If you’ve ever sat down in December with a fresh planner and the hope that this will finally be your year… only to abandon those goals by February, you’re in good company. Goal setting sounds simple in theory, but in real life? It can be overwhelming fast.
The problem isn’t you. It’s that most goal-setting advice is either too tactical, too generic, or too disconnected from the way your brain actually works. So before you write another list of resolutions, let’s take a beat. Let’s have a conversation that feels more like a friend talking over a glass of wine (or your beverage of choice) and less like a performance review.
Because if you want 2026 to feel different, you can’t keep planning it the same way.
Below is a four-part framework that actually works… not because it’s rigid, but because it’s rooted in clarity, identity, and how your brain loves to create momentum (hello, dopamine hits).
15 Popular Goal-Setting Techniques (and Why They’re Not the Whole Story)
Holy sh*t… if you’ve ever fallen down the rabbit hole of “how to set goals,” you already know the internet has opinions. Before you even write your first 2026 intention, there are at least 15 different frameworks you could try. Here’s the snapshot version so you don’t have to dig for all of them:
- SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound
- HARD goals: Heartfelt, Animated, Required, Difficult
- WHOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan
- BHAGs: Big Hairy Audacious Goals, coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras
- Backward goals: Starting at the end and working backward
- MICRO goals: Tiny, doable steps that reduce overwhelm
- Values-based goals: Built from what matters most to you
- One-word goals: Let a single word shape your decisions for the year. Here’s an entire blog post dedicated to the topic >>> How to Pick Your Word of the Year
- Visual goals: Using imagery or a vision board to anchor motivation
- Tiered goal frameworks: Annual → quarterly → monthly (basically hierarchical to-do lists)
- Golden Circle goals: Simon Sinek’s “Why → How → What” structure
- BSQ: Big, Small, Quick — think big, act small, move quickly
- Locke & Latham’s principles: Clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback, task complexity
- OGSM: Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures (organizational)
- OKRs: Objectives and Key Results (organizational)
All of these approaches are helpful. All of them have the potential to work. And all of them have helped someone, somewhere, succeed.
But… they can also create a ridiculous amount of noise.
If you’re already tired or overwhelmed, trying to pick between SMART, WHOOP, BHAGs, a one-word intention, or a goal pyramid is enough to make you close your laptop and grab a snack.
At some point, you have to stop collecting frameworks and start creating a vision that actually feels like yours.
That starts here.
Create Your Bigger 2026 Vision
Before you map out tactics or timelines, you need to know what you’re actually moving toward. Not the spreadsheet version of your goals — the human version.
A simple, powerful way to get there is to break your 2026 vision into four parts:
1. What do you want to DO in 2026?
What actions, projects, or experiences would make this year feel meaningful?
2. What do you want to HAVE in 2026?
This can be financial, emotional, relational, or physical. Don’t overthink it.
3. Who do you want to BE in 2026?
This is identity-level clarity. Confident? Grounded? Consistent? Visible?
4. How do you want to LIVE in 2026?
Your pace, your energy, your environment, your boundaries.
This is not about the “how.” That part comes later.
This is about your why — the emotional anchor that fuels every decision you make next. Your brain needs this clarity before it can commit to change, because emotion is what activates the Reticular Activating System (RAS), the filter that decides what gets your attention and what gets ignored.
Take your time with this part. It will shape everything that follows.
Why Most Goal-Setting Models Don’t Match How Your Brain Works
On paper, traditional goal-setting models look great. In real life, they break down for a few reasons:
- The timeline is too long. A full year feels abstract, which makes procrastination easy.
- Your emotional bandwidth isn’t consistent. Some weeks you’re unstoppable; some weeks life sideswipes you.
- Your brain rejects vague outcomes. If your vision isn’t emotionally vivid, your brain won’t prioritize it.
- Annual goals create a “false sense of time.” January feels hopeful… until September hits and suddenly you’re scrambling.
If you feel seen right now, that’s good. It means nothing is wrong with you. Your brain simply wasn’t designed for traditional year-long goal-setting.
But it was designed for something else.
Why Your Brain Loves 90-Day Planning
Ninety days is long enough to make real progress, but short enough that your brain sees the finish line.
Here’s why this timeframe works so well:
- It creates urgency without panic. Ninety days is manageable, not overwhelming.
- Your brain gets dopamine faster. You see progress sooner, which keeps motivation alive.
- The amygdala chills out. When the goal is closer, your nervous system stops interpreting it as a threat.
- Your RAS knows what to look for. With a clear target, your brain begins filtering opportunities, ideas, and resources automatically.
- You make better decisions. A shorter horizon forces clarity. No more “I’ll get to it later.”
This is where typical goal-setting falls apart — and where your new planning system begins.
Unfiltered 90-Day Planning System
This is the philosophy that underpins my entire planning method. It’s simple, it’s brain-friendly, and it keeps you out of the all-or-nothing spiral that derails most goals by mid-February. Not sure about you, but I tend to cuss at some point during the year so that’s why it’s unfiltered.
Here’s the high-level view:
Start with the end of your next 90 days.
What would make you proud? What would move the needle? What aligns with the bigger 2026 vision you created above?
Reverse-engineer the outcome.
Instead of guessing your next step, you work backward. The goal becomes the roadmap.
Choose systems, not fantasies.
Systems are things you do consistently. Tasks are things you do once.
Most people obsess over tasks. Your brain thrives on systems.
Break it into micro-moves.
Small, repeatable actions outperform giant once-a-month “catch-up” days every single time.
Create a rhythm you can actually maintain.
This is where the Unfiltered 90-Day Planning System shines — it helps you build a structure that fits your real life, not your idealized January version of yourself.
And no, you don’t have to white-knuckle your way into it. If your brain needs help slowing down long enough to visualize the future, this is exactly why I created the 20-Minute Scene Reset. It helps you see the version of yourself you’re building before you ever start planning.
Bringing It All Together for 2026
Setting bold goals isn’t about becoming a different person in January. It’s about understanding how your brain works, clarifying what you truly want, and giving yourself a system that builds momentum without burning you out.
That’s why the vision exercise matters. It’s why the traditional goal-setting models are useful but incomplete. And it’s why the Unfiltered 90-Day Planning System works — because it meets your brain where it actually is, not where you think it “should” be.
If 2026 is the year you want clarity, consistency, and yes, actual follow-through, here’s your next step:
The Sweary Planning System
A brain-friendly, real-life-approved way to map your goals, break them down, and finally stick with them, so you can stop scrambling at the end of every year and start feeling in control again.
And if you want help visualizing the future you’re planning for? The 20-Minute Scene Reset is the perfect companion to prime your brain before you map out anything big.
Here’s to a bold, grounded, beautifully aligned 2026.
And if you’re thinking, “Okay, this is what I’ve been missing,” here’s where to go next:
➡️ The Unfiltered Digital Planning System
Your brain-friendly way to organize goals, design weekly rhythms, and finally stay consistent —so you can stop surviving your days and start shaping the ones you actually want.
