The last blog post looked at what went well in 2025 and discussed the benefit of both gratitude and contribution journals. Now might be a time to look at setting goals as it is often something people look at in the New Year. Perhaps you have already set some goals for 2026?

If you do not know where to start but feel like change is needed, why not look at the ‘Wheel of Life’ and get a feeling of where you are at and what parts of your life you would like to work on? If you’ve already got some ideas in mind, or have now been inspired by the ‘Wheel of Life’, then you’re ready for the next step.

Next, write the goals down. Dr Gail Matthews found that writing your goals down greatly increases the odds you will accomplish them. Michael Hyatt notes that other reasons that writing a goal down can be useful are that it clarifies what you want, can motivate you, gives you a filter for other opportunities, helps overcome resistance, and will help you to celebrate progress.

Something to reflect on can be Mark Manson’s ideas on New Year’s Resolutions is that people tend to set goals that may be too high, and do not really think about the ‘Why?’ behind the goal – he feels that if there is not a deeper motivation the goal may not stick. Also, he suggests thinking about what you are doing that you would like to take away (what would you like to stop doing), thinking about shifts in mind sets, and not having too many goals. Does the change have to be dramatic? Or can small changes have a compounding effect. Perhaps start with a small goals.

Some people consider S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) goals to be a great framework for structuring your steps towards your goals, and to help you focus and achieve them. A newer framework with a focus on output is P.A.C.T (Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable) goals. If you are more a visual person, perhaps a ‘Vision Board’ may help you focus on what you want to achieve.

From a coaching perspective it might help to not only thing about the goal and how you may achieve it, but how you could hold yourself accountable. “What might be the barriers and how would you overcome them?” is another great question to ask.

So how are you doing on your goals for 2026?