make 2026 your BEST year yet | the GOAL SETTING system that WON'T fail

Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's that person who's been doing the same thing over and over again. You know what I'm talking about. January 1, you're buzzing with so many new goals, massive goals, and then by March, you haven't thought about them in weeks, and by July, you completely forgot. But what if by March, you're wondering why you waited so long to actually change? And then what if by July, you're not disappointed, but actually shocked at how far you've come? That only happens if you're willing to do something different than what you have always done. I mean actually willing. So let me be real with you, Angel. The reasons why your goals fail is because you're trying to achieve new things with old methods. Goal setting is really about building that infrastructure around you instead of saying this year I want to do this and that. That's what this video is about. We're going to walk through exactly how to set goals that actually stick using psychologybacked frameworks that actually work because they address the root problem, our willingness to evolve. And by the end of this, you will have a complete system for 2026 that doesn't rely on motivation or willpower, but actual transformation. You're going to be completely unrecognizable in like 3 months. I've also created a yearly planner with guided prompts by month, by quarters, completely free in the description below. So, you're going to use this while we go through the framework together. If you're new here, hello. My name is May. Welcome. And this channel is about actual transformation, integrating the spiritual, the practical, the inner work, the outer action, all of it. We're constantly evolving. If that sounds like what you're about to, hit that subscribe button so that we can build together. By the way, my merch is finally out. I'm wearing the tank top right now. And I also did a photo shoot recently, which is looking so cute. We got apparel. We have a notebook as well, which I have with me right now. And I'm using this to set all of my goals for next year, including tote bags and also a mug, which has become my new favorite. And you can find the link to my merch in the video description. And that's if you want to grab something that's align with what you're becoming because my collection is all about affirmations, manifestos, and all of it. So, I'm in Tulum right now, and it's so gorgeous here. I love it. I'm filming a bunch of deep inner work type of content for you guys, and I'm building the infrastructure for new version of my community, Stoic Angels. We're always upgrading. And if you're the type one's transformation in community, I'm also closing early applications for my Greece group experience at the end of this month. It is not just a vacation but a container for reinvention. We're going to Athens Eio Santorini and spots are filling up and I got a good discount for the next few people ready to book this spot. The details are below in the description. And as always, I have chapters in this video that you can look at and skip around if you want to look at something specific. But before we get to the rest of the video, here's the thing about goal setting. Most people treat it like a one-time event. You sit down around this time of the year or on January 1st. You start writing down some goals and then you don't look at them again until December and you start feeling guilty and you're shamed and then the cycle repeats itself every single year. Real goal setting is a practice that you keep returning to and you reflect on and adjust. And a fun practice I've discovered is actually captured in the Skillshare class called capturing your year. Make a time capsule for reflection and growth. So I took this class and there's a project that asked me to document my year so far. And I just threw in whatever I knew about my current identity, my fears, my patterns, and then we created this time capsule specifically designed to come back to it. All of my memories, everything, I just threw it in there. So in the past, I was setting goals without knowing who I was setting them as. So now I have a real anchor point because in the past my goals felt so disconnected from my actual life which is why they always failed. So here's the thing though. Skillshare has classes on literally everything. Whatever you want to pick up on, whatever you want to learn, they probably already have a class on it. So I use it all the time to learn new software, video editing, marketing, entrepreneurship, all kinds of stuff. So, Skillshare has creative classes taught by world-class creatives, professional illustrators, renowned designers, successful entrepreneurs, and this platform is specifically designed to help me build transformation into my life by learning directly from people who have actually done the work. And the same goes for you. So, the first 500 people using my link in the description or scanning the QR code will get one month free trial of Skillshare. Plus, you can give Skillshare memberships to your people. If you want to do 2026, right, start here. Okay, now let's actually set up the rest of your 2026 starting now. There are things that have to happen for goals to actually transform your life instead of just decorating your journal. So, let's break this down. So, the reason why most of my goals used to fail by March was because a year is too long to stay connected to one vision. My brain couldn't hold all that motivation for 12 complete months. That's a long time. But my brain can absolutely stay focused on 90 days. and yours can too. So, think of it this way. If I had told a 5-year-old to be good for the whole year, they would have no idea what I'm talking about. But if I said be good for the next 3 months and then we'll check in and we'll celebrate, then suddenly it's a real and it's like a game with a finish line. That's what 90 days does for us as adults. It's specific enough to feel real, but also long enough to actually build something. So, a quarter is a rhythm of seasons, winter, spring, summer, fall. And each one has its own energy, its own natural pause point for reflection and adjustment. So instead of setting 12 month goals, we're going to set quarterly goals. And here's a psychological advantage. You get four fresh starts in one year instead of one fresh start. So my January goal isn't just start a new business this year. My generary goal is to become the person who starts something new, a new project perhaps every 3 months or so and then evaluates at the end of each quarter if I like the direction where it's heading. Basically, by the end of Q1, I get to see how far I've come and what else I need to adjust. And that's 90 days very measurable and it's connected to an actual season. And then Q2 hits, we're building on that foundation. We're not starting from zero because we have already proved that we can do hard things in Q1 alone. This also means that we're not being locked into something for an entire year. And if we fail, then the entire year is gone. By Q2, if our goal needs to shift because we've learned something new, then we can adjust. Flexibility built into the system. So, if you haven't already, grab that yearly planner PDF. I made it out for you guys. It's free. And you can start there by mapping out what each quarter could look like for you. So, you've probably heard of smart goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. They work because they remove ambiguity. For example, our brain can actually commit to something it can't clearly see. But smart goals alone aren't enough because they don't actually address the identity layer. And that's where real transformation happens. There's a famous researcher named James Clear who wrote about something that he calls identitybased habits. And here's what he said. When I focus on being a different type of person rather than on achieving a goal, the goal becomes an almost natural side effect of who I am. So, we're going to add layers. We're going to take our smart goals and then add what I call the identity marker and the obstacle anticipation. So, here's a structure. I'm going to use this as an example. My smart goal is the concrete thing. For example, I will work out four times a week for the next 12 weeks. But that's not complete because I need to know who I'm becoming through that goal. The identity marker answers this. By doing this, I'm becoming the person who prioritizes her health, who keeps her promises to herself, and moves her body with intention. And that's the actual point of setting her goal. The goal is just a container for the identity shift. And then I add obstacle anticipation. So this is huge. And most people skip this. And I ask myself, what's going to stop me? What obstacle is guaranteed to show up? And what will I do when it does? Not if it does, when it does, because it will. Something is always going to derail us at some point because life happens. And when it does, we would have already decided in advance what we're going to do when, for example, Tuesday rolls around. I'm exhausted and I don't want to work out and I'm not making that decision in the moment of weakness, like f this. I'm done with this. Enough. I've already committed to that goal. So, let's say my obstacle is I won't feel like going in the morning. And so my pre-commitment to that is I'm going to lay my workout clothes on my bed the night before and I'm not going to think about whether I feel like it or not. I'm just going to put them on. That's it. And that's the decision that's made in advance. And that is called implementation intentions. And that's backed by research from BJ Fog at Stanford. He studied habit formation. And what he found is that when we predecide our response to obstacles, we increase our follow through by about 70%. 70%. We're not relying on willpower, but instead on a decision that we made when we were clear-headed. So, this completely changes the whole game. So, the next thing is called the values alignment check. And this is actually where most goal setting frameworks break. They don't ask whether our goals actually align with what we're trying to be at the soul level. I can smart go my way into achieving something all day long, but it doesn't actually matter to me if it doesn't matter. I can accomplish my goals and still feel empty because they were never aligned with my values. So before we commit to a goal, we're going to run it through a values filter. So ask yourself, what do we actually want from this? And is it because we genuinely value it or because I'm supposed to want it? And these are two very different things. If I wanted to start a side business because I genuinely love my autonomy and creative expression, that's my genuine alignment. But if I want to start a side business because everybody else does it and successful people have multiple streams of income, then that's not what I actually want. There's a psychologist named Mihali Zamihali who studied flow and fulfillment and he found that when we're engaged in activities that are aligned with our values, our brain releases different chemicals, we're going to be happier, we're going to be more productive and more likely to stick with our goals. And the aligned goals are the ones that actually stick because they're connected to something deeper than willpower. So my best year isn't built on pushing through things that I hate, but on building a life. So imagine building our year doing things that we hate. That doesn't sound right. Our best year is built not on pushing through on things that we don't want to do, but on building a life that's actually aligned with our values and what we enjoy and what we want to be. So every 90 days, we're going to stop and actually look at what happened. Not just did I do this or not, did I reach my goal or not? And actually document and reflect what actually changed about us. What kind of identity shifts happened? And where did I surprise myself? Where did I give up on myself? And what do I need to release going to the next quarter? Reflection questions. This is what makes the next quarter actually different. instead of just repeating the same pattern over and over again every year. And this is almost like non-negotiable. Reflection is how we extract wisdom from experience. And without that wisdom and that awareness, we're just accumulating years and not actually growing and evolving. There's research from a scientist, a learning scientist named David Cobb on something called experiential learning. So basically, experience alone doesn't create growth itself. reflection on that experience does. That's the part that most people just skip over, but that's also the part that actually rewires us. So that yearly planner PDF has guided prompts as well for the exact reflection at the end of each quarter. So use that. Now I want to tell you something that changed everything for me about goal setting. So I was sitting in my apartment about 3 years ago and then I was just looking at my journal from the previous year. I had the same goals, the same exact goals that I have written the year before that. And I remember just seeing it and feeling this physical feeling in my chest. Like something was just cracking open like, oh my gosh, I'm repeating the same pattern over and over again kind of way. And I finally feel aware of it. I'm still not changing. And then I realized something that day. The goals itself were fine. They were valid. But the problem was I hadn't actually become anyone new. I was still the same person with the same goals and I wasn't doing them. I was trying to think my way into a new life instead of actually putting in the work and putting in action and becoming that person who lives that life. At that time I remember just putting my journal down and making a decision like a actual committed decision and I said this year I'm not setting goals but actually going to become someone and the goals are just going to be natural to that. That actually was what changed things for me because suddenly I wasn't trying to force myself to do things I didn't want to do anymore, but instead gradually becoming someone who naturally wanted to do them. That person who works out, who isn't forcing herself, she's just a person who moves her body and it's natural to her and she's just building a business that's not grinding, but something that truly matters. That's the whole difference between goal achievement and actual transformation. And I'm telling you this because I know you're tired. I know you're tired of the cycle, the January excitement and then March you're just disappointed. You're like, I'll try again next year. And then by July, you're just like, I'm just going to throw it in. I know you're tired of being that person who sets goal and doesn't hit them. But here's what I also know. You're not actually tired of trying, but trying the same way over and over again and setting goals without actually becoming someone new. So, this year can be different, but only if you're trying to actually change not just your habits, but that part of yourself that is aligned with these goals. So, here's exactly how you're going to do this. I'm going to make it simple so you don't get too overwhelmed. It's actually very simple. So, for every quarter, I'm going to choose one primary identity shift that I want to make. Like, not four goals, but one identity shift per quarter. So, Q1, which is January through March, who do I want to become? Maybe it's the woman who uses her voice more. Maybe it's the woman who heals her nervous system. or really it's the woman who builds something that matters. I write that down. That's my north star. So for 90 days, I'm going to build that three to four specific goals and that led her up to that identity. So if my identity is the woman who uses and owns her voice, my goals might be to speak up in one meeting per week or restart that podcast or have one difficult conversation a month. And these are not separate, by the way. They're all interconnected into that same identity that's becoming real the more I do it. So, here's a simple version. Pick one thing that you want to become and then pick three things that that person would do. Then grab that yearly planner and just start mapping out what each quarter could look like for you. For every goal, I'm going to write it down in this format. I'm going to use an example specific and measurable. I will meditate for 15 minutes 5 days a week for the next 12 weeks. So the identity marker will look like by doing this I'm becoming the person who prioritizes inner peace who trusts her intuition who navigates the world from a grounded place values alignment. I'm doing this because I genuinely value calmness and I know that my nervous system needs this to show up and I want to become the best version of myself. And then what does the obstacle anticipation look like? My obstacle will be mornings when I'm rushing. And my pre-commitment is that I'm going to meditate, even if it's 10 minutes a day instead of 15. And I'm going to do this before I check my phone. So, write all of this down. All of it. Not just the goal itself, but every single prompt, right? And then here's a simple version that feels like a lot. What do I want to do? Meditate 15 minutes five times a week. Who does that make me? Someone who's calm and grounded. What's going to get in my way mornings when I'm rushing? What would I do instead? Meditate for 10 minutes before checking on my phone. That's it. Simple. So, put this on your calendar right now. 90 days from January 1st, we're going to spend 2 hours or a couple of hours reflecting on the quarter. And during that time, we're going to journal through these questions. What identity shifts actually happened? And we can write it specifically. We don't say, "Oh, I got more confident." We say, "I noticed that I spoke up in the meeting without my heart racing, without feeling nervous, and I didn't apologize for my opinions when I said something kind of controversial." And then think, where do we honor our commitment to ourselves? And then acknowledge this and celebrate it because our nervous system needs to register that we kept our promises. And then think, where do we abandon ourselves? And be honest with yourself without judgment. What happened there? What did we learn? what's one thing that I'm releasing going into the following quarter? Because sometimes a goal stops serving us and we learn that we don't actually want that thing and that is not failure but data. We're just learning new things about ourselves. So we document this somewhere whether it's a journal, your phone, your notes app, whatever it is, we can always return to it. And here's a short version. What changed about me? What worked? What didn't work? And what's next? So based on our reflection, we're going to set our Q2 goals and we're going to do it differently because we learned things about ourselves in Q1. Maybe I learned that morning meditation didn't work so well for me in the morning. So maybe evening reflection is better for me and I adjust that. Maybe I learned that I'm capable of more than I thought, so I escalated and I level up. And then maybe I learned that I was forcing something that didn't really align my values, so I release that. But know this, the person setting Q2 goals is not the same person that's setting Q1 goals. We have actually changed and evolved from that. So, our goals might need to change, too. And here's a quick thing. If you want physical reminders of what we're becoming, my merch has affirmations. And my notebook is literally designed for this type of reflection practice. It's actually perfect for documenting our quarters, especially if we have ADHD because I have ADHD and I hate line notebooks. I like drawing different blocks and different systems and whatnot. So, a grid notebook actually works really well for me cuz I can just draw different things all day long. And then basically following Q2 will be Q3 and then Q4. And it is the exact same system. Our 2026 goals are not just going to be written on paper, but actually integrated into your whole entire being. And angels, here's what I want you to know as you head into 2026 is that these goals are not going to change your life, but becoming the next level person will. And the goals are just containers for that transformation. They're sort of like benchmarks really. And you've been the person who sets them and doesn't achieve them. You've already done that for long enough. So this following year in 2026, you get to become someone different where you get to stay committed to your own evolution. Even when it gets hard and especially when it gets hard, you can always pivot and shift and be flexible. And right now, you're building your foundation stone. and everything else that you're building in 2026 is being built on top of that. You've learned when your old goals fall apart for you. So, you get to rebuild with intention. And that's a completely different strategy even on top of these specific and measurable goals. So, if you haven't done it already, go download that yearly planner for free and show up for yourself like you've never shown up before. Your best year yet is already here. It's not somewhere in the future. I believe in you. I see you. And if you're here, affirm with me in the comments. I will have my best year yet. and I will see you in the next video.

The first 500 people to use my link in the description or scan the QR code will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare! Get started today: https://skl.sh/maealicesuzuki12251 download the planner (free!!): https://bcns.link/9VRmuf 🪽 shop my merch: https://stoicangels.com 💌 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 - the infrastructure 4:35 - quarters & seasons 6:31 - SMART goals, but better 9:05 - values check 10:41 - specific reflection practice 11:51 - transformation moment 14:03 - define themes 15:04 - create architecture 16:13 - block check-in 17:24 - how to adjust