Some years take the wind out of your sails; that’s a good time to keep the bar low. Before I sold my first business, there were years that were difficult. In order to keep putting one foot in front of the other, I learned to keep the bar low.
At this time of transition from one year to another, it’s common to make resolutions or set intentions or goals. If 2025 has brought challenges, this may be a good time to lower the bar for your 2026 intentions.
When your route takes you uphill, through mud, or over big rocks, your pace slows. Expending more energy and effort may not bring you back to the pace you maintained in less challenging terrain. This doesn’t raise alarms because we understand the universal implications.
On the other hand, we sometimes believe that we should produce, function, and socialize at an arbitrarily high rate each year. We focus on this notion as we wind down one year and begin planning for the next.
We tend to look at the first of the year as though it will automatically be the day we wake up feeling energized after a great night’s sleep. Why would this be true? The earth doesn’t know the calendar changed. Your body doesn’t know the calendar changed. The new beginning we expect is generated from hope and wishful thinking.
There’s nothing wrong with a reset. Taking stock and making adjustments on an ongoing basis is useful. The problem is that instead of making this a regular practice, we procrastinate, avoid, ignore, or excuse ourselves most of the year and then attach paramount importance to improving in the next year. In this, we set ourselves up for failure or disappointment.
It is better to have goals that are attainable with regular small steps than ones we toss after a month of exhaustive attempts. Or as it is commonly expressed, the best workout is the one you’ll do.
Determining what you will do requires honest assessment, insight, and self-acceptance as well as an understanding that emotionally processing some things requires great energy. If we are making space for such processing, it’s okay to schedule additional time for meditating, yoga, swimming, and staring into space.
Some may even need to make time for binge watching. As you build tolerance for sitting with difficult memories, emotions, or triggers, you may need a numbing activity that follows. Binge watching can fit that bill. It’s safer than drinking or drugs, and it allows the mind to wander. It can also be cathartic or informative when shows are carefully chosen.
If 2025 brought lots of adjustments, growth, or hardship, 2026 may be a good year to lower the bar for goals and intentions.
Here are things I’m considering:
- Fold bed sheets in the same direction each time.
- Order out at least once a week.
- Eat more popcorn.
- Do more Sudoku.
- Figure out Pinterest.
- Delete 500 photos from my phone.
- Take more naps.
These may sound like less than ambitious goals to you, but may be just what I need to keep me moving forward. No need to compare my list with anyone else’s or previous goals of my own. Some years it’s best to keep the bar low. That can make all the difference over the long haul.
