Two “To-Don’t” Ideas for 2026

Many of us have made our new year’s resolutions—and some of those resolutions have already been broken. Whether you like resolutions or not, I recently came across a few simple suggestions that are helping me calibrate how I approach 2026.

WPG partner Tara Weintritt shared a video posted by author Daniel Pink on using structure, not motivation, to set yourself up for success as you approach the new year. It details a series of helpful strategies for building momentum and meeting your goals in the new year and beyond.

Two of his suggestions stand out for me. They involve quickly assessing what is not working in our lives and taking steps to change them. They are simple but potentially very effective at keeping us from significant disappointments in 2026:

1. Conduct a Regret Review: Spend 10 minutes thinking about one big regret from 2025. Write it down. Then write out both the lessons you learned and what you will do in January to prevent that regret from happening again.
2. Write Out a To-Don’t List: At the end of every quarter, create a short list of things you think you should stop doing. Ask yourself: What’s not worth my time? What is not benefiting me? Remove those actions from your busy life in the next quarter.

While adopting new practices can be valuable at the start of a new year, assessing what we should stop doing is often just as important.