Who Do You Want to Be More Like in 2026?

Hi everyone, 

As a coach, people expect me to give a lot of advice for how to best approach the new year. 

Whether it’s how to actually follow through on your resolutions or the optimal daily routine, there are a lot of general advice-givers out there.

The more difficult truth, which I find people don’t want to hear is this: people are different from one another.

We enter the year with different successes and failures from the previous year, different capacities, different communities we serve, and different needs—all of which make giving general new year’s advice (and writing an email like this) pretty difficult. 

The truth is: each of us needs to self-assess how best to approach the new year and then find listening, supportive community that can assist us in reaching our goals and seeing beyond their smallness. Which leads to this month’s (year’s?) reflection question:

Who are five people you want to be more like in 2026? 

This is a question I often ask early in my coaching sessions with new clients. I think it’s a good place to get started in asking what we want from life more generally. Looking to others can provide a powerful mirror for the types of lives we want to lead.

When reading the above question, who are the people that come to mind? How did you come to know about these people, and what about them stood out to you upon first encounter? Make a written list of these people and try to describe the qualities that draw you to them. 

My friend Leah recently remarked that we become more like the five people we spend the most time with. Putting ourselves in conscious relationship to these real and imagined communities is a powerful tool to dream forward a new year that we want.

Another recommendation I often give around this time of year is to set aside 30 minutes to do the Wheel of Life. You can get a free PDF of it here! This is a powerful tool for reflecting on parts of our lives where we might have unconscious dissatisfaction that leaks into other parts of our wellbeing.

If you want help with any of these tools/reflection exercises, we’re offering discounted coaching sessions for the entire month of January! Feel free to schedule a cost-free coaching consultation with me or someone else from the Sway Team.

As always, happy to be leading with you,

Ashlee