Making Goals Manageable
Happy New Year and welcome to 2026! Many of us now have fresh motivation, big plans, and a long list of goals we hope to accomplish. It can also bring quiet pressure to do more, improve faster, and get everything right this time. You have dreams for the future. And so do we. What is standing between us and our dreams? Most likely, it's a realistic plan.
Image by Marco Antonio Casique Reyes
As the year begins, it is worth pausing to remember that you can only accomplish your goals as your life actually unfolds. Schedules change, energy fluctuates, and sometimes the plan we created no longer fits the reality we’re living in. When life gets in the way, it doesn’t always mean that you need to push harder or do more. More often, it means the goal itself needs adjusting. It also helps to create goals that work with your life, not against it. Please consider our tips below when setting your goals this year.
Set realistic goals
You probably can’t move to a brand-new country with a different language and culture in less than one month and expect to thrive in a new environment. This will require proper preparation with sustainable goal setting.
Start small and increase your ambition as you accomplish more
First figure out how to take the first step. In order to become a best-selling author, you will need to write your first book. Start by writing the first paragraph, then the first chapter, then continue building from there.
Break your goals down into smaller realistic chunks
Chances are that you probably can’t reorganize your entire home in one weekend. But you can start by reorganizing your workspace in one afternoon, then work on your kitchen the next day, and continue by working on one new space every weekend. With consistent effort, you will actually reorganize your entire home over time without feeling burnt out and giving up.
Make peace with failure
It can be discouraging when our plan doesn’t work out the way we wanted it to. At this point it’s easy to lose momentum on our goals. Read our post about detours. It's ok to fail, the sooner we fail, the sooner can correct our mistake.
Don't be afraid to reprioritize, scale down or change your goals
Our personalities and priorities change as we experience life. If we learn something new everyday, it’s normal for our goals to change with it. Sometimes as we work towards one goal, we might realize that we might not be as motivated about it as we thought. Some goals require more time and commitment than we expected and we can't give it the attention it needs because we need to focus on other more urgent priorities.
Sometimes our goals are too broad and we need to scale them down to something more specific. Maybe we've developed a new interest and we want our goals to align with it more. That is completely fine. Embrace your growth, and stay true to yourself.
It's ok not to have goals right now
Sometimes stepping back from structured objectives can give you clarity, reduce stress, and allow for more spontaneous growth. Not everyone thrives on goal-setting. Life can still unfold in meaningful ways. Curiosity, learning, and experiences can guide you just as effectively.
Overall, you’ll want to try to set manageable goals that allow for some flexibility. When we start small, break goals into manageable steps, and allow room for learning along the way, progress becomes stable, more achievable and something we can actually maintain.
Image by Isaac Smith
The unfortunate reality right now for a lot of us is that we want to survive, thrive and feel stable. You have dreams for the future. And so do we. It is completely fine to focus on our day-to-day for now until we feel stable before we work on the larger goals. If you feel like your day-to-day is out of control, contact us today and we can help you develop a plan to help you manage your time better.
You can change your goals as you move through life. You are allowed to change your mind.
Until next time, stay balanced!