As we approach the end of the year, many people start thinking about their next steps for 2026. There are so many things we would like to accomplish in a single year—often things that usually take a lifetime. But why is that?

Every year, it seems we want to do more. However, when we look at the results, most people don’t actually achieve the long lists of goals they set. If you don’t believe me, just visit your local gym during the first week of January and then again in July. At the beginning of the year, everyone is motivated to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A few months later, that motivation has faded, and most people have stopped showing up.

Of course, there are many reasons why motivation fades. But I believe one of the main reasons is committing to too many things at once, without realistically considering our capacity. For example, in 2023 my plan looked something like this:

• Get the B1 German certificate
• Get a driving license
• Invest in real estate
• Run a half-marathon
• Get in shape and go to the gym three times a week
• Excel at my job
• Read at least 12 books
• Travel twice
• Get a work-related certification
• Spend time with family and friends while doing all of the above

Looking at this list now, it’s clearly ambitious—and also unrealistic. By the end of the year, I had achieved only three of these goals, and most of the remaining items were pushed into the next year. More importantly, the sheer number of commitments put me under constant stress. As the year went on, I found myself blaming myself more and more for “failing” to keep up.

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels

We need to accept a simple reality: as humans, we have limited time and limited capacity. We all have 24 hours in a day. On average, we need about 8 hours of sleep. We might convince ourselves that 6 hours is enough, but that’s rarely sustainable and often leads to burnout. Most of us also have jobs that require 8–9 hours a day.

That leaves roughly 7–8 hours. If we spend around 2 hours eating and spending time with family, we are left with at most 5–6 hours per day. Over a week, that’s about 35 hours—including weekends. Excluding weekends, it’s closer to 25 hours.

Now consider just one goal from the list: running a half-marathon. Depending on your fitness level, you’ll need to run at least three times per week. Each session easily takes 1.5 hours when you include preparation and recovery. And running is relatively simple—you can just change clothes and go outside. If you replace that with going to the gym, you also need to account for commute time.

“When everything is important, nothing is. When you have many priorities, you effectively have none.”

Having many priorities is the same as having no priorities at all. A priority implies focus. But if you have ten things to focus on and only a few hours per day, you end up spending 20–30 minutes on each—far too little to make meaningful progress on any of them.

What I’ve learned is that it’s still useful to start with a long list like the one above. But after writing it down, we should ruthlessly review it and reduce it to at most three priorities. Having too much on our plate doesn’t motivate us—it overwhelms us. Over time, that pressure can quietly turn into stress, self-blame, and eventually burnout.

A useful question I now ask myself is: If I could only make real progress on one or two things this year, which ones would truly matter? Everything else can wait—and that’s not failure, it’s clarity.