116. Stop Starting Over: The Simple 2026 Goal System

If you have ever set a goal you truly cared about... only to watch yourself slowly drift away from it, this episode is for you. 

In today’s episode, Dr. Stacy breaks down why most goals fail — and it has nothing to do with motivation or discipline. The real problem? We set big goals without anchoring them to identity, we expect perfection, and we plan for an ideal life that does not actually exist.

This episode walks you through a simple, repeatable goal system designed for real life — busy schedules, low-energy days, emotional weeks, and a brain that does not love change.

You will learn:

• Why motivation is not the missing ingredient (and what actually is)
• How to set goals based on who you are becoming — not who you think you “should” be
• Why big goals need tiny, realistic steps to actually work
• How to make your goals specific, measurable, and doable
  The most common obstacles that derail goals (time, energy, emotions, and your brain)
• How to plan for obstacles using the “When X happens, I will do Y” framework
• Why “bare minimum” plans are the secret to consistency
• How to check in, adjust, and keep going — without all-or-nothing thinking

This is not about perfection.
This is not about willpower.
And it is definitely not about starting over every Monday.

It is about building identity-based goals, planning for real life, and creating habits that actually stick — all the way through 2026.

🎯 Ready to stop starting over?
Join Baseline Habits Kickstart 2026, where we turn these concepts into daily, doable habits with real support, coaching, and simple plans that fit your life.

👉 Learn more and join here: www.sugarfreemd.com/kickstart2026

If this episode helped you, share it with a friend who is tired of restarting — and make 2026 the year you finally follow through.

Free 2-Pound Plan Call!
Want to jump start your weight loss? Schedule a free call where Dr. Stacy Heimburger will work with you to create a personalized plan to lose 2 pounds in one week, factoring in your unique circumstances, challenges, and aspirations. Schedule now! www.sugarfreemd.com/2pound

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Today is the day. I am going to walk you through the goal setting and goal execution process that will guarantee success for 2026. So listen to that again. I am going to walk you through the exact steps that you will need to absolutely guarantee success for whatever goal you set for 2026. So if you are ready, let’s go.

First of all, what I want to tell you is that most people do not fail because of motivation. It is this expecting perfectionism, a little bit of what we talked about last time. We have not set a foundation for the tasks that we want to execute. So we have not established our identity to anchor our habit change. We expect perfectionism, and then we underestimate our obstacles. So we underestimate what we can achieve over the entire year, we overestimate what we can do in the short time, and we underestimate our obstacles and overestimate our willpower, honestly.

So if you have ever set a goal that you have truly cared about and then watched yourself kind of slowly drift away from it, this episode is for you. Good intentions and big dreams are all there. We want big dreams. We want big goals. So I am not at all saying we should not have big goals. They should be audacious. They should be mind blowing.

Why? Because that is what motivates us and pulls us forward and gives us a why. But without a big goal, these habits are not anchored. Without this identity of who we are becoming, they are not anchored. And so our effort can feel super random.

So what we need is a big goal. Hopefully we have done a little bit of the work from last week. If not, what we talked about last week was that we need to set an identity. Our habits will always fall back to our identity. Meaning if I think I am someone who does not follow through, no matter what goal I set, I am going to fall back to not following through.

So I have to set a new identity of I am somebody who is becoming whatever. I am somebody who does this. I am somebody who exercises regularly. I am someone who eats from the rainbow. I am somebody who follows through. I am somebody who does what they say they are going to do.

Then from that place, I can pick my goal and pick my actions because they are anchored in this new identity. So if I am someone who exercises regularly, I am someone who enjoys moving my body, I can pick exercise goals that match that.

So if I am somebody who likes to move my body and I want to do something for 2026, then I can set a goal of walking for 2026.

As a real-life example, I will tell you, because I will probably bring this example up a couple of times during this episode, my brain, because I do want to do better and be that person who very easily exercises every day, started thinking about what I could do for 2026. That is going to be one of my identity goals, to become this person who regularly exercises, does not think twice about it, makes it a priority, all of those things.

So I was thinking, what could I do for 2026? And my brain had this twinkling idea of maybe I should walk a marathon for 2026. Not run. Walk. Twenty-six miles, 2026. I love alliteration and phonetic beauty. You remember this from my No Buy 25.

So I thought that would be really fun for 2026, but my brain had a lot of resistance to it. And it was not the idea of doing it, it was the obstacles. When I started thinking about the steps and the obstacles, I was really concerned that I would not have the time to commit to longer training.

So I picked the goal, and then I picked the tiny steps. Big goal, tiny steps. Big goal, walk a marathon in 2026. Tiny steps, I am not going to do that in January. I want to give myself the entire year.

So the first thing I did was see if there were walking-friendly marathons. Are there marathons where walkers are welcome? I did some research. Are there walking-friendly marathons in December? And yes, there are a few.

Then I asked ChatGPT what a training calendar would look like. And then I started thinking about obstacles. What does that training calendar look like if I can only commit to one really long walk a month? I cannot do an eight-hour training walk every Saturday. That is just not life.

So this is where obstacle planning comes in. I asked what it would look like if I could only do a few shorter walks during the week and one longer one per month. It said it was possible, because ChatGPT is the best cheerleader besides myself. But my brain was still resisting.

And I realized the resistance was because I could not see a clear way around the obstacles. Life happens. And I know that with how busy life has been, especially from October through January, committing to eight-hour training walks did not feel realistic.

So knowing all of that, and knowing that I still want this identity, I asked myself what else I could do. What I settled on was walking 26 miles a month. My brain has no resistance to that. That is less than a mile a day. Even if I had a bad week, it is doable.

Even if I did it all on Saturdays, that is five or six miles. So it is still a big goal, but it is broken into tiny steps.

Big goals fail when they are vague. “Walk more” does not work. I wanted something very specific. And I love tying it to identity. I am becoming someone who exercises regularly. With that in mind, my goal is to walk 26 miles a month.

At the end of every month, I can measure it. My watch tracks it. My phone tracks it. Very easy.

Then I break it into tiny actions. About six miles a week. I look at my schedule. On the days I work from home, I can walk three miles. Or I can do two, two, and two. I plan it out.

Tiny, doable actions. I am not overestimating what I can do daily, and I am not underestimating what I can do over a year.

The next step, and this is the missing skill, is anticipating obstacles. We plan for perfect, but life is not perfect.

The three biggest obstacles are time, energy, and emotions.

Time is finite. There are busy days, travel, work, kids, life. Energy matters too. Some days you are just tired. I was sick around Thanksgiving and could not get out of bed for days. Plans need to account for that.

Emotions matter. Some days you are stressed or frustrated or just not feeling it.

And then there is the sneaky obstacle of your brain. Your brain does not like change. It will say things like “I will start Monday,” “I already blew it,” or “what is the point.” This is predictable.

So we plan around it.

That is why I do not like “every single day” goals. I like “more days than not.” If it is food, maybe it is one meal a day instead of all three. When habits get easier, we can add more.

We have 12 months. This does not need to happen today.

A helpful framework is “When X happens, I will do Y.” When it rains, I stretch. When I miss a walk, I do something else. When I miss vegetables one day, I add them the next.

Decision moments are not our friend. Planning ahead is.

We also need bare minimums. If I cannot walk, I stretch. I still remind my body that it is meant to move.

Expect resistance. That does not mean anything has gone wrong. Your brain is creating a new pattern and that takes energy.

Talk to your brain with curiosity, not judgment. “That is interesting. My brain does not want to do this.” Normalize it. Reassure it. And then stick to your baseline.

So let’s recap.

Big goals matter. Set them. Make them identity-based. Make them specific and measurable. Break them into tiny, easy steps. If your brain freaks out, make it smaller.

Anticipate obstacles. Make a plan. When X happens, I will do Y.

Check in monthly. This is not pass fail. Be curious. Adjust. You can always do more later.

If you do these things, you will reach your goal by December 2026. I promise.

If you have not joined Kickstart 2026, it is not too late. The bonus coaches are amazing. We talk about baseline habits, identity, finances, organizing, all of it. It is $26 for 26 days, with access for the entire year.

Go to www.sugarfreemd.com/kickstart2026

Bring a friend. It is going to be so good.

I will talk to you next week. Bye.