28 ways to get your life together in 2026

If you know that something has to change, but you don't know where to start and you're already exhausted just thinking about what's about to come this year because you're so overwhelmed, I made this video exactly for you. If we start somewhere, we can start right here. I'm about to give you some very specific and actionable ways to get your life together or at the very least, you will improve in some way. There's no risk or no stakes involved. It's not like, oh, you should drink more water either, even though you should, but 28 strategic ways that you can start today or this month and eventually have it all compound into a completely unrecognizable life by December. Every single one of them is something that I've either done myself or have seen help someone a lot within my community and I'm not going to waste your time or going down this list quickly today. So, take note of whatever resonates with you and leave whatever doesn't. So, if you're new here, my name is May. My channel's all about improving ourselves, whether that's our minds, bodies, and spirits. We're going beyond superficial and actually changing our schematics, becoming the person whose life is together because of who they are and not stuff that they force themselves to do. Because if you have to force yourself, that's not really you. But if this resonates with you, come and join our family. My community is called Stoic Angels. We're all here to build. We're tight. I even have a group trip to the Greek Islands with the community coming up this July. And that's how tight we are. And you can check my website for more details. And then as always, my videos have chapters on them because I have so many rapid fire points in this video. I'm going to be separating them into different categories. Now, okay, let's get into it. I love this exercise of writing a one-pager called who I am in 12 months document. I do this at the start of every year. We're not even setting goals right now. We're just simply thinking of anything, even stuff that you think is impossible for you at the moment. I've had things written down that I didn't even believe in the beginning, but somehow achieved it by the end of the year. But we're not focusing on wishful thinking either. So, basically what this looks like is I would like you to write a description of your future self written in the present tense. What do they do in their day-to-day life? How do they handle stress? What does their average weekend or Tuesday look like? This will become your compass for every decision this year. Even if you forget about this one-pager document, it's still running in the back of your subconscious and you can quietly influence the things that you want to do in a good way. So, it's excellent for setting out intentions for the start of the year or even any time that you want to start over. And then number two, make a list of 10 things that you know you need to stop doing. You already know. Things like pressing the snooze button 10 times, scrolling on the shopping app at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, or even some useless situationship that you keep thinking about. Write them all down because seeing them on paper makes it more real to you and you can't change the things that you're not aware of. And then number three, define five non-negotiables. These are your personal rules, stuff that you will never budge on, things that you do regardless of how you feel, what's going on in your life, or how tired you are. Mine is actually coffee in the morning because I genuinely cannot function without it. I mean, I can, but it's harder. I also never speak badly about myself even as a joke because I am not a joke. So, think about what some of yours can be. This is also a great way to set some boundaries. Another one that I like is I never want to be shortchanged for anything. So, if someone's trying to scam you, you got to go after them. Number four, choose one therapist, coach, or a book and then commit to eight weeks of real work. It's always helpful to have someone or something to guide you along your journey instead of constantly mindlessly consuming content like it's entertainment. I would pick one resource like either getting a therapist or a coach or a book that I really love and just really go deep into it and actually work on those exercises and apply what you've learned. Even just a few weeks of focusing on something beats a years of start and stop, on and off, half-assed commitment. Like go all in or do nothing at all. And then number five, read more books. Someone asked me recently on my Instagram stories actually like what kind of books do I like? Do I like fiction? I personally don't read a lot of fiction. I do sometimes, but I'm obviously all about self-help, non-fiction, psychology. So, a few books that I like a lot I'm always referencing is Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is all about micro habits. And also this other book called Psycho-Cybernetics and this book changed how I understand self-image and identity. This was written more than half a century ago, but it's still more relevant than most modern-day self-help books. Your self-image truly becomes your entire life and it is also the ceiling and limitations of how much you can actually achieve in your lifetime. So, this book teaches you how to rebuild that. If you're interested in those, I'll also drop the links in the description. Number six, change your passwords and enable 2FA on everything. Especially if you haven't done this already, get a strong password with caps and symbols and all of it and enable two-factor authorization on as many platforms as possible. This maybe takes only a few hours max, but protects everything that you own that lives online. Your digital security is a part of having your life together. And all you have to do is do it once and do it properly because I have seen people getting hacked or getting scammed and then giving away their information and that can truly, genuinely ruin people's lives. So, even just spending an hour on this will save you so much unnecessary heartache. Number seven, back up your phone and I can't even stress this enough. Most of us have our entire lives on our phone, photos, contacts, notes, everything. So, if your phone died tomorrow, what are you going to lose? I've actually had this happen to my laptop last year where it completely died in the middle of editing a video that I spent three days on. And because I didn't have a backup of it, I had to redo everything. And then a couple of years ago, my husband and I were sitting on our boat and I accidentally did this and my husband's phone flung into the river and he had all these photos that were on his phone. He did not back it up, including photos of us, his family, everything. And that was really tragic. I've also lost my phone before with no backup. So, I've lost like all of the photos I've had from when I was 17 to 20. That's three years of my memories that I can't even remember and it's so sad because everything is so digitized these days. It's not like I have a physical photo album or anything like that. So, it takes nothing for you to just set up automatic cloud backup today and if not, just remember to upload all of your data onto a hard drive or somewhere where it's safe. I actually recommend doing two backups in case something happens to the other one because it's not fun to lose your memories or your data or something that you worked really hard on. Number eight, delete the addictive apps that you keep checking without even thinking about it. You know how there are certain apps that will slowly, low-key ruin your life over time. For me, that's extremely addictive games, social media that I don't even post on, or even shopping apps I keep spending money on. Try deleting them for a week, literally seven days, and just notice how much mental headspace you actually get back. And if you miss that app, you can just download it again. It's not even a big deal. Number nine, make your home screen boring. No social media apps on page one. So, what I like to keep on there is very productive stuff, calendar, notes, camera, Google Maps, and make the super entertaining and addictive stuff something that you have to intentionally seek out and not constantly popping out to you. Number 10, do one week without Reels or TikTok. You don't have to do a total social media detox forever. Just try balancing it out with seven days to start, maybe every now and then, and that's it. Notice what happens to your attention span, your sleep, your dopamine levels. Like for example, your ability to be bored. Sometimes boring is so good and I find that scrolling short-form videos especially for hours can actually add to my stress levels and a high cortisol is never a good thing for your health, which is why I like YouTube so much actually because it's long-form. It's slower pace. That way you're not constantly getting overstimulated all the time and you're not constantly getting affected by other people's opinions a thousand times over because they're not even your opinion. So, who cares? Try and actually form your own opinions, right? Like even though I myself work in the social media space, sometimes I'm not even posting because I genuinely forget to even check Instagram and stuff. So, it's always good to take a bit of breaks here and there. And [clears throat] then number 11, master an organization tool of choice. I like to tell people that I myself am also neurodivergent and I have ADHD. Not because I'm justifying my own limitations, but because I can show them that despite having these things affecting my brain, I can still be hyper-organized and super functional. And I say this because I always see people being like, oh, this is for neurotypical people. Like, I'm special. Like, bro, no, you're not. I have it, too. A lot of people have it. So, to me, having things like a second brain is just not optional. So, pick a system, whatever you want to use and then learn it properly. Like for example, I like Notion, I like X Tiles, ClickUp. And right now, I'm also mastering Zapier because it connects to everything. It's so incredible. Your future self or your current self even needs a place to store all this data and things and memories that you're trying to remember. And your brain just simply cannot remember everything. I don't care who you are. You just can't. So, whatever is easy for you, do it. Even if it's a notebook. I love the practice notebook that I designed for my merch store. I'm always jotting things down in there because of the dotted grid. Dotted grid. My ADHD brain cannot keep up with lined notebooks because that doesn't work for me, but this works really well for me. And it helps me learn what kind of systems I prefer to work with because I'm always changing things and sometimes I have favorites. I also have affirmations in the back, which are great reminders. Anyways, I designed this myself. It's in my merch Number 12, track every dollar for 30 days. You don't even have to do this forever, but just enough to know where your money is going. Every coffee that you're buying at Starbucks, every subscription you have, every single time that you're treating yourself. We're not judging it, by the way. We're just seeing the reality of what your spending habits are because you can't manage what you don't measure. And it's always useful to know what you're spending money on and also the things that you can become more efficient at and improve on so that you can grow your money because lifestyle inflation is no joke. I would know because I live in Miami and it's crazy expensive here. Not more expensive than New York, but still. Number 13, open a freedom fund and auto make weekly transfers. I love this one. This is basically a separate bank account that you don't even touch in the short term. And basically, you send to this account $20 a week. You're automating transfers from your checking, for example. And automation means it happens before your brain can even come in and be like, "Wait, but I want to buy this and that." So then you keep doing this and it runs automatically. In 12 months, you're going to have all kinds of new options that you don't even have right now because you save that $20 a week. And $20 a week is going to be like about an extra $1,000 at the end of the year for you to do whatever you want. Number 14, build one new income stream. I love having multiple income streams and they say the average millionaire has at least seven income streams and it's something that I'm constantly aiming for. So this doesn't have to be an entire business. Even if you freelance one skill or sell something, like start a Depop store or Etsy or even teach people things that you know and something that people can find to be very useful. Having multiple income streams is excellent way to build more financial freedom. And speaking of building financial freedom, this video is sponsored by ISSA. Before I built my online presence, I've had multiple jobs constantly for years that I did just for the money. Like I had my full-time office jobs, freelance projects, multiple gigs. I felt like I was slowly losing myself because I didn't even enjoy half of them. Like I used to spend my weekends dreading my weekdays. And that's really not the way to live. And it's also what kept me stuck for so long was the fear that if I left my full-time job, I will have nothing. And that my passion for the other things that I actually enjoy don't pay the bills, which is not true, by the way, especially in this day and age. So now I am so glad that I got fired from that office job that I had because it gave me room to build my dream. And I'm so happy to work for myself. And I also know for a fact that so many of you out there are passionate about fitness. I personally know so many people who started teaching fitness as a side hobby and then they turned it into a full-time passion business that they love. And imagine loving what you do every day. Oh my gosh. If you go to the gym frequently, you know how to use the machines and you like to teach, then naturally ISSA might be a great way for you to make extra income. ISSA is the number one personal trainer certification and what sets them apart is they actually have a job guarantee. That means if you get certified and you don't get placed, you get your money back. They have over 10,000 gym partners with over 73,000 open positions for trainers right now. You don't need a degree, you don't need to quit your job. You can even do this while you're a student. It's 100% online, it's self-paced and you can do it even from your phone. So if you're watching this video about getting your life together and you love fitness and you also love extra income, this can be really good for you. So go to joinissa.com/may. My link is also in the description and you can use my code to get $100 off your CPT certification. Number 15, learn to sell. Selling is an extremely valuable skill that will pay you in almost every single industry, whether you're selling a product, an idea or even selling yourself when you get a job interview. And every skill can be learned and can be improved on. You can take a course, you can read books about how to sell or even practice some very low stakes situations and this selling skill will continue to serve you for life. And then number 16, learn basic negotiation and practice it in small purchases. Like for example, ask for a discount at the flea market or on Facebook Marketplace. I am always negotiating because the rich people that I know negotiate harder than anybody else. That's how they get rich. So for example, at the flea market, somebody gives you a price, cut that price in half and then maybe walk away. For example, if it's a $50 item, be like, "I'll give you 30 for it right now." Tell them a sale is a sale and then wave some cash in your face. I'm only half joking, by the way. You can and also should negotiate your cable bill. And especially when it comes to the software that you use, like go to your customer service and ask them for a discount, especially if you're paying a lot. They just might have something for you. I do this whenever my phone bill or cable bill goes up and I tell them, "I'm leaving. I'm going to your competitor." It almost always works. And a lot of these companies actually have a "Wait, don't go" offer. So keep practicing this and you're going to save a ton of money over time because most people never ask, so they don't get anything. That's why asking works. And if they say no, then you learn to accept and get used to rejection, so it's a win-win. The only time when I don't negotiate is when it comes to people's labor and their effort. I don't think that we should put a discount on that, but that's my opinion. Number 17, become a great writer. Clear writing is clear communication, especially in the world of AI slop, your ability to communicate your ideas directly and authentically becomes so useful and so valuable and it's going to become more and more rare. So start reading more books, more long-form content and articles from people who actually write them, not AI, and then notice how good writers can structure their ideas and communicate. Then you can learn from them and that's how you can become even more articulate with your ideas. Number 18, learn video and photography basics, even if you never become a content creator or videographer or photographer. If you can understand how to present yourself well on camera and you know how lighting affects colors or how composition it works and affects the way that you're being perceived and also learn how you can present yourself better and communicate your branding through graphic choices and colors, this skill will go an extremely long way and it also goes hand in hand with learning how to sell. So think about even the tiniest details, like how you look in the Zoom meeting, how you look in the video interview, video messages, helping take some behind-the-scenes content for your job, taking photos of your family. All you have to do is spend one afternoon learning the basics. Number 19, hit 10k steps regularly for 30 days and I'm not even going to tell you to go and lift heavy weights every day for a year, even though a lot of you guys may be into it, it's still not for everyone. But walking is something simple that many people can do and it's also a highly, highly underrated way of moving your body, clearing your head, regulating your nervous system and transforming your physical body as well. And I have seen that for myself and for other people. And I love to walk and it's a very simple habit to start with, even for 30 days. Like walking to the grocery store instead of driving there or taking a walk during your lunch break. And you can use this as a very easy way to form a new habit. Number 20, fix your sleep. Guys, sleep is fundamental. It's the foundation over everything else, especially if you keep to more or less the same bedtime and wake up time every day. That will regulate your circadian rhythm. I do not function without good sleep. And I've seen people's lives fall apart completely simply because they sleep 2 hours every night and I literally glow down by day three of not sleeping well. So I don't know. Like some people boast about this and they see not sleeping enough as part of their identity, but it's really not good. It's quite destructive, actually, as a habit and it affects everything else like a snowball effect. I'm thinking back to the times when I had terrible sleep and those were also the lowest points of my life. So if I don't get good sleep that night, I know I'm not going to be as functional the next day. So what can help with better sleep is if you stop looking at screens an hour before bedtime, sleeping in a cold room, you're not hot. If you have trouble sleeping, you can take melatonin, chamomile tea, getting into your pajamas. All these things tells your body that you're ready to sleep. And sleep hygiene is very important. I take about 2 hours on average to tell my body, "Okay, I'm going to sleep now. I'm putting on my pajamas now." And I do this over the span of a few hours and eventually I'm definitely falling asleep. We need to stop treating this foundational habit like it's a luxury and instead look at it as a performance enhancer because it really is. It's one of the best ones and it's free. 99. Number 21, learn five go-to meals that you can make or get easily, especially healthy meals. If you're constantly wondering what you're going to eat every day and you experience decision fatigue, that can really kill good nutrition over time and we all need good nutrition. So master five go-to healthy meals that you can either make or prepare on your own on autopilot or you know exactly where you're getting it from. And you know you're going to love this. So that whenever you get tired and you don't know what to eat, these go-to meals can become your default instead of resorting to getting a giant mac and cheese on Grubhub every night because you spend an hour thinking about what you're eating. Number 22, get a yearly physical checkup. I think a lot of you guys don't do this and there are health insurances, even in the US where health insurance is notoriously horrible, that includes one free physical checkup every year. So why not just take advantage of that? Even better, if you can do a blood test every once in a while and fix the obvious nutritional gaps, like vitamin D, B12, iron, thyroid. Get the data in front of you because so many people walking around tired and unmotivated and they don't know why. And it usually is because of something that's very entirely fixable in their physical bodies that they don't even know about. If you have this information in front of you, this will create more solutions for you. Number 23, get a new haircut. This is a very quick hack to feel like you're transformed. And oftentimes we need these physical anchors. Like for example, my physical anchor is quietly upgrading my wardrobe. So something that you can see in the mirror that reminds you that you're becoming a new version of yourself. Do not underestimate these things that you can do physically because it really affects everything else, especially if you're looking more and more like the person that you want to become. I don't really change my hair a lot because I love the way I look right now, but there's a lot of other things that you can do. A lot of people do cut their hair or get a new hair color or even shave their head bald or their eyebrows. And they do this whenever they want to start over or after a breakup and they want to start a new chapter because it works. Number 24, reconnect with five people that you miss but never message. I think a lot of us are so disconnected from one another more than ever before and just looking at someone's Instagram stories doesn't mean that you're staying in touch with them. So send them a message, respond to their social media posts, call them, send them a text. The awkwardness of you feeling like you have to reach out and then reaching out only last about 30 seconds, but the regret of losing that connection will last for as long as you lose that connection. I'm very sure that most of the time people will appreciate this, especially if they're a friend, unless I don't know if it's like an ex or a complicated situation, then obviously that's different. But for the most part, if it's like an old classmate or neighbor, I'm pretty sure that they're going to appreciate your gesture. Number 25, learn how to say no cleanly. A lot of people don't even know how to say no, so they don't get what they want. So, practice saying this, I'm sure that there are things that you don't like. So, whenever that comes up, you can just say it with grace, like, "Oh, this is not for me, but thank you." And practice until it feels natural to you. Do not explain yourself. Do not apologize for not liking something. If there's someone in your life who is very draining and you have to see them and you can't get away from them, name what you need from them and state it clearly, especially if you can't avoid them forever. Like, if they're a family member or a classmate or a boss. However, they react to you is not your responsibility, but the things that you communicate and the peace that you get from it is your responsibility. So, focus on the things that you can control. Just keep things simple and every no to something wrong is a yes to something right. Number 26, do something you're slightly scared of once a month. Do not confront your greatest fear just yet, that's a huge step, but something that you're even just slightly afraid of, even if it's kind of silly and dumb, like asking for more sauce at a restaurant or confronting a difficult conversation, which is actually very useful. Because if you don't do that, it will keep haunting you, right? So, putting yourself out there, sharing your art or your music with other people, like having courage is a skill and a muscle, and the more you do this, the easier it gets. And then the more desensitized you are to that fear. Like, for example, one fear that I have is jumping into the water, even if there's nothing in front of me and it still took me a while to jump. Eventually, I still got over it and I jumped. And this happened to me when I was in Tulum, Mexico, and I was just swimming in this gorgeous natural pool, and everyone was jumping. Eventually, I jumped. Even though I technically body slammed the water, it wasn't very graceful, but at least I did it and I'm able to practice more of that. The more I do it, the easier it will get. I'm not going to lie, my nerves never went away. I did it so scared, but at least I know that I've done this before and I didn't end up alive, and even toddlers can do this, so I can do this, too. Number 27, start junk journaling instead of junk food, junk journaling. This is a great journaling prompt that I have where it's not even a prompt. No structure, nothing, just dump whatever goes on in your head onto paper so that you can practice and process the stuff that's too difficult for you to figure out in your head. Even if it's just a few minutes of messy thinking going onto paper will prevent hours of mess in your life. And then you can actually learn to dissect whatever is going on and make sense of whatever feels messy to you. Number 28, take 10 photos of yourself that you genuinely love. This is a great exercise to gain more confidence. You're taking photos not for anyone else, but for yourself, and this is how you can learn your angles. You can understand what kind of lighting looks good on you and you can practice until you can capture images of yourself that makes you think, "That's really me. That's what I look like." And this is especially useful if you're afraid of the way that you look. So, if you can have all this visual evidence that you can and you do look good in a certain way and you like how you look and you know that these are your angles and you can replicate them, then you'll be able to have a better relationship with your appearance, your style, and your relationship with your own image matters so much more than you think. It affects everything else going on in your life, and this can be as simple with starting with just liking 10 photos of yourself. And if you still don't feel good, go to point number four and you can hash it out with a therapist or journal it out and figure out why that is. Self-awareness is everything. Again, like I said, you don't have to do all of these things. You don't even have to do them in order, but just pick a few of them, maybe three, especially the ones that you feel like you need, but you're a bit scared of them, but then you also know that they will actually change the way that you see yourself and your life. And then tell me what you want to work on in the comments, because writing it down makes it feel even more real. You can even leave a comment just so that you can keep track of what you're working on so that you can come back later on and you'll see that comment and you'll be able to have proof of the exact moment that you decide to actually do something different about it, and that's yet another way to show up for yourself. This is what I'm about. This is what my Stoic Angels community is about, and I believe in you, angels. I will see you in the next video.

If you're exhausted just thinking about the new year, this is your starting point. Go to my sponsor https://joinissa.com/mae to become a certified personal trainer and get $100 off your certification 💪 🪽 shop my merch: https://shop.stoicangels.com 📚 suggested books: Atomic Habits: https://go.shopmy.us/p-38352382 Psycho-Cybernetics: https://go.shopmy.us/p-38352807 💌 stoic angels newsletter: https://maealicesuzuki.eo.page 🔹join my next summer group trip to Greece in 2026! closing early applications end of this month: https://maealicesuzuki.com 🌸 support the channel: https://patreon.com/maealicesuzuki https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHQ0GPGhqjinKm-Y9DLC3hw/join 🦋 follow me on my socials: https://instagram.com/maealicesuzuki https://tiktok.com/@maealiccesuzuki https://twitter.com/maealicesuzuki https://discord.gg/AHPZWV4aZk 📖 chapters: 0:00 - Start Here 1:29 - Identity & Clarity 4:29 - Digital Hygiene 9:18 - Financial Foundations 12:45 - Skills That Compound 15:37 - Physical Foundation 19:32 - Relationships & Boundaries 21:06 - Growth & Courage