5 Insights To Help You Focus And Achieve Your Health Resolutions In 2026

Happy almost new year!

This is a perfect time to sit with your favorite notebook and a pen, scroll through your photos from 2025, look back at your calendar, and take inventory.

What were some highlights?

What were some lowlights?

What areas of your health and life need the most attention this year?

You don’t need to wait for New Year’s Resolution to get started on your health, but I like to start any time the inspiration strikes.

The challenge with New Year’s Resolutions is that there’s a lot of excitement and hope only for that energy to fizzle out by the end of January.

I don’t think it has to do with any of us being lazy or lacking ambition, but rather failing to fuel that spark and keep that energy focused.

I’ve experienced the pain of looking back at a list of good intentions for the year only to have made little or no progress on some of them.

I’m not immune to starting things and moving on to something else, but I want to share a few key lessons from the fields of behavioral psychology and personal experimentation that have helped me build some steadfast health habits over the last decade.

Here are a five insights that have helped me stay on track over the years:

1. Identity is the missing link to consistency

2. It’s always harder to get healthy again than maintaining health

3. A little bit today is exponentially better than zero

4. Actions and attention have to match intentions for them to become real

5. Health is an Infinite Game that does not end

Identity Is The Missing Link To Consistency

The ironic thing about writing about New Year’s Resolutions and health goals is that those who have already engrained the behaviors into their lives that others strive for don’t have to think about making those resolutions.

Identity dictates behavior.

These people are already living it and doing it because it is who they are or have become.

"I am" are two of the most powerful words in human psychology.

What follows "I am" implies a lot of your conscious and subconscious beliefs and values.

Robert Cialdini in his often cited book, Influence, writes about the six key psychological triggers of human behavior and persuasion.

One of the most powerful ways to influence others and ourselves is by tapping into our need for consistency.

What we hold as our identity (identities) will steer our decisions and behavior to align with this identity.

We were at a holiday dinner with our yoga instructor and fellow classmates who we met through this class. Some we have known for years and others for months.

I was curious and asked a couple of them if they had New Year’s Resolutions.

"No, not really. I just keep going."

And it’s not because they aren’t aiming for health or self-improvement—they already made that decision a long time ago.

Our instructor shows up week after week and class after class with new playlists and routines. Before that, he went through his own transformation and hasn’t stopped going.

Another friend, a retired firefighter, golfs multiple times per week, goes to Zumba, and has added yoga to his routine. It is all part of his intention to be able to stay active and fit for the rest of his life.

For my wife and I, exercise and movement is now way of life. It’s as habitual as eating and showering. Even while we traveled for the holidays, we bought a two-week pass to a local Lagree studio to stay active.

What follows "I am" will dictate behavior.

"I am a healthy person" usually leads to one making healthier daily choices.

"I am a fun-loving foodie" usually leads to another set of choices.

"I am a kind and caring person" will usually lead to acting in such a way when the opportunity arises.

Human nature is complex, which makes how we view our identity complex.

However, just starting to be aware that identity is a big driver of behavior, we can start to change the story we tell ourselves.

You are already living and doing things based on your identity, and you can start to shape it into a new identity if the old one no longer fits where you want to go.

Ask yourself: Who do I want to become in 2026?

Doing A Little Bit TODAY Is Better Than Doing Nothing

You might already have some innate drive in one or more areas of your life, but for other areas you want to improve, that same dedication and discipline might be lacking.

My simple mantra to solve this: get off zero.

There are two concepts that help us get off of zero.

In chemistry, there is the concept of a catalyst. A catalyst triggers a reaction to occur. The beauty of a catalyst is that lowers the amount of energy required to get the reaction to move forward.

In Japanese, there is a term satori.

If we want to change, the key is to focus on what catalyzes us and also gives us a feeling of satori.

We all need a catalyst to shake us out of complacency. Sometimes the catalyst is what forces us to re-evaluate our own identity and what is actually important.

For example, one of my intentions in 2023 was to start playing tennis again. It was decades where I kept telling myself I love tennis, but would only play once or twice a year.

I remembered realizing that my 40th birthday was approaching, and I might not have many more decades of peak physical ability, as much as I am working to keep it up as long as possible!

This created an urgency to get started.

First, I searched for and joined a local tennis club. Then I started doing group classes. Then I took the plunge back into playing matches in recreational club and USTA leagues. I also started working with a coach again.

It was not all smooth sailing.

I lost a lot of matches in the beginning, and it brought up the "fear-of-losing demons" from my teenage years that sabotaged a lot of my matches. And taking tennis lessons forced me to face my deficiencies and look stupid as I tried new things.

All of this was physically painful and mentally challenging and required investment of time, attention, and money.

It has been hard to get back to a level where tennis that I knew I could play. A lot of the challenge has been mentally being willing to endure failure and look silly.

At first, I wanted to "win more tennis matches" but if I only focused on my win-loss record, I would have probably quit.

My priority shifted to just show up. Get to the class. Get to the league matches. Get to the tennis lesson.

As I showed up consistently, I noticed I was more competitive in matches and started winning more often.

There were numerous opportunities to flake out or say I was too busy or tired. I even gave in once or twice to that little doubtful voice to avoid playing.

But once I built a regular rhythm and making new friends who would invite me to play, it became harder and harder to break the streak. I even began to enjoy the challenge of facing people better than me but seeing progress.

In the beginning of any desired behavior change or new habit, the most important thing to focus on is showing up and doing it.

Just know that the discomfort shows up as self-doubt, making excuses to flake out, and getting distracted. This is the normal temper tantrum our lizard brain throws whenever we try to introduce something new into our lives.

Set these feelings aside in a little imaginary box knowing that they will be there and that it is completely normal.

Make your primary objective to GET OFF zero and STAY off zero.

It Is Harder To Get Back In Shape Or Get Healthy Than To Maintain It In The First Place

Once you get off zero, your next goal is to maintain.

I remember a client seeing progress and feeling good asking me, "how long do I need to keep up this healthy eating plan?"

I asked him, "How long do you want to stay healthy?"

Plenty of people can do things for a few weeks, a few months, and even a few years.

But what will it take for you to continue something for a lifetime?

We stop doing certain behaviors because we either get complacent or allow other things to take priority. And very likely, we haven’t reached that identity set point where we are the type of person that just keeps doing it.

You have made a big step by just reaching the starting line.

Why not turn it into a snowball that can’t be stopped?

Stanford Behavior Professor BJ Fogg has shown this through research and book Tiny Habits.

The founders of Instagram were students in his class and have mastered the human psychological triggers that keep us on the platform.

Is it clear now why it is so hard to stop scrolling?

We can use the same principles to intentionally design our behaviors by embracing tiny habits.

BJ Fogg has a simple formula for behavior design:

B = MAP

Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Prompt

For example, I noticed my average resting heart rate rising during the COVID years.

Resting heart rate is a simple but important signal of cardiovascular health and fitness. So even a slight rise in resting heart rate by a couple milliseconds was alarming for me.

I wanted to see that resting heart rate go down, but it was confirmation of what I already was feeling. I was getting out of shape.

In order to do this, I knew I had to be a lot more consistent with my workouts and even raise the intensity when I did.

Here’s what it looked like in practice following the B = MAP model:

Behavior (I wanted): Move vigorously at least 5 times per week and take walks the other days.

Motivation: It was alarming to see my resting heart rate go up and feel myself getting out of shape.

Ability: I have a gym membership and tennis club membership. The gym has classes I can just show up to and the tennis club made it easier to play all year around. I can put on my EarthRunners and walk a pre-designated loop around the neighborhood.

Prompt: I pre-committed. I pre-commit to a daily at least a 5-minute talk (that often becomes longer). I pre-commit with my wife to go to our favorite FIRE HIIT/Yoga class on Monday and Wednesday at 5:45pm. I pre-commit by joining a Tuesday and Friday evening tennis league at the beginning of each quarter. I scheduled a weekly tennis lesson with a couple friends.

And on a daily basis, I set up prompts that reduce the friction.

My shoes or EarthRunners are by the front door. I lay out my workout clothes where I can see them. I pack my tennis bag with my shoes and racquets all ready to go. These visual cues become reminders in themselves.

My main catalyst has been experiencing how much harder it is to return to health and get in shape again after some time off or getting sick or injured.

Once you have started, shift your focus and effort into removing as many obstacles as possible on the path to consistency.

And over time, your identity will also shift.

This is a pattern I see in people who have achieved any level of success.

They fear what will happen if they stop doing what made them successful to begin with.

Intensity of Action Must Match The Level of Intention

One of the things that the others can never fix for us is closing the gap between our intentions and actions.

Saying I am healthy is only true if I take healthy actions.

Saying I am caring is only true if I demonstrate care.

Saying I believe in Healthy Living First is only true if I follow my own advice.

Saying I enjoy playing tennis only matters as much as I invest time and energy playing tennis.

The bitter pill we have to swallow is that if we only talk about our intentions and values but don’t act on them, it isn’t real.

But facing the truth sets us free, so ask yourself:

• Do I have a way of measuring what I want to improve? (e.g. habit tracker in a notebook or Oura Ring)

• Am I investing my time, attention, and energy into my health intentions?

• Do I talk about my healthy intentions in the past tense more than the present? (e.g. I used to run every day…)

• Does my schedule show that health is my priority?

In medicine, there is the concept of a minimum effective dose for a treatment to be effective.

Your minimum effective dose of energy and effort has to be aligned with your level of intention.

Sometimes we are missing the minimum effective dose of discipline. 

Sometimes we are missing the minimum effective dose of knowledge. 

Sometimes we are missing the minimum effective dose of action.

Look at human behavior as a spectrum. There are extremes at both ends, and you are probably closer to one end than the other.

You will likely have to swing the pendulum from where you are now in the other direction.

Rest/Digest ←→ Fight/Flight/Work

Feast ←→ Fast

Logic ←→ Intuition

Often times, I have to recommend different types of intensity based on my client’s personality and constitution.

Some problems are due to a lack of rest and recovery while other problems require more activity and intensity.

So before you try something and set it on the back burner, try to turn up the intensity a few notches for long enough before setting it aside.

The key here is to evaluate your actions and turn up the intensity to move you in the direction you want to go.

Health is an Infinite Game

This one insight, once internalized, will change how you approach your health forever.

There are two types of games—finite games and infinite games.

Finite games have a clear end determined by score or time. A tennis match ends ones someone wins 2 out of 3 sets. A football game ends when time runs out.

Infinite games have no clear end point. Business is an infinite game. So is health. The infinite game of health ends with death, but even then we can make the case that it could be the beginning of another existence.

Temporary health goals fundamentally trick you into playing the game by the wrong set of rules. You are bound to lose if you play an infinite game based on finite game rules.

Flipping the switch in our mind to look at life and health as an infinite game will fundamentally change the way we play the game.

When we start to realize that the rules are different, we can adjust our strategy and tactics.

The goal is then to constantly evolve and improve instead of reaching a singular end point.

You will be able to ignore quick-fix trends and the latest bio-hacks.

And you can instead focus on building lifelong skills and knowledge to optimize and maintain your health.

Having experienced two lives—one as a non-professional and another as a health professional.

Being a professional means constantly learning, having discipline, solving problems, and showing up day-after-day regardless of emotions or mood.

In this new year, I encourage you to turn pro at your own health, and it will become one of the most rewarding games you can play.

I look forward to continue helping you win the infinite game of health.

Happy New Year to you and your family!

P.S. Do you want guidance and a blueprint to follow to reach and achieve your health goals this year and beyond?

Schedule a consult here https://l.bttr.to/uYxzi or reach out via email.