2026 Goals

I love setting goals. Over the last few weeks, I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about my intentions for 2026, and followed much of Sarah's method outlined in her new Best Laid Plans book! (The physical copy I pre-ordered has been delayed so I went ahead and bought the Kindle edition to get me started on the new year).

What does 2026 look like for me and the family? Before creating my goals, I looked closely at 2026, and what to expect. A few features are: both kids at school for the first time (and at the same school at that!). Only one drop off and pick up literally 2 minutes drive away, which can be shared between Al and I (and the grandparents - hooray!). O starting school, so a new transition for the little guy. A work year for me with no new commitments or roles - very different to 2025 where many aspects of my role was new. Nothing majorly new for Al in his business. No major travel planned, no major anniversaries or milestone birthdays. SO, altogether a fairly calm and regular year - and I am HERE FOR IT!

My big challenge is to keep the goals somewhere prominent, and actually check them during each seasonal planning session. (This did not happen in 2025 and I kind of abandoned my goal list). They are currently in my Erin Condren weekly Lifeplanner which I love, however it is a mid-year start and runs out mid-2026. So I will have to remember to transfer them over when I change planners mid year. Could be a good opportunity for a "goal audit" mid-year actually.

Here are my goals for 2026:

Personal Goals:

1. Finish the fiction novel I'm writing, and send to agents/publishers. This is my BIG one. I've wanted to write a novel since, well, childhood, but particularly the last 10 years (I remember this being a goal in my 2016 goals list!). I've written most of a first draft of a novel a few years ago, but then had a newborn and 3 year old during Covid, and didn't do anything with it. I'm majorly re-working the story, and my goal is to really finish it this time into something I'm happy with. O is now 5, and my time is opening up just a little bit, enough to make this realistic for the first time in many years. I realised I needed accountability, so I've signed up for a 5 day writing/publishing commercial fiction Masterclass in May! This gives me a deadline to have a big chunk written, a social network of other aspiring novelists, and will give me lots of helpful support and training from experts.. This will hopefully inspire me to continue for the rest of the year too. My strategy to meet my writing goal is to write from a cafe 3 mornings per week. 6-7 am two weekdays, and 7-8am one weekend morning. I concentrate really well with the background hum of a cafe, and I can't be disturbed by any kids wanting something. Al's on board, so lets do this!

2. Get new reading glasses and go to the Dentist (it has been a couple of years since I last went to the Dentist - my teeth are strangely resilient and I have never had a cavity but I don't want to risk it any longer). I already got my eyes tested a few days ago and the lenses/glasses are ordered, so I got a head start on this goal.

3. Continue to walk daily (I may add a strength training goal later in the year but I'm not sure what it will look like yet, after my epic gym fail where I signed up but never went, I'm not rushing into anything!)

4. Have a monthly date with Al, and a monthly friend date. This should be easier now we have both sets of grandparents close by - hooray!

5. Visit 12 new to me places in my region, like museums, shopping strips, walking trails, or beaches. We have such a lovely region, and I feel more like myself when I've had some solo time discovering somewhere new. My work is fairly flexible and Al will be working less weekends in 2026, so this should be do-able.

6. Buy some new work clothes - a nice skirt, a nice dress, and new sandals. I haven't updated my warddrobe in ages and its bothering me now! Bonus that my work outfits can be worn out of work too, as they are generally smart casual style (I only have a couple of more formal outfits).

Work goals:

6. Continue to protect 3 "deep work" / writing slots per week in my calendar. This was a success last year, so I am to keep it up.

7. Do a weekly deep dive on my area of research - I want to read some cutting-edge literature and get new, innovative ideas for future research.

8. Implement a "journal club" with my team, where each person selects a research article each fortnight for us all to read and then discuss in our team meeting. Like a book club but for academic nerds haha!

9. Update my professional bios/websites/networking pages etc

Family/home goals:

10. Start a family games night once a week - too many nights we all end up on our own devices for the hour between dinner and kids' bedtime. A couple of nights per week we are all tired and I don't mind zoning out on a screen, but I want one night per week that after dinner we play some card or board games. O is old enough now to play quite a few games, and even if he doesn't play it "right" it doesn't matter, as long as we are having fun.

11. Paint the kids' bedrooms white - we did the Master and it looks great. Bonus if we paint more of the house, but I'm setting the bar low as life can get crazy, and painting each room is a multi-day job!

12. Look into how to do estate planning/make a will. I've put estate planning on my goal list before, but I think that was too abstract. So investigate the steps is a way to start, and may well lead to actually doing it!

13. Take the kids for a weekly after school adventure. I will pick the kids up from school two afternoons per week, and while I do have to work after they get home, taking them for a playground play or a snack once a week will feel special to them and me, I think.

If anyone sets goals, feel free to share in the comments! Any "big hairy" ones this year?

*Photo by Wix