📈 January: Set Yourself Up

Four realistic tips for 2026, with a dose of honest New Year energy

Happy 2026. 🥂

I don’t plan to waste your time with saccharine “New Year, New Me” content. Fresh starts are phenomenal. I love them. But I also want you to succeed at whatever you want your 2026 to look like. And most “New Year, New Me” advice falls short of empowering you to make that happen.

So here are four things that I know to be true and that I believe will propel you forward this year, way faster than any “first month free” gym membership or green powder subscription will. It’s the scaffolding I’m using for my own 2026 plans.

Without further ado …

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💆‍♀️ Take the whole of January

Every year around this time, most of the world seems to agree that the first of January is the moment you’re supposed to be ready. Your goals should be locked in, your habits decided, and your game plan set. Off you go.

I’ve never quite bought into that.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve taken the whole of January to figure things out. Not because I’m indecisive, but because I’ve learned (the hard way) that urgency is a terrible environment for good decisions. One rushed day of planning rarely beats a few weeks of taking stock, adjusting, and setting myself up properly.

Honestly? Starting in February is underrated. The gyms are quieter. Most people have already forgotten what they promised themselves. And there’s something about the rebellion of improving my life on my own timeline that appeals to me.

So take your sweet time. One month of unhurried preparation, habit forming, and tapping into what you really want, will set you up for eleven months of sustained energy and focus better than a first-of-January outburst ever will.

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🥴 Stop overloading your brain

If there’s one thing that reliably derails any good intention, it’s overwhelm.

• The thoughts that pop up while brushing your teeth.

• The idea that arrives mid-conversation.

• The reminder that appears just as you’re about to fall asleep.

You feel the urge to write that down – but it ends up on the back of an envelope, buried in Notes, or lost to the abyss of “I’ll remember this later.” (You won’t).

Over time, those loose ends pile up as low-level background stress. Your brain keeps nudging you because it doesn’t trust that anything important is being looked after.

Feeling organized has very little to do with color-coded systems or perfect plans. It’s basically all about trust. And your brain loves to trust a single source of truth.

So pick one place to park those thoughts. And use it every day.

It can be anywhere. A single notepad will do. As you’ll know, for me, it’s Todoist. And even more so now that we’ve released the feature, Ramble. Speaking messy thoughts and watching Ramble magically transform them into tasks is the catharsis I didn’t know I needed.

I recently posted an impromptu video on LinkedIn of how I use it to plan the weekend’s meals; it’s a kinda show-don’t-tell feature.

Just pick one place to offload your mental chatter, that’s the takeaway. And stick with it. Once you start to trust that system, you’ll reach a greater level of peace.

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☕ Make time to plan (and make it enjoyable)

Getting things out of your head is only half the story. No matter where you put them, if they stay there untouched, they get stagnant and weigh you down.

This is where planning comes in. And yes, I’m talking about the weekly review/reset. Again.

I know you might see this as boring, but trust me: If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my almost 40 years on this planet, the boring, repetitive stuff is where the compounding magic is.

For me, a weekly reset is a slightly indulgent time. A cup of something delicious. A bit of space. A chance to look at what’s coming up and deliberately decide what to do about it.

A weekly reset keeps your task list fresh. Without it, you run the risk of stagnation, but we want that list to flow. It’s the habit that transforms you into the colleague who submits the document two days early, or the parent in the group chat who reminds everyone else it’s silly hair day on Wednesday.

It’s about being proactive about your time, instead of reactive.

A weekly reset gives you 52 fresh starts a year. Imagine what you could achieve with that level of intention.

If you want to know more about what’s involved in my own weekly reset, I’ve made a video about that on Todoist’s YouTube channel.

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🎨 You don’t need to change your life to change your life

Last year, I often fell into a trap I know many of you will recognize.

I kept waiting for the perfect conditions to make progress. Long, uninterrupted afternoons. Clear desks. Empty houses. Big, sprawling stretches of time where I could finally get into it.

They rarely arrived.

What did happen were micro-moments. Ten minutes here. Twenty minutes there. Small pockets of time that I dismissed as “not enough” until I started using them.

• I learned a new painting technique in 10 minutes.

• I fixed a broken kitchen shelf in 20.

• I taught myself the basics of “Carol of the Bells” on piano while a sticky toffee pudding cooked in the oven.

Many things don’t take as long as we think they do. And most progress doesn’t require a life overhaul, just a willingness to start where you are, imperfect conditions and all.

So the next time you find yourself with a little pocket of free time, take a micro-moment to do something you’ll feel smug about later. It does wonders for your self-esteem.

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To recap:

• Plan your year throughout January

• Pick one place to get everything out of your head

• Plan your time weekly

• Take advantage of micro-moments

Implement one or all of these, and I have faith that you can tackle anything (both cheerful and challenging) this year throws your way.

"Little by little, a little becomes a lot."

Tanzanian proverb

💡 Todoist Tip

According to last month’s reader survey (thank you for your kind responses 🫶), you want us to continue with the chatty nature of the newsletters, and you’d like me to bolt on a tip on how to get the most out of your Todoist.

Your wish is my command; 🧞‍♀️ consider this a new recurring section.

Want to get faster at navigating your Todoist from a keyboard? There’s an expanding variety of keyboard shortcuts on the Todoist desktop apps. Open any project or view in Todoist, then select ? on macOS, web, and Windows to see the full list.

Technically, ? is the shortcut to learn the rest of the shortcuts. 😏 A handy one to have in your back pocket.

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And just like that, a new year begins.

I’d insert an inspirational parting message, but really, only you know what you want to get out of your 2026.

And we’re cheering you on.

Naomi (🙋‍♀️ real human) and the Todoist team

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