Habits over goals. The sustainable way to make changes in 2026.
As 2026 starts, I’ve been having a lot of conversations about what people's new years resolutions will be, and these conversations have brought up a lot of thoughts. A lot of thoughts about how we love a good fresh restart. It's the time for some people to reinvent themselves, metaphorically opening a new chapter to a better, healthier, motivated, more organized, and sane you. And if that works for you that's great.
Sometimes I think we need to take a moment to pause though.
And give ourselves a bit more time and space and maybe even a little bit of grace.
Mentally and even physically, our body doesn't thrive on extremes and oftentimes new years resolutions are restrictive and can have a sense of urgency around them. A “you have to do this now” feeling. Your body can move through this for a bit but is it really sustainable?
New year's resolutions are often driven off of motivation and will power and as much as that is great when we have it, both of those are not consistent in our day to day lives (as much as we can power through). It fluctuates with our stress levels, our workloads, our emotional states, not to mention adding in changes with your sleep and hormone levels.
Someone once said - “what you do frequently becomes your frequency.”
Your body thrives on consistency, and things stick a lot better when you feel safe. Which is why rhythm and repetition work a lot better than force and perfectionism.
Here are some small repeatable habits that are buildable and can actually have a bigger impact in the long range than hard and fast changes.
Drinking water and beneficial fluids consistently throughout the day.
Going to bed at similar times each night.
Speaking kinder to yourself.
Building meals around foods that digest well for you
Keeping a small promise to yourself
Moving your body for 10 minutes a day in a way that feels good for you
Let rest be something unearned
Getting outside
Eating breakfast (or your first meal of the day) in a similar time window
It's great to have big goals for the year and things that you want to do or change. However, don't skip out on the small day-to-day things that build the foundation for your life. Because when life throws you a curve ball, those small little habits will be the base that you move from.
It's our small habits that make up our days, that make up our years that make up our life.
I hope 2026 is everything that you want it to be.
