31/08/2026
Remember those promises you made to yourself in January? The business you were going to start. The weight you were going to lose. The money you were going to save. The course you were going to finish. The boundaries you were going to put in place. The healthier, happier, more disciplined version of yourself you were determined to become.
How's that going? It's an uncomfortable question, isn't it? Perhaps, on the brink of a new season, uncomfortable is exactly what we need.
Spring fascinates me because nature doesn't negotiate with change. Autumn comes and the trees let go. Winter strips everything back. Then spring arrives and, almost defiantly, life begins again. Perhaps we could learn something from that.
September is not the time to look at everything we haven't achieved and decide 2026 is almost over. It isn't. We still have four months.
Four months to make the call, fix the finances, start the business, apply for the opportunity, finish the qualification, write the proposal, have the difficult conversation, change the habit or take the risk. But here's the part we don't always want to hear: sometimes the problem isn't time… it's us.
We procrastinated, got distracted, waited for motivation or allowed fear to masquerade as "I'm still thinking about it." Ouch. Blatant honesty can be liberating because once we stop making excuses, we can start making changes.
Here are five things I'm reminding myself of this spring:
1. Decide what still deserves your energy.
Some January goals need resurrecting. Others need burying. Choose what genuinely matters now and focus there.
2. Make the dream smaller and the action immediate.
Don't write the book today. Write two pages. Don't build the business today. Make the first call. Progress begins with something small enough to do now.
3. Give your intentions a date.
"One day" is a dangerous place to store a dream. Put it in the diary, give it a deadline and decide when you're doing it.
4. Stop protecting what is sabotaging you.
What steals your time? Who drains your energy? Which habit keeps setting you back? Sometimes moving forward isn't about doing more, but removing what keeps getting in the way.
5. Do it before you feel ready.
Motivation comes and goes. Discipline gets things done. There will always be another reason to wait for Monday, next month, more money, more confidence or the perfect opportunity.
At some point, we simply have to begin. Nike probably distilled an entire shelf of self-help books into three words: JUST DO IT.
So this spring, let a few things fall away with those old autumn leaves, the excuses, procrastination, fear and disappointment about what hasn't happened yet.
Then plant something new…A better habit. A braver decision. A phone call. A boundary. An application. An hour dedicated to something you keep saying matters to you.
Four months from now, we will all arrive at 31 December. Will you be saying, "Next year I'm going to…" Or "I'm so glad I started when I did."
