What You Should Nix in 2026

Do you like my play on words there? I’m definitely going to make this a tradition with New Year blogs (look back, the one last year was “How to Thrive is 2025” 😆). But they literally just come to me. 

So, what should you nix? Meaning, what should you kick out, get rid of, or maybe more so, who should you kick out of your life? Yes, we’re starting this year with getting into the deep end. Let’s start with the easy stuff, what should we nix? Come on, we all know. We should nix smoking (or sneaking) cigs, spending beyond our means, doom scrolling, eating fried foods every day, sugary coffee drinks. That’s just one side of the coin. We should also nix, feeling shame everyday, letting others walk all over us, caring more about what others think than ourselves, putting ourselves last. Now that your wheels are turning, make a list of all of the things you want to nix. All of them. No matter how big or small. List all of the materials, foods, emotions, mental issues, anything you want to get rid of. It’s ok whether it’s short or small. It will really help to actually write them all out. The more you write, the more comes to mind. Keep writing until they’re all out. Until it’s all out in the open. 

Here’s mine: 

• Eating processed sugar

• Doom scrolling in the evenings 

• Eating fast food 

• Eating fried foods 

• Caring what others think 

• Feeling lonely 

• Feeling overwhelmed 

• Ice cream (I’m specifically naming this one because it’s a biggie for me) 

• Watching several hours of TV 

Now, pick the one that would change your life the most if you nixed it. This might take some thinking or you may know right away. Remember, this is for 2026. Realistically we can’t tackle a whole list of big things in one year. It’s best to only handle one, and think about it, which would make you more proud of yourself achieving one goal or making 30% progress on 10 goals? The big one for me, would be caring what others think. Only once I really dug deep into it did I realize how much I adjusted my life based on my presumed assumptions of how it could make others feel. We can dive into that together another time. Right now, just pick  one. The big one. That one that will make the most change for you (for the good). 

Now, let’s create a game plan. I LOVE game plans. Because this is the time to brainstorm, realistically think through the options, then create actionable steps (which can also be baby steps!). The first step with creating a game plan is to brainstorm. Think about where you want to end. Don’t forget to be specific! We’ll use mine as an example (caring what others think if you didn’t remember or want to scroll back 😉). 

Step 1: Where do I want to be at the end. 

I want to choose what to wear without giving one thought about how others may perceive me, or if they’ll feel bad. I want to feel confident and happy with my choices, knowing that if I do end up making someone upset I can apologize if I feel it’s the right thing to do, not just to make them happy. I want to feel free when making decisions about anything, where to go for dinner (instead of trying to guess where my partner wants to go and what he will like), what to watch on TV, what to wear to work, if I go car shopping what car I want to buy, hopefully you can see my picture. I want to make choices all on my own, without the added feelings of anxiety or nervousness from what others may think or say (to my face or behind my back). 

Step 2: Create the Goal 

Using how you want to feel and how you want our life to be from step 1, use that to create a specific goal for yourself. Here’s mine: 

I do what’s best for myself, my family, and my business no matter what. 

After taking some time digging deep and really thinking about it, my desire of wanting to do what others want (or more realistically what I assumed they wanted of me) stemmed from not wanting to get “in trouble”, yelled at, or have someone be disappointed in me. Because when that happens, it makes me feel that I did something wrong and I need to correct it to be a “good person”. What an awful way to judge your actions and adjust how you live your life. So, by not caring what others think, I can freely and confidently choose what I think is best in any and all circumstances of my life. We don’t make decisions that we know will harm us, we make decisions based on living our lives better (whether that be long term or in the moment). The part of my goal “no matter what” is for if someone does yell at me, or I “get in trouble”, or someone is disappointed in me. If I’m truly doing the best that I think is right, I wouldn’t be purposefully hurting someone else or breaking the law. I know, big/maybe too long explanation for a simple goal, but I wanted to give the whole picture! 

Step 3: Create Actionable Steps 

Ok, so going off of my example goal “I do what’s best for myself, my family, and my business no matter what.” and trying to create actional steps, think “how can I get there?”. Well my goal specifically, is changing a belief I have. One great way to do that is to write affirmations that support that goal. This goal is actually one of my affirmations! Other examples of affirmations that could work are: 

• I am awesome 

• I don’t care what anyone else thinks about myself, my family, or my business 

• Making mistakes increases my knowledge and skills 

• When someone is upset with me it only affects me if I allow it to 

Other action steps include stepping out of your comfort zone to prove to yourself these things are true. Start small, such as actually choosing your favorite restaurant for dinner (whether or not your partner likes the food). It’s also good to think of backup plans, so you don’t fall apart when questioned or given push back. Given our dinner example a back up plan could be: you both get take out from different places and eat at home (my husband and I do this sometimes!) or offer to eat at your partner's favorite restaurant next week. The back up plan could even be what to say if you get push back, which could be something like, “I would really appreciate it if we could eat at (name of restaurant) tonight because it’s my favorite and it would mean a lot to me if you were willing to make it work”. Then, if you get more push back or a huge outburst, there is definitely something bigger going on there, because simply choosing where to eat shouldn’t be an issue. 

When you’ve done a few small steps in the direction you want to go in, go for bigger things! Back to my example, if I care about what others think I probably don’t want to embarrass myself in front of them do I? So, the next level could be going rock climbing (as in doing something I’ve never done before and suck at in front of others (to prove to myself no one cares about how I am doing)), singing karaoke at a bar, going to a bar, wearing a funny hat in public, eating at a restaurant by myself when it’s busy. Think of things that will push you a little more out of your comfort zone! 

Now keep upping the ante until you get to the point you want to be at! Easier said than done, but you can do it. Write down your goal at least 5 days/week and your affirmations! You’ll be so surprised what your brain does when you tell it what to believe. 

Stay strong, you got this!