7 Life-Changing Choices to Make 2026 Your Best Year Yet!

How to move into the year ahead with clarity, confidence, and purpose

So, how’s 2025 been for you?

It’s a crazy world out there, right?

Everything feels more expensive. Governments feel less predictable. Technology is moving at a pace that’s hard to keep up with, and AI is starting to reshape how we all work and live (probably more than we’re all prepared for).

The world feels louder, more opinionated, and a bit harder to read than it did not so long ago.

In conversations with friends and family over Christmas, the same themes kept popping up. A sense of disempowerment, uncertainty, and frustration, with way too much time lost to headlines, doom-scrolling, and endless debates about governments, immigration, the economy, and where it’s all going next.

And yet…

Here in London, the energy has been fantastic! Shopping streets have been packed, the pubs are full, there’s even been queues to get in the tube stations (not so fantastic). There are more pop-up events, more parties, more noise, more spending, and more of everything.

It feels that on the one hand, we’re surrounded by more access, choice, and opportunity than ever before. On the other, we’re swept along by forces beyond our control, reacting rather than choosing.

And that’s what I really want to focus on as we head into 2026. Not ignoring reality or pretending everything is roses & light. There are some very real, very serious challenges happening around us.

But, on a day to day basis, we still get to choose how we live, respond, and where to put our time and energy.

If you want 2026 to be your best year yet, you don’t need a big overhaul or a perfect plan. You just need to stop outsourcing your power and take full responsibility for your life.

Here are 7 life hard won lessons I’ve learned (and am still learning) over the years which if actioned can lead to endless possibility!

1. Responsibility Over Reactivity

When the world feels unstable, reactivity becomes the default.

You wake up, check the news, scroll your phone, absorb everyone else’s opinions, worries, predictions, and outrage before you’ve even had a coffee. By the time the day properly starts, your nervous system is already on edge and your energy is pointed outward.

The problem is, a reactive life slowly shrinks your sense of agency. You start feeling as though things are being done to you rather than shaped by you. Decisions get delayed. Plans stay vague. Dreams get parked for “later”, once things calm down or make more sense.

But calm and certainty aren’t coming.

Uncertainty isn’t a phase we’re passing through. It’s the environment we’re living in.

Which means the question isn’t how to regain control of the world. It’s how to regain control of yourself inside it.

Responsibility, in this context, doesn’t mean grinding harder or blaming yourself for things that haven’t worked out. It means recognising where your power lives.

It lives in:

• how you structure your days

• what you give your attention to

• what you repeatedly say yes to

• what you quietly tolerate

• and what you decide to take seriously

Reactive people wait for clarity before they act. Resourceful people act, then create clarity through movement.

One of the biggest changes I’ve made over the years is noticing when I’m consuming more than I’m creating. When I’m gathering information instead of making decisions. When I’m talking about what’s wrong instead of asking myself what I’m going to do next.

Because responsibility shows up when you:

• turn the phone off instead of scrolling

• block time for something that matters

• make a decision without polling five other people

• take a step even when the whole path isn’t visible

Momentum comes from ownership, not certainty.

If you want 2026 to feel different, this is one of the first places to look. Not at your goals or your plans, but at how reactive your days have become, and where you might start choosing a more resourceful response instead.

2. Get Honest About What You Actually Want Now

You may find you’re feeling stuck because you’re operating from an outdated internal brief.

Perhaps you set some goals set years ago, with definitions of success that made sense then. Or maybe you’ve absorbed certain expectations from work, family, or society, that you’ve carried forward without much question.

So there’s effort, movement, even progress on paper, yet something feels off. Your energy is low, your motivation has dipped, and fulfilment feels forever out of reach.

This often shows up as we hit midlife. But you’re not lost, just misaligned.

You’re working towards things that no longer match who you are or how you want to live now.

Clarity comes from revisiting what actually matters at this stage of life.

For many of us, priorities have shifted. Time feels more valuable and energy more precious. Freedom and flexibility carry more weight than titles or status ever did. Purpose starts to matter in quieter, more personal ways.

Unless that shift is acknowledged, old patterns continue to run the show.

I take time every year to map out the year ahead in very practical terms. Where I’m spending my days. What I’m working on. How my weeks feel. What I want to have moved forward by the end of the year.

I actually write a little note to myself as if it’s this time next year and I’m writing about the year just gone. Where I am, what I’ve achieved, the things I’ve experienced.

That vision acts as my reference point. It helps to simplify decision making, minimise distractions and move forward with intention.

Once you name what you want, you see more clearly what doesn’t belong. You make different choices. You protect your time more carefully, and you stop wondering off in the wrong direction.

If you want 2026 to be your best year yet, start here.

Get honest about what you want now, in this season of life, and let that clarity shape how you move forward.

3. Commit Properly

Clarity is powerful, but it doesn’t do much on its own.

What actually changes things is commitment. Quiet, steady, consistent & non-dramatic commitment.

And this is usually the biggest stumbling block.

We love the idea of a different life. We enjoy mapping it out. We even talk about it with conviction. But when it comes to committing in a way that shapes daily behaviour, we hedge.

We keep options open. We tell ourselves we’ll decide properly once things feel clearer or easier. Or we wrap ourselves up in plans, goals and tools to help us achieve the ‘thing’.

But this hesitation has a cost.

Because commitment isn’t about intensity. It’s about identity. It’s the point where you stop dreaming and start doing, despite your fears and insecurities.

Over the years, I’ve noticed a clear pattern. The people who move forward aren’t necessarily braver, smarter, or more confident. They’re simply the ones who decide, then make it happen.

They stop negotiating with themselves every morning and:

• block time consistently

• follow through even when progress feels slow

• continue long after the novelty has worn off

• stay with something long enough for momentum to build

One of the most freeing shifts you can make going into 2026 is choosing fewer things and committing to them properly. Not dabbling. Not half-maintaining ten different priorities. Actually deciding what matters and giving it the attention it deserves.

When commitment is in place, energy stops leaking, decisions speed up and doubt quietens. You stop constantly reassessing whether you’re on the right path and start making the path work.

If you want this coming year to feel different, choose what you’re committing to. Decide how it fits into your life. Then show up for it in a way that’s sustainable and real.

4. Become an Action-Taker

When in doubt, err on the side of action.

My husband is a doer. He doesn’t overthink. He doesn’t negotiate with himself. He doesn’t build elaborate internal arguments about why now might not be the right time. He just does.

He doesn’t always get it right. But when he fails, he fails forward. He learns, adjusts, and keeps moving.

I’ve spent years around people who talk endlessly about what they want to do next. And if I’m honest, I’ve been that person myself at different points. Thinking, planning, researching and circling ideas until they feel safe enough to touch.

I’ve done it very recently with my e-commerce brand, This Big World. A crisis of confidence has led to hesitation & confusion. Decisions have dragged on, product ideas have changed more often than I’ve cooked dinners, and my progress has been super slow. Not because I didn’t care, but because I cared too much and wanted to get it “right”.

Even now that it’s live, I’m still full of fear and doubt that I can make it work, whether I’ve chosen the right thing, or whether I’ve missed something obvious.

But I also know this.

Nothing in my life that’s mattered has ever come from waiting until I felt ready.

Over the years, I’ve built businesses and closed them down. I’ve packed up houses. Moved countries. Started again more times than I can count. Some things worked. Some didn’t. None of it came from certainty. It came from moving first and adjusting as I went.

Momentum has always followed action. Energy has shown up once things were already in motion. Clarity has sharpened while doing the work, not before it.

The tricky part is that our brains aren’t particularly helpful here.

Your brain’s job is to keep you safe, not to help you build a meaningful life. It looks for risk. It highlights uncertainty. It serves up worst-case scenarios on demand. It tells convincing stories about why waiting makes sense.

Left unchecked, it can talk you out of almost anything.

That’s why action matters so much.

Action interrupts overthinking. It breaks the loop, creates feedback, and replaces imagined outcomes with real information. You stop debating and start learning.

And once you’ve taken a step, the next one always feels a little easier.

This is something my husband has always understood instinctively. He doesn’t wait to feel confident before he acts. Confidence comes later, once he’s already moving.

Watching that, year after year, has been one of the biggest lessons of my life.

If you want 2026 to feel different, don’t wait for your head to be fully on board. It rarely is.

Decide what matters. Take the next step. Adjust as you go.

And remember this phrase… When in doubt, err on the side of action.

It’s how progress is made.

5. Do Less. Do It Properly.

“If you chase two rabbits you’ll lose them both” (an old mentor)

As a multi passionate person this is the advice I love to hate, however, experience has taught me the truth.

Our brains only have so much bandwidth and when too many things matter at once, nothing quite gets the care it needs.

You may think you can hold multiple things in your head and move them all forward, but if you’re ending this year not much further forward than you were last year, you’ll know deep down that the opposite is true.

Trying to do everything at once is the fastest route to overwhelm.

Juggling too many ideas, and saying yes to things that sound interesting but aren’t truly aligned looks productive from the outside, but inside, you’ll feel scattered.

Progress shows up once you simplify. Once you decide what truly matters right now and let the rest sit quietly in the background (for now).

Focus creates clarity which creates momentum.

Every meaningful project I’ve built has required periods of narrowing in. Fewer priorities. Clearer boundaries. A willingness to disappoint my inner “what if” voice that keeps offering new ideas (just as things get uncomfortable 😉).

Doing less means you’re giving your best energy to what deserves it.

When you choose one direction and commit to it, your work will deepen and your skills will compound. Your confidence will grow from repetition rather than novelty, and you’ll stop starting over and start building.

And you’re not missing out I assure you. In fact you’ll start to grow faster which means you’ll be in a better position to grab more opportunities as they arrive.

You can still have plenty of ideas and goals and plans. You just don’t need to chase them all at once. Put them in a notebook and let them wait their turn.

If you want 2026 to move forward in a meaningful way, decide what gets your attention and decide what doesn’t. Create space to do one thing properly.

As my Dad used to say, god rest his soul - ‘Focus on one thing until successful.’

Focus isn’t restrictive. It’s clarifying.

And once you experience what sustained attention can create, it becomes much easier to ignore the noise.

6. Stay Longer Than Feels Comfortable

I love to start things.

I’m an ideas person, a visionary, someone who genuinely comes alive at the beginning, when everything feels open, possible, and full of potential. New projects energise me. New directions light me up. That early stage has always been my happy place.

And I know I’m not alone in that.

Most people think the hardest part is starting, but it really isn’t.

The hardest part is staying.

Staying when no one’s watching, when the excitement has worn off, when progress feels slow and almost invisible, and when there’s very little coming back to you to say, yes, this is working, keep going.

Because once you’re past the initial buzz, you often find yourself in a long, quiet stretch where there’s no proof yet. No validation, no applause, no comments, sales, shares, or signs that you’re on the right track. And in that silence, self-doubt gets very loud.

I’ve been there more times than I care to admit.

What experience has taught me is that almost nothing worthwhile feels rewarding in the middle. That awkward stretch where effort outweighs feedback is where so many drop off, not because they aren’t capable, but because it’s uncomfortable to keep going without reassurance.

But that’s also where things are usually being built.

Skills sharpen while no one’s paying attention. Confidence catches up slowly. Momentum gathers in the background. What feels repetitive and dull on the surface is often laying foundations you won’t fully appreciate until much later.

This is usually the part we never see in other people’s stories.

Most so-called overnight successes aren’t overnight at all. They’ve been building quietly for years, showing up consistently long before anyone noticed or cared. We only see them once the work starts paying off, not during the long stretch when it felt uncertain and unrewarding.

Staying doesn’t mean blindly pushing through something that’s clearly wrong. It means recognising the difference between genuine misalignment and the natural discomfort of growth.

If you want 2026 to move you forward in a meaningful way, give your commitments time to work. Stop constantly reassessing. Let progress unfold at a human pace.

Staying longer than feels comfortable is often the very thing that makes the difference.

7. Become the Master of Your Own Destiny

Whose rules are you living by?

Most people don’t consciously choose a constrained life. They inherit it. From family expectations, cultural norms, workplaces that reward compliance. From stories about what’s sensible, responsible, or appropriate at a certain age.

And if you’re not careful, you can reach midlife having done everything “right” and still feel like your life belongs to someone else.

My life might look extraordinary from the outside. The travel. The freedom. The unconventional choices. But I’m not extraordinary.

I’m not braver than you. I’m not more talented. I didn’t stumble across some secret door that everyone else missed.

I’m a very normal person who made a series of decisions to live differently, and then kept honouring them even when they were inconvenient, uncomfortable, or misunderstood.

That’s it.

Over the years, I’ve packed up houses, moved countries, started again more times than most people would consider sensible. I’ve built things that worked and things that didn’t. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve doubted myself. I’ve had moments where the weight of responsibility felt heavy.

But I never lost sight of one thing.

This is my life.

And as long as I’m fortunate enough to have choice, I get to decide how I live it.

That matters, because not everyone in the world has that privilege. Many people are dealing with circumstances that genuinely limit their options. Health. Safety. Geography. Economic reality.

But if you’re reading this, chances are you do have choice. Maybe not unlimited choice, but enough.

• Enough to choose how you spend your time.

• Enough to choose what you tolerate.

• Enough to choose what you work towards.

• Enough to choose whether you live reactively or deliberately.

Becoming the master of your destiny doesn’t mean controlling everything. It means refusing to drift through your own life on autopilot.

Questioning assumptions instead of accepting them. Redesigning the rules where you can. Recognising that responsibility isn’t a burden, it’s a form of freedom.

This year, make that your goal.

Not perfection. Not certainty. Ownership.

Your life doesn’t need permission. It needs intention.

And once you stop living by other people’s rules, something shifts. You stand a little taller. Decisions get clearer. Fear loses some of its grip.

You stop waiting for life to happen.

You start shaping it.

A Quiet Commitment to Yourself

Making 2026 your best year yet doesn’t require a dramatic overhaul.

It asks for something simpler, and harder.

A decision to take responsibility for your own life. To stop drifting. To stop handing your agency over to headlines, habits, or expectations that were never really yours to begin with.

You’ve already seen that the world is unpredictable. That part isn’t changing. Waiting for certainty is a long game with no finish line.

What can change is how you show up inside that uncertainty.

You can choose to be more deliberate with your time. More intentional with your energy. More honest about what matters to you now. You can commit properly, take action consistently, simplify your focus, and stay with things long enough for them to grow roots.

None of this is about becoming someone new.

It’s about returning to yourself.

About recognising that, if you’re lucky enough to have choice, then you’re also responsible for using it well.

So as you head into 2026, don’t ask what the world is going to do next.

Ask what you’re willing to take ownership of.

Your life is yours.

Make this the year you truly live like it.

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If this article stirred something for you, but you’re also aware how easy it is to read, nod, and then slip back into old patterns, I get it.

That’s exactly why I’m starting a Monthly Freedom Challenge inside the 50+ Nomad Club in January.

Each month we focus on one intentional goal, keep it simple, and actually follow through together. No overwhelm. No reinvention. Just momentum.

If you want 2026 to feel different, this is a good place to start.