My 2026 Goals
Since 2018, I’ve been sharing my biggest goals online.
There’s so many incredible stories from people talking about their goals after they were achieved, but so few stories of the process. I like sharing the process because it’s the best bit!
My Goal Setting Philosophy
There are two kinds of goals:
Impossible Goals: goals you don’t know how to do yet. They require strategic thinking, trial and error, problem solving and relentless resourcefulness. E.g. starting a brand new business
Inevitable Goals: goals you know how to do, you just need to commit and do them. E.g. going to the gym 3x a week.
After over 15 years of studying and teaching goal achievement, I discovered the most effective method is to set only one impossible goal at a time, but as many inevitable goals as you wish, provided you have the energy and time to commit to them.
If you have more than one impossible goal you want to pursue, I recommend you start with the one you will create momentum with the fastest.
The best way to ensure you hit your goals is to create what I call a Structural Lock-In. These are conditions that make it extremely hard to back out. Because you get what you want when quitting becomes harder than continuing.
Examples of Structural Lock-Ins include:
Sharing your goal publicly (this blog post is an example of this!)
Getting a coach (e.g. my in membership, Get It Done).
Organising an accountability partner
Signing up for courses, programs or exams
Making official bookings for venues, locations or dates
Setting up payment plans or automatic transfers
I like to ask myself:
What door am I leaving open that should be closed Where am I giving myself options I need to remove?
So without further ado, here are my 2026 goals:
My 2026 Impossible Goal
Create USD $1,000,000 in my business
Why: My mission is to normalise doing impossible things. Money is one way to measure how much I’m fulfilling that mission. I’m very careful not to say “it’s not about the money” because money often gets demonised for no reason. (It’s okay to be in it just for the money. But for me, the money alone doesn’t drive me. I don’t want to win a million dollars. I’ll miss out on the fun of making it).
Structural Lock-In: I am about to sign a contract with an ads agency that will help me reach 10x more people each month. We will have weekly meetings to go over the numbers, figure out what needs to change, and try again. I’ll be investing significantly more into ads that I ever have, so in the best way, there’s a lot on the line (that’s the whole point of a structural lock-in!)
My 2026 Inevitable Goals
Personal
Compete in a salsa dancing competition
Why: Last year my goal was to perform, which I did multiple times, and this year I want to challenge myself to actually compete. I’ve been doing salsa for about 3 years, but I’ve been a dancer in many other styles since I was a small kid. I think dancing is up there as one of the best things life has to offer.
Structural Lock-In: Sign up for a competition team.
Choreograph a team dance and perform it on stage together
Why: In high school and university, I used to have a part time job as a tap and hip hop teacher, and I really miss the creative process of choreography. When I hear music, dances often form in my head, so I think it will be super fun to do that again with a group.
Structural Lock-In: Commit to one of the stage shows that my dance school hosts.
Lift weights 3x a week, every week (exception: if I’m genuinely unwell)
Why: In 2025 I had a fantastic personal trainer who helped me develop the skills and belief needed weight lift (I used to be so intimidated at the gym). Sadly she moved cities, and since then I’ve been lifting on my own, but I haven’t been as consistent as I want to be (a trainer is a fantastic Structural Lock-In!).
Structural Lock-In: Yesterday I hired my own coach to help me stay on track. She is in Japan, so she isn’t going to be training me at the gym, but each week I’ll be reporting what I did, and she will deliver creating graphs and reports. We met for the first time last night and the accountability is already working!
Host an incredible Airbnb weekend for my 30th birthday
Why: Some of my most favourite memories in my whole life have been weekends away with friends or family, where everyone is together for several days and no one has any outside commitments. There’s a level of relaxation, deeper connection and fun that happens. My 26th birthday was an Airbnb with 10 friends in the middle of nowhere, and it was incredible. So that’s how I want to celebrate completing my 3rd decade on earth.
Structural Lock-In: Book the Airbnb 6 months ahead of time so everyone is available and we get a great place.
Go to New Zealand at least twice to visit my sister and family
Why: This year, I left it waaay too long. It had been 9 months and I missed my sister so much. It occurred to me that just because we live in different countries, we still get to control how much we see each other.
Structural Lock-In: Book the flights in advance.
Contribution
Formally mentor a young person through a volunteer youth mentoring program
Why: I want to offer skills I have, rather than just volunteering my time. I absolutely love coaching, and I can only imagine what an impact it would make to have these kinds of tools at as a teenager, especially if you come from a more challenging background or don’t have adults in your life that you can talk with.
Structural Lock-In: I know the organisation, I just need to email them to start the process of getting matched with someone.
Donate at least 2% of my income every month
Why: Everybody has a different reason for giving, but mine is the specific causes I deeply care about, particularly human rights and animal rights. In 2025 exceeded my goal to donate at least 1%, so this year, I want to double it and ideally exceed it too. 2% might not seem like a lot, but it ensures no matter what my financial situation that month is, I never have to cut back on giving.
Structural Lock-In: I have charities that I support on a monthly ongoing basis who direct debit my account monthly. It includes a mix of registered organisations for girls education, a women’s shelter, carbon footprint offsetting, an emergency medical team, and an animal rights group. I’m planning to add an anti-trafficking organisation to the list, because I met the incredible founder and one of the young girls they rescued, at Tony Robbins’ Date with Destiny event in Florida a few weeks ago. I have also made a task on my weekly reset to increase the amount of my monthly donations as my income increases.
Finance
Save 15% of my income for retirement each month
Why: Last year I only saved 3%, and I’m certain that was because saving for retirement right now felt “optional” in my mind. But I’m sure my future self who wants to retire doesn’t see it as optional! Many years ago, I learned from Dave Ramsey that the ideal is to save 15% of your paycheque for retirement. As a business owner, I don’t receive employer contributions so I want to make sure I’m setting myself up properly.
Structural Lock-In: I already set up an automatic transfer from my account to a retirement savings account each week. Because my income each week/month isn’t fixed, I made a note to top up the account if I earn more than I expected and 15% of my income is actually higher.
Invest AUD $50,000 to add to our house deposit fund
Why: My partner and I would like to buy a house in the near future. I may end up saving more than $50k, but I also want to invest a significant portion of my business revenue back into my business, so that’s why even though my revenue goal is much higher than that, I want to set the goal at $50k.
Structural Lock-In: I have already set up an automatic transfer of $1000 a week to a house deposit fund. It’s possible that early in the year while I’m aggressively investing into ads for my business I won’t be able to save the full $1000 every week, and I’ll need to use an increasing scale as the year goes on. But my intention is to start like I mean to go on!
Restock my emergency fund back to a full 6 months of living expenses
Why: For many years, I’ve had a full 6 months of expenses available on hand, at any time (and it’s saved me in emergencies, several times!). However, because last year we moved from Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia (the second most expensive city in the world), my living expenses have increased, so the size of the emergency fund also needs to increase. I also used some of it for unexpected expenses during the move, so I want to save that back.
Structural Lock-In: I divided the total amount I need to save by 52 weeks, and set up an automatic transfer to the account.
That’s what I’ve got for 2026. I can’t wait to update you throughout the year!
