Before You Touch Your 2026 Goals, Do This

January is when we all pretend the calendar has magical powers.

New year. New goals. New priorities. New “we’re doing things differently this time.”

And then by January 12, you’re staring at the same inbox, the same meetings, the same bottlenecks…just with a fresh Google Doc.

I hate to break it to you, but a new year is not a reset. It’s a continuation.

Which is not depressing. It’s just true. And if we start from what’s true, we can actually do something useful with the new year instead of setting ourselves up for a familiar February spiral.

That’s where Pillars & Walls comes in.

Not as a “framework” you slap on a slide, but as a way to stop building your year on wishful thinking.

The mistake we make every January

We start with more goals, more plans, more initiatives...MORE, MORE, MORE!

But I think the real issue is that we start with walls.

Walls are the structures: plans, routines, systems, processes, meetings, tools, calendars, project plans, org charts. All the stuff we build because it makes us feel like we’re in control.

And look, walls matter. Of course they do.

But the issue is that walls collapse when the pillars are weak.

Pillars are the non-negotiables. The things you are willing to protect when the pressure is on.

Not the pretty values on the website, but the real ones...the ones that show up in how decisions get made, how conflict gets handled, how people get treated, and what actually gets prioritized when everything is urgent.

If you skip the pillars and jump straight to walls, you end up doing what most teams do in January:

• rearranging work

• renaming work

• re-packaging work

• and calling it progress

Then everyone wonders why nothing feels better.

So what are pillars, really?

If you tell me your pillar is “excellence,” I’m going to ask: What does that look like on a Tuesday?

Because if you can’t observe it, it’s not a pillar. It’s a word.

A real pillar should be behavior-level and pressure-tested.

Pressure-tested means: when you’re tired, behind, and annoyed, it still applies.

Here are examples that actually behave like pillars:

• Clarity wins: We leave conversations with a decision, an owner, and a next step.

• Adults deserve dignity: We address issues directly. No side convos. No triangulation.

• Sustainable pace: We plan for what we can carry, and we say no without guilt.

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Those are not inspirational. They’re usable.

And importantly: they tell you what to do when priorities collide.

Because priorities always collide.

Why this matters more than “goal setting”

I think people don't like to admit that a lot of “goal setting” is just anxiety in a nicer outfit.

We set goals to calm ourselves down.

We set goals because uncertainty feels gross.

We set goals because leadership expects a slide titled “2026 Priorities.”

But if the foundation is shaky, goals become expensive decorations on top of dysfunction.

A skeptic would say: “Okay, but we still need execution.”

Yes. Obviously.

But pillars are what make execution sane.

Why? Because pillars answer the real questions people are fighting about all year:

• What do we prioritize when everything is urgent?

• How do we make decisions when we disagree?

• What does good communication actually mean here?

• What do people have a right to expect from leadership?

• What do we do when someone isn’t doing their job?

  
  

If you don’t answer those, your walls become constant friction. You’ll spend all year “aligning” (translation: repeating the same conversations).

So instead of starting January with goals…start with pillars.

Step 1: Pick 3 pillars for the year (not 10. Three.)

If you pick seven pillars, what you really did is avoid choosing.

Pick three.

And write them like commitments.

Not “We value transparency.”Try: “We share decisions early, including what we don’t know yet.”

Not “We value collaboration.”Try: “We involve the people impacted before the decision is made.”

Not “We value accountability.”Try: “We name owners, deadlines, and what ‘done’ means.”

If you’re doing this personally (not as a team), same rule.

Not “health.”Try: “I protect my sleep like it’s a meeting with my boss.”

Not “balance.”Try: “I stop treating rest like something I earn.”

(Yes, I’m coming for you a little. It’s fine.)

A fast prompt to get real pillars

Answer these quickly:

1. When things get stressful this year, what do I want to be true about how I operate?

2. What am I no longer willing to sacrifice to be seen as high-performing?

3. What do people need to consistently experience from me to trust me?

Your answers are your pillars. Clean them up after.

Step 2: Do a walls audit (because some of your “systems” are the problem)

Now we talk walls.

This is where most people default to “let’s launch a new thing.”

New tool. New tracker. New meeting. New process.

Sometimes you need that.

But sometimes you need the opposite: remove the wall that is quietly making everything worse.

So pick one area and audit it:

• meetings

• decision-making

• feedback and performance conversations

• communication norms

• planning and priorities

• onboarding and training

Then sort what you currently do into four buckets:

Keep / Change / Remove / Build

Keep: What is genuinely helping?

Change: What’s fine but needs a different shape, owner, frequency, or format?

Remove: What wastes time or creates confusion?

Build: What wall is missing that would actually make the pillars real?

Here’s a good test:

If your pillar is “Clarity wins,” but your walls are:

• decisions made in Slack with no record

• meetings with no agenda

• “we’ll circle back” as a lifestyle

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That pillar is just a nice sentence.

If your pillar is “Sustainable pace,” but your walls are:

• recurring meetings that could be emails

• last-minute requests that become emergencies

• “everything is top priority”

Same problem.

Pillars don’t matter unless the walls support them.

Step 3: Only now do you write goals

Now your goals won’t be fake.

Here’s the simplest way to do it:

Pillar → Wall change → Goal

Example:

• Pillar: Clarity wins

• Wall change: Add a decision log. Reduce recurring meetings. Make owners explicit.

• Goal: Routine decisions get made within 48 hours by end of Q1.

Another:

• Pillar: Adults deserve dignity

• Wall change: Set a clear feedback rhythm and a conflict pathway.

• Goal: Quarterly check-ins happen across the org with documented feedback. No surprise reviews.

That’s what makes goals believable: they are tied to a wall you’re actually changing.

If your organization is messy (and it is), read this twice

Here’s an assumption I want to challenge:

That you need a full redesign for anything to feel different.

You don’t.

You need one or two walls that protect the pillars you claim to care about.

Small walls that help immediately:

• a one-page “who decides what” map

• a decision log that lives somewhere real

• a meeting rule: no agenda, no meeting

• a weekly 15-minute “what are we dropping” check

Notice what those do: they reduce confusion and resentment.

And in most organizations, confusion and resentment are the real silent killers.

Your 20-minute New Year move

Do this today.

1. Write three pillars for the year.

2. Identify two walls that currently conflict with those pillars.

3. Pick one wall to change in January.

That’s it.

Not a reinvention arc. Not a “new you.” Not a 47-step plan.

Just a real move that makes your year more livable.

Because the point of the new year isn’t to perform optimism.

It’s to build something that can hold up when it’s February and everyone is tired and the work is still here.

Pillars first.Walls second.

Everything else is just decoration.