Three Questions High Achievers Should Ask Before Setting 2026 Goals

You're going to set too many goals.

I know this because I've worked with hundreds of high achievers, and the pattern is predictable. You'll look at 2025, identify everything that didn't go perfectly, and commit to fixing it all simultaneously in 2026.

You'll tell yourself this time will be different. You'll be more disciplined. You'll manage your time better. You'll finally figure out how to optimize everything at once.

You won't. Not because you lack discipline, but because you're approaching goal-setting like you're building a to-do list instead of building the version of yourself who achieves the outcome.

Here are three questions that will help you set goals that actually stick.

Question 1: What Gets Sacrificed When This Gets Hard?

Most people set goals based on their best-case scenario. They imagine the version of themselves who has unlimited time, perfect circumstances, and no competing priorities.

Then December rolls around, their toddler gets sick, work explodes, and suddenly that nutrition plan they committed to becomes "I'll just get back on track next week." Except next week brings its own chaos.

The question isn't whether things will get hard. The question is what you're willing to sacrifice when they do.

If your goal is to add two training sessions per week, what gives? Are you taking time from family dinners? Morning coffee with your partner? The extra hour of sleep you barely get now?

Be honest about the trade-offs. Not hypothetically honest, actually honest. Look at your calendar right now and identify what you need to remove to make room for this goal.

If you can't answer this question clearly, you're not ready to commit to the goal. You're just adding another item to a list you'll feel guilty about when life gets messy.

Question 2: What Does Success Require Me to Become?

This is where most goal-setting frameworks fall apart. They focus on what you'll do instead of who you'll need to be.

Let's say your goal is to lose 20 pounds in 2026. The real question isn't "what diet will I follow?" The real question is: are you willing to become the person who makes different food choices when stressed, tired, or celebrating?

Because that's what this actually requires. Not 12 weeks of perfect execution. A fundamental shift in how you make decisions when your default patterns want to take over.

I've watched clients set ambitious physique goals while refusing to become the person who plans meals on Sunday, who says no to impromptu happy hours, who eats the same breakfast six days a week because it works.

They want the outcome without the identity shift. It doesn't work that way.

Every goal demands a version of yourself that doesn't exist yet. The question is whether you're willing to become that person, or whether you'd rather stay comfortable in your current identity and just feel guilty about not achieving the goal.

Question 3: If I Could Only Pursue One Goal This Year, which would create the Most Leverage?

Here's what I see constantly: high achievers trying to simultaneously build their business, transform their physique, improve their marriage, be present parents, maintain their strength, and optimize their sleep.

They think the answer is better time management. It's not. The answer is strategic sequencing.

Some goals create leverage for others. Some goals actively compete with each other. Your job is to identify which goal, if achieved, makes everything else easier.

For many of my clients, it's not the physique transformation. It's learning to make decisions aligned with their values under pressure. That skill transfers everywhere. Once they master it in the gym, it shows up in their business, their relationships, and their parenting.

For others, it's building the systems that support consistency regardless of circumstance. Master that, and every other goal becomes achievable.

The point isn't to only set one goal. The fact is to identify which goal gets primary focus, what success looks like for that goal, and what gets deliberately deprioritized while you build it.

You can't optimize everything simultaneously. Trying to do so is why you're reading this article instead of already having achieved last year's goals.

Setting Goals That Survive Reality

Most goal-setting advice assumes you need more motivation or better planning. You don't. You need clarity on what you're actually committing to and what version of yourself you're agreeing to become.

Before you write down your 2026 goals, answer these three questions honestly. Not aspirationally. Not based on who you wish you were. Based on who you are right now and who you're genuinely willing to become.

The goals that survive this filter are the ones worth pursuing. Everything else is just noise that will make you feel productive in January and guilty in June.

Reflection prompts:

What goal did you set for 2025 that you didn't achieve? What would have had to change about who you are, not what you did, for that goal to succeed?

If you could only focus on one area of growth in 2026, which one creates the most impact across everything else you care about?

Paul Oneid

Founder, Head Coach

Master Athletic Performance