Successful goal achievement in 2026 and beyond

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

– Michelangelo

We are still at the beginning of 2026, and regardless, the topic of goal-setting and achievement is timeless. It is an age-old concept, yet we often neglect it or pursue it in a manner that does not support us in achieving our full potential. To a large extent, we all know the goal-setting process, but in this edition, I will attempt to give you a couple of new perspectives via some pointers that should assist you in achieving more in 2026 and beyond, as an individual as well as the teams within which you operate, at home or at work.   

Pointer #1 – Without Motivation, you will achieve very little

I have shared with you before that we will find it very hard to achieve what we want to in life if we don’t have Motivation. Otherwise, our success in trying to achieve something will be short-lived. I would hate to waste your time and, if you don’t have the motivation, believing in the power of goal-setting and achievement, please stop reading this article… However, I believe that this would be a mistake and a lost opportunity.

“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.”

– Benjamin Franklin

During leadership coaching sessions with client organisations, I often get feedback from these coachees that they are not motivated to focus on their obvious areas of development that we should be focusing on. In such cases, we first need to work on addressing their motivation. Otherwise, we waste time and money in pursuing something they are not motivated to address as part of their development.  

Pointer #2 – Realise that New Year’s Resolutions don’t work

What happens when someone else lies to you? Well, you might agree that the obvious answer would be: “I would simply not trust that person anymore.” Previous studies have shown that roughly 80% of all New Year’s resolutions fail, which implies that four out of five times people make promises and don’t keep them, to the one person they cannot afford to lie to – themselves… How then do I trust myself and maintain that I am my own best friend if I effectively lie to myself in this way?

“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!”

– Joey Adams

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, I believe in a simple, structured process of goal-setting and achievement. This process starts with documenting your “Wheel of Life” and then converting your dreams for each of these key areas of your future life into documented goals, which you review and adjust frequently. Such a process, in my view, forms the backbone of creating the life that you would like to live.

Pointer #3 – Planning is key

“Success without planning is luck.”

– Mike Dennis

It all starts with realising how important it is to plan our lives. Otherwise, we will one day find that we have not achieved half of the things that we could have from this one life on earth that we have been blessed with. Personal planning is crucial because it provides clarity, direction, and a roadmap for success, reducing stress by defining goals and the steps to achieve them. Planning is the golden key to continuous learning for personal growth and better outcomes in life. It fosters a proactive mindset, holds us accountable, and aligns our actions with our long-term aspirations, making personal and career goals more attainable. 

Pointer #4 – Formal versus Informal

In my career as a leadership and leadership development consultant, I also come across many people who believe in the “back of a cigarette box” approach when it comes to the goal-setting process. It’s your life, and I cannot tell you what to do.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

– Tony Robbins

What I have realised, though, is that a more formalised process of documenting our goals and tracking their progress is more effective for several reasons… For a start, writing down what I want to achieve in the different areas of my life allows me to capture the details correctly, as opposed to walking around with a draft idea in my head that changes from day to day. It also assists me in frequently reviewing my goals and tracking my progress in a structured manner, knowing that what is top of mind are the things that we typically focus on.           

Pointer #5 – Apply SMARTER

“The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements.”

– James Clear

Most of us know that our goals should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. We often forget that they should also be Evaluated frequently, and Readjusted if needed. The goal-setting process is dynamic, taking into account that life happens, like we all experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as an example. Sometimes we need to make some adjustments, also regarding our planned achievement dates. As long as we stay the course…  

Pointer #6 – Achieve “through” the goal…

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

– Winston Churchill

I believe it’s important to achieve “through” the goals that we set. This might sound foreign to you, but I’ll explain… If my goal is to conquer Mount Everest, it cannot stop there. Otherwise, I’ll become part of the group of many climbers who succumbed on their way down to base camp, after reaching the summit. Therefore, I must achieve “through” the goal to get safely back home again. Explaining this in another way, as another example, is when I learn another language, and once I have mastered this new language, I stop practising to speak it and then lose it again. You would agree that this does not make sense. Again, it is important to achieve “through” the goal to cement it in our lives as being sustainably achieved.      

Pointer #7 – Make more time to reflect

Most of us make the mistake of not getting off the proverbial treadmill of life frequently enough. Even if your goals are set informally, I would suggest that we need to make enough time to get off that “hamster wheel” to reflect on where we are and where we are going. Making time to reflect enables us to apply the management function of Control in our careers or in our private capacities. As a result, we can then make tweaks to the way we do things to ensure that we are heading in the right direction to achieve what we set out to achieve in our lives…   

Pointer #8 – It’s a key part of our lifestyle

Setting goals and doing our best to achieve these is not a once-off process… It should be a key part of our lifestyle, a permanent feature. Think of a goal that relates to you getting a better body, mind and soul, which includes a better diet and more exercise. Now, imagine you only follow through on this new way of living for a month or two, and then fall back into your old habits and ways of doing things. What will happen? It’s simple, you will get the same results that you used to get, before setting these new goals. It makes me think of the famous quote from Thomas Jefferson that reads: “If you want something you never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done”.

“Your genetics load the gun. Your lifestyle pulls the trigger.”

– Mehmet Oz

Pointer #9 – Celebrate your successes

I believe that it’s important to reflect upon and celebrate our successes. Not in a boastful, arrogant manner, but in a manner where we pat ourselves on the back, recognising all our hard work in achieving what we did. This is part of what gives us the fuel to continue with this process of achieving what we want to achieve, and the confidence to take charge of achieving probably more than we ever thought was possible. In celebration of our successes, we don’t need to book a trip to some exotic island. We can simply celebrate by applying positive self-talk in saying to ourselves: “Well done! I am proud of you…” 

“The moment we begin to celebrate ourselves and focus on our successes is the moment we begin living.”

– Gabrielle Bernstein

I wish you all the best of success in achieving your goals in 2026 and beyond…

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Hekkie van der Westhuizen, PhD