Master Your Year: 5 Tips Beyond Resolutions for 2026

The new year is a time of newness and freshness. It feels like we have been baptized or rebaptized and given a fresh slate to write our story.

Is your pen ready? Do you have a generous writing pad to make another dart and change your story? I wish you all the best and hope you will not betray your convictions. 

Furthermore, with the new year comes the need or outright pressure to have resolutions.

While many have well-written and achievable resolutions, others simply bow down to pressure. They do this to look like they have a purpose in life. Hence, they gang up to achieve goals they have neither thought about well nor concocted a workable treatment plan. 

The result is catastrophic failures barely into the first month. Strewn wrecks of failed resolutions lie on tables. Many people forward their convictions into the next year. They hope to be more serious and particular.

What are your resolutions for 2026? What strategies do you have in place to achieve them?  Could it be that some of them are resolutions carried forward from stalled resolutions of past years? 

What about ignoring the issue of forcing issues with resolutions that do not work? Instead, follow a different mantra altogether. This approach can set you on the pedestal of making yourself invincible for a lifetime.

These five rules will always outdo your resolutions.

We’ll cover:

1. Avoid The Year Trap
2. Respect Time
3. Learn A New Skill Every Quarter
4. Do Hard Things
5. Go With God
6. Conclusion

Avoid The Year Trap

The first rule to get the most out of this year is to avoid the year trap. I am sure you are wondering what the “year trap” is.

The year trap is my novel idea. I am using it to refer to the illusion of time. This illusion comes with looking at the year as a block.

If you have one day to do something, the commitment and effort differ from those with 365 days to do the same. Again, looking at life with an entire year in mind makes you bite more than you can chew. You have to deal with the entire year. You won’t have a clear picture of where you will be. You also won’t know what you will need three months down the line. 

So, instead of looking at 2026 as a year, consider it 365 independent days with independent burdens and goals.

Live the year one day at a time. Go out to achieve every day’s task with a dutiful commitment. Do so with a conviction that there is no other day allotted to finish today’s task.

As Luella Clark writes in the timeless hymn “Today, While the Sun Shines”:

Today, while the sun shines, work with a will;
Today all your duties with patience fulfill.
Today, while the birds sing, harbor no care;
Call life a good gift; call the world fair.

Chorus:
Today, today, work with a will;
Today, today, your duties fulfill.
Today, today, work while you may;
Prepare for tomorrow by working today.

The concept of one day at a time should apply when dealing with success. It should also apply to the hard school of failure.

If, for some reason, you fail today, treat that as a failure of that particular day. Do not declare the entire year, including the undone and the well-done days, a failure.

Plan and save for tomorrow, but only worry about the tasks and burdens of today. Do not borrow the problems of tomorrow to cloud the joys of today. Again, leave today’s chaos where it belongs and give tomorrow its chance. The goal is “Give us this day our daily bread.” Daily bread is a reward for the day’s success, not annual success. 

Respect Time

I take a radical position about time and time. I propose that Time Wasting is Sinful!

If there is a resource that no one is too poor to afford, it is time.

Time is very significant in all human accomplishments and success. You invest four years in the University and come out as a graduate. A couple invests time in their matrimonial bed, and the world’s population increases by one or more. A sinner spends time travelling through the Holy Scriptures and becomes a saint.

On the contrary, spending time in the wrong places has its predetermined consequences. You spend time embracing the glass of liquor, and we get another person ready to fail the sobriety test. You spend time with four wasteful folks, and you become the fifth one. What are you doing with your time?

To get the most out of 2026, respect time. Nothing has messed up the world as wasted time or time employed on the wrong ends. Do not accept having time not committed to some purpose, even if it is just leisure and relaxing time.

Use your time well. Generate a daily to-do list and do a stock-taking every week to see how faithful you were with your time. Appreciate the improvements and learn from the failure. 

Learn A New Skill Every Quarter

Just think about the vast opportunities available for you to diversify your skill set. Have you ever seen people who seem to be the jack of all trades? They are useful in multiple skills, which in most cases are quite far from their routine career path. It does not come easy and comes with commitment and training. 

You can do the same with your life and become elusive in a few years. Imagine the person you can become. Commit to learning a new skill every three months. This will give you all the motivation you need to start.

You don’t need to go far or even pay a subscription to learn. YouTube is a free encyclopedia with many DIY lessons you can learn independently.

Free tools like Duolingo will allow you to become proficient in multiple languages. If you want to be a graphic designer, Canva can be a great free tool. You can learn from it by doing it from scratch. Learn how to sightread music, play some instrument, deal with people, speak in front of a live audience, and make a new dish with expert chefs like Claudine, etc. 

Now, think of who you can become in the next five years if you were to learn a new skill every quarter. On the contrary, think of what you will miss if you continue with the status quo. Assume the status quo is that you are not committed to learning a new skill every quarter. You should tremble!

Over to you!

Do Hard Things

Do hard things if you want to make 2026 your year.

Have you realized that most things that make people successful are hard? Studying, waking up early, respecting time, temperance, saving, chastity, holiness, name it.

Doing hard things trains you to deal with the challenges of life. 

The concept of doing hard things does not simply mean finding the hardest things. It does not mean finding the hardest way to solve a problem. Instead, it stems from the fact that the things that matter in life are not so agreeable.

It is easier to lie, sleep, eat, and watch. It is easier to pursue pleasure here and there than to wake up early. Working out, studying, doing your job meticulously, and maintaining a devotional life are harder.

Doing hard things is the only way to find true pleasure and satisfaction. The easy path creates a hunger that can never be satisfied, and the end is a failure and dwarfed faculties. Do those that need to be done, but you feel can be done later.

Do hard things!

Go With God

After doing everything right, we must always remember to go with God. The presence of God makes a huge difference. The Psalmist said it best:

 "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psalms 127:1,KJV). 

What you are trying to achieve in this new year is your city and house.

Unless the Lord builds or watches over them, every other effort and plan is in vain. As part of your recipe for success, do not leave God out of the plans. 

“The worst day with God is better than the best day turning our backs on Him” – Ps. Walter Leonard Pearson Jnr.

If you ask yourself why we need God, I would say God knows what is best for us. He knows the path that will lead us to achieve our life’s purpose. This is why we need God to help us navigate the strange waters of the future.

Here is God’s promise to everyone who wants to face life’s uncertainties with the advantage of divine backup: 

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye" (Psalms 32:8, KJV)

Nevertheless, going with God demands a heart willing to always trust God. Let God lead the way as you follow diligently and trustingly.

Conclusion

Our resolutions are great motivators to be better and achieve more in life. But, without the right combination of principles and values, most of our resolutions are rarely achieved. We fail too soon and start patching up fig leaves to cover our nakedness, which eventually doesn’t work.

You can do resolutions if you are convinced about something particular you need to achieve or challenge yourself in. Otherwise, these five principles will do.

To a year and a lifetime of growth and development in the things that matter.

All of us at The Cleaver are rooting for you!