This time of year is the exact reason I started writing The Superset 96 weeks ago.

Every December, people pull out notebooks and try to reverse-engineer the next 12 months with an extra strong cocktail of ambition and light delusion. “This is the year I finally…” (insert the same goal that was on last year’s list). Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do with steady weekly execution.

Many people also find themselves a few months into the year lacking the fulfillment they believed they would achieve by setting and accomplishing some very specific goals. It’s the reason so much of the foundation of this newsletter revolves around “holistic.” Life is much closer to a pie chart than a line graph. In order to feel “fulfilled”, we have to make sure we are optimizing for the right outcomes and considering all of the “slices” of said pie chart that collectively add up to our happiness.

You can lose all that weight, but if your work and relationships suffer, will you be happy? You can focus on personal and career development, but if your body takes a back seat, will you be happy?

As we approach the end of this calendar year, now is the time to start considering what you truly value and what you want to orient your ambitions around. The easiest way to do so is through reflection, and then turning that reflection into an actionable game plan.

Think of this week’s newsletter as a multi-step guide that will hopefully allow you to have some honest conversation with yourself about where you have previous fallen short with your new year ambitions, and to develop an actionable plan that focuses on the daily inputs that if executed on consistently, will ultimately result in what would have been that surface level goal you would have set in the past. And then on the back side, also some systems that will help you not make the same mistakes you have made in the past that derailed your progress.

By the end, my goal is that you’ll have a system you can actually run in 2026. Not a wish list, but a weekly commitment engine.

Let’s get it started -

Reflection isn’t about reliving the past, it’s about extracting data from it. One of my favorite quotes from Chris Williamson is “Life is self-referential. You learn the most about what to do next by studying what you already did.”

We often take it too easy on ourselves when we reflect on the past. We remember last year’s falling off the wagon as a plot on the graph. “I was doing great until February, then that work trip happened, and I let my diet slip, and I never recovered.” Instead of thinking even deeper into why such a short stint in the calendar completely derailed the rest of our year.

We need to get honest. Need to get granular. What is it about ourselves that consistently leads us to fall short of these large ambitions we feel so motivated to chase at the beginning of the year?

Rewind back to the intro above - when we orient ourselves around singular goals that don’t take our entire fulfillment bucket into account, we set ourselves up for failure from the start. With that in mind, below are a few reflection prompts across four life domains, each supported by some quotes and insights I have jotted down through the year.

“Your problems repeat themselves until you learn the lesson they’re trying to teach you.” - Mark Manson

“Your future is a lagging measure of your habits.” - Sahil Bloom

“You do not get what you want, only what you consistently tolerate.” - Hormozi

Presence is a skill. If our modern digital times prove anything, it’s that quality time only exists when you create the space for it.

Hormozi again: “Most people fail because they never do enough reps to get good enough to deserve the results they want.”

“New Year’s Goals” are often emotional theater. Goals don’t matter, standards do.

I could copy about 300 relevant quotes just from the Superset on the idea of systems over goals, but for you regular readers, you know the message and where we are headed for this 2026 framework.

You are missing your goals every year because you have not detailed down to the system that you need to take daily action on to ensure success. Goals are wishful thinking, systems are plans that if executed on, guarantee results.

So instead of writing aspirational outcomes, this year I want you to build weekly commitments - behaviors so clear that you cannot misunderstand whether you completed them. We can miss a day here and there, but if we optimize around having successful weeks, comprised of more good days than bad days, you will finally get that goal knocked down that has been on your list since COVID.

Weekly commitments create:

2026 isn’t measured in 365 days, it's measured in 52 weeks of execution. Below is how to outline that for yourself

This is the tactical heart of the guide. Below are four domains with rubric-style worksheets you can return to every week.

“What would a healthy person do today?”

“You don’t need a perfect routine—just a stable one.” - Andrew Huberman

“When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable - if there are no consequences - that poor performance becomes the new standard.”

“I show up for the people I love.”

“Your attention is the most valuable gift you can give anyone.”

“I am a professional who takes consistent reps.”

The person who does the most reps wins.”

Below is a unified accountability framework you can copy into your journal.

Rate each domain based on commitments completed:

List 3 specific actions you are proud of:
1.
2.
3.

What patterns emerged? What needs adjustment?

What is the single highest-value action for next week?

Here’s the contract you make with yourself:

I do not chase goals. I build systems.
I do not wait for motivation. I rely on commitments.
I do not hope for change. I prove it through weekly action.
I do not measure perfection. I measure consistency.
I do not predict the future. I create it through repetition.

You don’t need more ambition, you need more evidence. Your weekly commitments are that evidence.

This entire guide is designed to be revisited weekly.
Print it. Screenshot it. Save it. Live it.

Your life is built in seven-day blocks. Build enough good weeks, and the year takes care of itself.