personal-growth – Illuminate Possibilities

It’s 2026.

A new year, quietly opening its hands.

So where are you going?

Not just in the practical sense, but in the deeper one. What do you want this year to become, once it has lived all the way through you?

A few days ago, I heard a line that stayed with me: “Today is the tomorrow you talked about yesterday.”

It’s simple. Almost obvious. And still, it lands.

Because a year from now arrives whether we are ready for it or not. The question is what we will have put into motion by then.

I often return to a related idea—one that has guided much of my work with leaders over the years: a year from now, you’ll be glad you started today.

So I find myself wondering: What might the you of tomorrow quietly thank the you of today for beginning?

As you look ahead to this year, what matters most? What is the one focus—personally or organizationally—that, if tended with care, would elevate your work in 2026?

For me, the answer is clear.

I want to serve as many business leaders as possible by helping them do more than they would have thought possible. To be a steady presence, a catalyst, a reason they stretch further than they might on their own.

This has been a throughline in my career for decades. But this is the first time I have named it—plainly and without qualification—as the central intention for the year ahead.

An intention, though, needs grounding.

Recently, I was encouraged to think about goals not as a single finish line, but as a range: a minimum, a target, and something almost uncomfortably outrageous. Minimum, Target, Outrageous. MTO. Three expressions of the same commitment. Write that down!

The purpose is not to check a box. But to slow down and ask what meaningful progress actually looks like—and how it might ripple outward once it’s achieved. It’s about identifying the important things; reflecting deeply on what it means to achieve the goal and the impact achieving it can have; and clearly defining measures of success at each step along the path.

That’s the structure I’m using this year.

When I apply it to my own intention, “as many as possible” becomes more concrete. My minimum is 25. In 2026, I want to work with 25 business leaders, equipping them with the clarity, skills, and confidence to accomplish more in a year than they would have imagined at the start.

It’s a new beginning.

And that feels like the right place to start.

The countdown to 2026 is getting shorter.
Not quite single digits, but we’ll be there soon enough.

The days begin to feel slower somehow — not empty, just less crowded.
Fewer emails. Fewer expectations. More pauses between things.

Sure, the days will fill with the commotion of holiday celebration.
But the space between the action feels… quieter.

For many leaders, this quiet is unfamiliar.
When the noise drops, the weight becomes more noticeable.

This is the moment when the questions surface:

What did I do this year?
What did I carry for others?
What moved forward — and what stayed stuck?
Why does it still feel like time slipped through my fingers?

Now, what if…?

What if we didn’t try to solve an entire year right now?
What if we simply closed this one with care — and stepped into the next stretch with intention?

The Problem with “Next Year”

A full year sounds generous.
Expansive. Responsible.

And yet, for leaders especially, it often becomes permission to wait.
To postpone difficult decisions.
To keep important work parked just beyond the horizon.

Brian Moran’s The 12-Week Year offers a different rhythm.
Instead of treating a year as one long horizon, it asks us to lead in short, focused seasons.

Twelve weeks.
Not rushed.
Just awake.

Before You Plan, Pause

Before setting new goals, it helps to stop.

Not to judge what happened this year.
Not to fix your leadership.
Just to notice.

What decisions drained you?
Where did your presence make the biggest difference?
Which efforts created momentum — and which only created motion?

This kind of reflection isn’t about performance reviews or outcomes on a spreadsheet.
It’s about honesty.

And honesty is one of the most underused leadership tools we have.

Choose Fewer Things — and Mean Them

In the 12-Week Year, planning begins by choosing very few priorities.

Not everything your role demands.
Not everything others want from you.
Just the things that matter most now.

The minimal, viable version of leadership for this season.
No overextension. No heroic pacing. No overengineering that quietly leads to burnout.

One to three goals.
Ones that ask something of you.
Ones that align with the leader you’re becoming — not just the results you’re chasing.

There’s a quiet relief in this narrowing.
Focus gives leaders something rare: permission.

Turn Hope into Weekly Practice

Vision doesn’t carry teams forward on its own.
Consistency does.

So the work becomes simple — if not easy:

What will I do this week that reflects the direction I’ve set?

Not someday.
Not when capacity magically appears.
This week.

The power of a 12-week sprint is that it anchors leadership in the present — again and again — where trust is built and momentum forms.

Each week offers feedback, whether we ask for it or not.

Did I show up the way I intended?
Where did I avoid something that I said mattered?
What supported me when I followed through?

This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about relationship…with your time, your energy, your people, your word.

Small course corrections compound faster than dramatic resets.

Ending Well Is a Leadership Skill

At the end of twelve weeks, you stop again.

You look back, not to criticize, but to learn.
You name what worked.
You acknowledge what didn’t.
You model reflection instead of rushing ahead.

This is how sustainable leadership is built:
not by pushing harder,
but by closing cycles cleanly.

As this year winds down, you don’t have to solve the next twelve months for yourself or for anyone else.

You only need to decide how you want to step into the next season.

Twelve weeks is enough time to begin.
Enough time to pay attention.
Enough time to practice leading with intention.

If this way of working sounds steady, but you’re not quite sure how to begin, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

In January, I’m opening the first cohort of the Leadership Accelerator for 2026 — a small, intentional space to plan a 12-week season, stay accountable to what matters, and lead alongside others doing the same quiet, meaningful work.

If you’re curious, reach out. We can talk.

Tag: personal-growth

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