Why 2026 Doesn’t Need to Be “Your Year”

Do you know what time it is?

It’s time for the typical New-Year’s marketing cliché headlines and phrases that show up in online marketing to promise transformation without addressing how change actually happens.

For example (and yes, I found these all online):

• “Resolve to make 2026 your best year yet”
• “New Year, New You”
• “Make 2026 the Year of YOU”
• “New Year, New Goals — Let’s Do This!”
• “Make 2026 the Year Your Plans Finally Stick”
• “2026 — Let’s Go! Welcome to the best year of your life.”

The problem with these clichés is that they depend on the end-of-year panic and emotional expectations to make next year better than the one just wrapping up. There’s no substance, just clickbait to get you to read the article and get stuck on the emotional roller coaster of “If I only just work harder/longer; had a better system/app/template,” and so on.

This kind of messaging works not because people are naïve, but because they care deeply about doing meaningful work and don’t want to waste another year getting it wrong.

While some of those articles might offer constructive advice, a program or a service, for the most part, they promise transformation without addressing how change actually happens. At a common and very human level, we often buy tools because they feel safer (faster, and easier) than self-examination.

Change Is Temporary—Transformation Is Permanent

When you click through to whatever is being offered in those articles to buy an app, template, or someone’s multistep program, you might get the results you want by utilizing someone else’s knowledge.

Think of it this way: When a device or appliance is broken but fixable, you can take it in for repairs (like a cracked phone screen). That’s a surface problem that can be changed by using tools.

For example, if you’re a change-maker, you might use an app to manage your social media postings so that you can create and produce your content, and then schedule it a week in advance. That’s a simple change in how you manage posting updates to create efficiency.

However, if you’re not getting the results you want as a leader in your career, or struggling to get people to connect and engage with you as a thought leader, there’s no surface-level tool or positivity-hack for that.

Instead, you need a transformational shift, one that happens on the inside and starts by identifying what’s working, what’s not, and what you haven’t accomplished that you are absolutely passionate about pursuing.

2026 starts with 2025

If you began 2025 with a sense of direction but lost momentum along the way, ask yourself why.

• Were you trying to lead too many causes at once?
• How often did you shift your approach or priorities?
• Did the pressure to create more and say yes to too many demands pull you away from doing the deeper work that actually mattered?

And over the course of 2025, how well did you take care of your mind, body, and capacity to lead with compassion, humility, and understanding?

Change is NOT What You Need

You don’t need somebody else’s plan or a generic template to change the way you’ve been doing things.

Instead of buying someone else’s certainty, you need to know what you stand for with clarity, conviction, and integrity. Then you can contribute to making meaningful change by advancing dignity and equity, and leading to improve the lives and well-being of queer and trans people.

That’s transformative leadership—both for you and those who are inspired to follow your lead.

There’s no app for that: no method, template, or system. Leadership comes from authenticity, not artificial intelligence.

If you find yourself wanting to press “PAY NOW” on a New Year/New You program, ask yourself if it’s an impulsive reaction based on how well the sales-page copy has convinced you that you desperately require whatever it’s selling.

2026 Doesn’t Require Urgency—it Requires Direction

When you develop absolute clarity about what you stand for—grounded in your values and shaped by your strengths—you can lead with clarity and direction to solve what matters most and effectively and strategically pursue your purpose.

What does that look like as you move into 2026?

You start by assessing if what you’ve been doing (this year, last year, or for how many years…) has actually been working for you. From that place of clarity and self-awareness, the next step becomes obvious—not because someone told you what to do, but because you can finally see what’s been working and what hasn’t.

I have an end-of-year self-assessment that I offer my private clients to get clarity about what’s working, what needs to change, and what they can do about it.

If you want it, I’ll send it to you—no charge, no sales call, no opt-in subscription required.

Comment or send me a direct message, and I’ll send it to you so you can start 2026 with clarity and integrity, instead of hype, hustle, and hyperbole.