A guided thinking exercise for being more intentional in 2026
As I wind down my 2025, I do so knowing my intentions for the year were directionally clear — and consistently guiding.
Intentions and directional clarity did not dictate every decision or eliminate uncertainty. But they focused me. They helped amplify the signal — what mattered — above the noise.
They helped me stay aligned with my Purpose (helping to unleash human potential in others) through my individual and team coaching work, and through my broader leadership development efforts. (If you’re reading this and are a current or past client or partner, thank you for your trust and your time; both are gifts that enable me to do work I love.)
This intentionality, I can say with confidence, comes from my practice of reflecting and pre-flecting, which I am embarking on once again and I invite you to do the same.
The closing of a calendar year—and the opening of a new one—can serve as a powerful rest stop along your personal and professional development journey.
A place to:
Look back on the closing year with curiosity (not judgment)
Look forward across the coming year with intention (not pressure)
I find that some of my clients already have a ritual for this. For those who do not — and for anyone reading this post who does not — I am sharing my Reflecting & Pre-flecting tool.
You can access the tool here:
Reflecting & Pre-flecting: A Guided Thinking Exercise for Being More Intentional in 2026
It is designed to help you do two things:
Reflect on what the past year has shown you
Pre-flect on how you want the coming year to feel, look, and unfold
Importantly, this is not a goal-setting exercise. And it’s not about resolutions.
Instead, it’s a thinking framework—one within which goals and plans can later exist if and when you choose to create them.
The focus is on clarity before urgency.
Awareness before action.
Intention before execution.
In the tool, I share two supporting frameworks: ‘A Simple Change Model’ and ‘A Box Within A Box’.
The tool intentionally lives in the first two steps of this change model.
This second framework helps clarify where intentions live—and where misalignment often hides.
As you ready yourself for 2026—and whatever comes beyond it—I hope you do so with clarity of intention, whether derived from this tool or another practice you trust.
And if you want a thought partner—or an accountability partner—as you work through this reflection and pre-flection, I am here for you.
