your life that need strengthening. These will shape your goals. Strong years are built by strong foundations.
Related Article: Where You Put Your Focus Will Determine Your Actions and Outcomes
This is where most goal setting fails.
People create beautiful plans, but without daily action those plans are nothing more than wish lists. Daily action is the single most important element of turning imagination into reality.
Break every goal into the smallest meaningful action. Build those actions into a rhythm. Daily or weekly. Track progress. Adjust as needed. This is not about motivation. It is about mindsetting. Learning how to keep your mind aligned when progress feels slow, when doubt creeps in, and when quitting feels easier than continuing.
You will fail. You will get discouraged. That is normal. Mindsetting is what gets you back up and moving again.
Not all goals are the same.
Tactical goals are measurable outcomes. Save a certain amount of money. Lose weight. Complete a project. Strategic goals are about learning how to use your gift to serve others. Strategic goals are what allow moonshot goals to become possible.
Everyone has a gift. Think of it like a raw diamond. Unpolished. Cloudy. Its value is hidden until friction and practice bring out its brilliance. Your gift only becomes powerful if you are willing to work on it daily.
Your most ambitious goals will only be achieved by applying your gift in service of others. When you do that, timelines compress. Ten year goals become five. One year goals become quarterly.
If you are serious about achieving your goals for 2026, especially the bigger ones, do not try to walk this path alone.
Progress accelerates when the journey is shared. Whether you lead a company, a team, a family, or simply influence those around you, involving others in your goal setting process creates clarity, alignment, and accountability that you cannot generate on your own.
Bring people into the vision. Share where you are going and why it matters. Ask them what success looks like from their perspective. Ask where they see friction or risk. Ask what actions they believe would make the biggest difference. When people feel heard and included, they take ownership. Ownership changes behavior. Behavior changes outcomes.
This applies at work and at home. Teams perform better when they understand the destination and their role in reaching it. Families grow stronger when goals are shared and progress is visible. Even one accountability partner can dramatically increase your consistency. Goals spoken out loud carry more weight. Goals pursued together are harder to abandon.
Leadership is not about carrying the load yourself. It is about creating shared commitment. When others walk with you, the journey becomes lighter, clearer, and far more powerful.
If your goals for 2026 do not create discomfort, they are probably not big enough.
Discomfort is not something to avoid. It is something to understand. Every meaningful goal introduces uncertainty. It forces you to try things you have not mastered. It exposes gaps in skill, confidence, or experience. That is exactly why it works.
Think back to moments in your life when you grew the most. Starting a new role. Having a difficult conversation. Taking a risk that mattered. None of those moments felt comfortable at the time. Yet they shaped who you became. Growth rarely announces itself with confidence. It often arrives disguised as doubt.
When discomfort shows up in the year ahead, do not interpret it as a sign to stop. See it as feedback that you are moving in the right direction. Use it as a compass that points toward development. The goal is not to eliminate discomfort, but to learn how to move forward with it.
Comfort keeps you exactly where you are. Courage, practiced daily, moves you toward who you want to become. Let discomfort guide you, not derail you.
As you step into 2026, remember this. A meaningful year is not created by chance.
It is created by choice, followed by action, repeated with discipline. You now have a framework you can return to throughout the year. A way to think bigger than a single resolution. A way to connect your daily actions to a larger purpose.
Use your ten year North Star to dream boldly and without constraint. Let your three year goals provide direction. Let your one year goals create focus. Then commit to daily action, even when progress feels invisible. Especially when it feels invisible. That is where most people quit. That is also where separation happens.
You will have moments of doubt. You will have weeks where momentum slows. That does not mean you are failing. It means you are human. What matters is that you return to the process. You revisit the questions. You realign your actions. You take the next stroke.
Write your paragraph for December thirty first, 2026. Place it where you will see it often. Let it remind you why you started. Let it pull you forward when motivation fades. This article is not meant to be read once and forgotten. It is meant to be used.
This is your journey. This is your year. The shoreline is behind you. Take the next stroke with intention and keep moving forward.
Be Unstoppable.