Many come up with New Year’s resolutions at the start of the year, and despite their best intentions, such resolutions don’t survive the first few weeks of the year. New Year’s resolutions set people up for failure because they are nothing more than wishful thinking, lacking in resolve and structure, and not grounded in reality.
Let me give you a personal example that will hopefully drive this point home. If I declare “I want to exercise regularly in 2026”, while the goal is commendable, it is vague, missing actionable steps, and cannot be measured. On the other hand, if I were to say “I want to do at least 500 push-ups a week, and will start with 90 every day or 3 sets of 30 for 6 days a week, and rest on Sundays,” I now have a goal that is SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
When it comes to Mustard Seed IT, if I were to simply state “I want the business to grow”, that would be a vague goal as well. I should be saying “I want to add one more client in the first six months and grow my revenue by 25% by the end of the year.” I have created a SMART goal.
Rather than coming up with New Year’s resolutions that are bound to go nowhere, I would like to present a different approach to creating achievable goals in 2026: Dream. Discipline. Do.
Dream
The goal you want to achieve is your dream. The dream is the fuel that will help you get moving. I will not do 90 push-ups a day if I don’t dream of being a healthier person at the end of 2026. I will not get another client if I don’t dream of Mustard Seed IT being stronger at the end of 2026.
Discipline
The goal cannot be achieved without discipline. If I don’t make the time to do 3 sets of 30 push-ups a day, it’s not going to happen. If I don’t make a habit of setting aside time to think of assets I can create to add value, I won’t have anything to attract prospects, without which I cannot gain a client.
Do
Discipline without doing will get you nowhere. I can make the time for push-ups but if I don’t actually get on the ground and do the push-ups, it’s meaningless. I can come up with ideas for assets but if I don’t actually create them (like writing blog posts like this) and share them publicly, how will prospects find me, let alone become clients?
Make It Happen
2026 has only just begun, so I encourage you to dream big (ensuring each dream can be written as a SMART goal), dissect each dream to determine the discipline it will take to achieve that dream, and then start doing.
Dream is the fuel. Discipline is the structure. Do is the execution.
As for me, I know that without God on my side, no matter the dream, no matter how disciplined I am, no matter what I do, I will not be able to reach the finish line.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
All the best to you, and I pray you have a blessed 2026.