So that’s that…onwards into 2026 #97-98
“Shall I, shan’t I?”
That was my challenge when I woke up this morning.
“Should I write a 1000Weeks blog to kick off the New Year as I mean to go on, or should I just cut myself some (more) slack?”
I bet I wasn’t the only person feeling this way this morning. The first Monday following the Christmas and New Year holidays when, for many, real life is suspended.
My festive Tour
My suspension was a goodie. A fine mixture of family, friends, food, walks, being by the sea or in open spaces, conversation, moderate alcohol consumption (ahem, New Years Eve…) and relaxation as I toured from London to Devon, to Dorset, to Leicestershire, to Worcestershire and finally home to London. Fortunately, this year I had the foresight to book a car early so didn’t end up driving a transit van like I did last year. But that’s a different story…
And it really is true that a bacon sandwich is the answer to a New Years Day hangover.
Choices
Opening Gmail and Outlook over the weekend I had the normal onslaught of New year this, that and the other emails.
Being a sucker for a self-development moment I read them with glee only to find my state of calm was being agitated by a sudden overwhelm of pressure and choice. Should I complete Tim Ferris’s Past Year Review? Shane Parrish and Remarkable’s Annual Review ‘workbook’? or Dr Lucy Ryan’s Looking Backwards; Looking Forwards review?
I plumped for Tim’s, having done it a few years ago at the end of 2023. Basically, you go through your 2025 diary allocating your activities a + or a - based on whether they caused you positive or negative feelings (or if you are anything like me you have a few that straddle the line!). Tot up your list and do more of things that caused positive emotions and less of those that don’t.
By the time I got to mid-February, I already knew the answers. It was a double down of 2023.
Turns out I already know what brings me joy (see my scribbles above, all underpinned by my SHED1).
Word
Which led me to my word of the year:
Simple.
As in keep life simple.
Simple speaks to me of – clarity, focus, acceptance and presence. And keeps me out of ruminating and FOMO. It says stop second guessing or making long to do lists. Or deliberating around choices. Over analysis. Reading just one more guru’s email just in case it holds the elixir to life. Just crack on. And keep moving2.
2026
And the three things I will be focussing on in 2026:
1. Building my Coaching business.
2. Exploring living in … deliberately teasing you here. Let’s wait and see.
3. Paddleboarding. In 2025 I only got out twice.
You
So that’s me, my word and plans for 2026.
As ever, I’m interested in you. How did you choose to wind up the Old Year and set yourself up for the New Year? Is it a review, a word, a resolution or something else?
Pour yourself a mushroom enhanced non alcoholic beer and drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you.
And remember, you’re never going to be any younger than you are today, what can you choose to stop doing in 2026 to give you more time to do the things you love?
Until next week my friends,
Here’s to a cracking 2026 for us all,
Ruth x
Thank you for reading 1000Weeks, I really appreciate it. If you enjoyed it, I’d love it if you left me a comment, a ❤️, subscribed or shared it with someone you think might enjoy it. Thank you.
The SHED Method is a great book written by my friend Sara Milne Rowe.
Move was my word for 2025, which, if I’m honest, I’d forgotten…
HNY Ruth. Love to see a pic of you in the transit van going up (or down) the motorway (!) My days of list writing for NY objectives seem to have passed me by. Quite like the idea of a jar to write down one thing that went right in a week.....