Make 2026 Your Best Year Ever
“By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
A great year doesn’t happen by accident. It needs to be planned. And you need to create that plan before the year begins.
Properly done, Annual Planning is more than just setting your goals for the year (although that’s certainly a big part of it).
Below is the exact process we teach in Happiful, and the same process I use in my own life. If you follow this process for your Annual Plan, you’ll be amazed at how it transforms your daily experience next year and skyrockets your results.
Set 1-Year Goals That Matter
It’s proven that setting goals works. What most people miss is:
Ensuring their goals are the right ones to lead them to their vision of their ideal life. This seems obvious, but most people don’t have a vision, so they inevitably set the wrong goals.
The goals must be in writing. This is proven to be absolutely essential.
The goals must be specific and measurable.
You need a structured system to ensure that your daily actions reflect those goals.
So start with your Vision of your ideal future life. If you don’t yet have that in writing, email me at paul@behappiful.com and I’ll send you a coupon so you can take our Design Your Ideal Life course for free. That course guides you through creating your Vision and defining your Values.
You also should have 5-Year Goals that reflect that Vision. If you don’t yet have written 5-Year Goals, you should create and document them to properly set your 1-Year Goals.
Once you have your specific 5-Year Goals, setting your 1-Year Goals is actually quite easy – just pick the 3 to 5 most important 5-Year Goals and set 1-Year Goals that will get you at least ⅕ of the way there. Use the SMART goal system (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-based).
Create a Work Schedule that Protects Your Life
Many people today are “always sort of working.” It drains your energy, damages your relationships, and destroys your productivity.
A core part of Annual Planning is choosing:
Your work days
Your days off
Your daily start and stop times
Your vacations and personal time
Once you set these, put them in your calendar as recurring events. Outside your work hours, you are off and disconnected so you can be fully devoted to your personal life. This gives you more presence, more joy, and far higher productivity during the hours you do work.
Identify Your Key Initiatives for the Year
These are the major projects that move the needle. They aren’t daily tasks; they are multi-week or multi-month initiatives that move you closer to your goals and your long-term vision.
Choose only a few big ones. Sometimes one is enough.
Examples:
Write a book
Launch a side business
Hire your first assistant
Buy an investment property
Complete a certification
Start a nonprofit
Renovate your home
Look at your 1-Year Goals and determine what initiatives will be necessary to hit those goals.
Do Your Annual Tune-Up
Your life changes. Your systems need to be updated to reflect that.
During your Annual Planning session:
Review your Values, Vision and 5-Year Goals to see if any changes are needed.
Then you want to update your Ideal Day Checklist and Time-Block Calendar to reflect any changes and make sure they are in alignment with your new 1-Year Goals.
Review your Affirmations to see if you want to change, add, or remove any to support your new goals.
Consider your current habits, both good and bad. The best way to change your life is to change something you do every day. (Suggestion: Choose 1 key good habit to start, and 1 bad habit to stop.)
The Annual Tune-Up is a short exercise that keeps your entire life aligned.
Make It Happen With One Simple Step
Creating your Annual Plan only happens if you schedule time to do it. So go into your calendar now, and schedule a block of time before the holiday rush begins.
Invitation: Join Our Free Annual Planning Workshop on December 10
If you’d like to complete your 2026 plan with guidance, coaching, and a community of people doing it alongside you, join us for our free live Annual Planning Workshop:
Tuesday, December 10 at 12:00 PM Pacific / 3:00 PM Eastern
(If you prefer to do your Annual Planning solo, this blog post is everything you need.)
