"Winners and Losers Have the Same Goals"

How I'm approaching 2026

I love the end of the year because it forces me to slow down and reflect on everything that happened that year: what went well and where there may be opportunities for growth. The end of 2025 was no different. My husband and I spent dedicated time closing out the year with our own version of a 2025 “wrapped” retreat, reflecting on the past twelve months and setting goals for the year ahead.

When I look back on personal milestones from last year, my heart is filled with gratitude for so many reasons. I launched this Substack after a very emotionally charged first half of the year. I went back and forth about leaving my corporate job, but ultimately chose to redefine the role it played in my life and purposefully redirect my time and energy toward creative pursuits. From that transition, my creative studio was born — a playground where I could explore every facet of my interests: storytelling, creating apparel, and documenting the journey here with you all. And, before the year ended, I finally added styling to the fold after months of affirmation around a craft I had once been hesitant to claim.

In short, I was incredibly proud of my year, but even more eager to strategize about what 2026 could look like.

Onwards and Upwards

By November, I was already mentally in 2026, excited for what lay ahead and anxious to start building momentum. What energized me most was how much clarity, tools, resources, and connections I was entering the year with compared to just twelve months earlier. It felt like so many things had finally aligned, clearing the way for me to put my head down and get to work.

When I thought about what I wanted 2026 to look like, I knew I had to be extremely intentional about my goals, and honest about my areas for improvement. Of course, we can always be more disciplined, more consistent, more focused. But I wanted to go deeper and understand what that truly meant for me based on the patterns I saw in 2025.

Instead of choosing a laundry list of habits to change, I committed to just a few shifts that I knew, over time, would transform my year and reshape my behaviors.

Here’s where I landed:

1. Take Daily Action

This one is huge for me.

In 2025, I experienced big bursts of momentum followed by lulls, instead of consistent, incremental progress. My new approach is simple: every day is a fresh 24 hours. What I did yesterday doesn’t count for today, and what I do today doesn’t carry over to tomorrow.

So now I focus on the smallest possible wins, to just get on the board each day:
• Running one mile
• Reading one chapter
• Completing one small task for my brand

Right now, I don’t care how fast the mile was nor do I care how polished the first draft is. I just care that I showed up.

I recently listened to one of my current favorite businesswomen and entrepreneurs, Emma Grede, talk about the rise of toxic positivity in our culture. Quite honestly, I had never heard our obsession with manifestation named before but I appreciated the level setting she brought forward in recognizing that we do talk about our goals more than we actually do the work. Emma’s reminder that while mindset matters and believing for great things is necessary, nothing— absolutely nothing — shifts unless you take action.

Do. Do. Do.

2. Make Faster Decisions

A decision-making framework I’ve become obsessed with (from Atomic Habits author James Clear) is: Hats, Haircuts, and Tattoos.

• A hat: an easily reversible decision — a hat can come off just as quickly as it goes on
• A haircut: a decision you might have to live with for a couple months, but certainly fades with time
• A tattoo: a more permanent decision (but in fact, reversible in its own right)

Most of our daily choices are hats: small, low-risk, and reversible, yet we treat them like tattoos.

Once I started filtering all of my decisions through this framework, everything changed — I was finalizing designs, submitting client lookbooks, and just moving through daily activities with great pace. I realized how much time perfectionism was stealing from me. Now, if it’s a “hat” decision, I move quickly. And in just a month’s time, I’ve seen massive progress across everything I’m focused on right now. I love this for me.

3. Put Fear in the Driver’s Seat

Instead of letting fear stop me, I’m letting it guide me.

I’ve realized the things that scare me most are usually exactly what I should be doing. For me right now, that looks like championing my brand publicly: posting my work, sharing client projects, showing what I’m building.

I used to lose momentum when I began to consider what others might think — of me, my brand, my designs. But the truth is visibility is the only way to create the impact I want. Another standout January read, The 10X Rule by author Grant Cardone, put it simply: for business owners, obscurity is your biggest obstacle. So I’m working to break that down day by day.

I love this approach because fear is directional, and in 2025 direction is something I feel like I lacked a great deal. Now, in 2026, I don’t have to see every step ahead. I just have to move toward what scares me.

Shifting the Focus

When I reread Atomic Habits at the start of this year, one line really hit home for me:

“Winners and losers have the same goals.”

I’ve always been goal-oriented, but when I needed it the most, 2025 taught me that goals alone aren’t enough. Behavior is what actually creates change.

So while I still set measurable goals for 2026, my real focus is on these three systems:
• Showing up daily
• Making faster decisions
• Letting fear lead me forward

I’m confident that if I commit to these consistently, they’ll take me exactly where I want to go, at the very least.

Let’s check back in at the end of year.

Cheers to 2026!

Thank you so much for reading.

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