The Green Sheet Online Edition
January 12, 2026 • 26:01:01
Write the day you want to have
As a new year opens, goal-setting advice arrives right on cue: write your objectives, break them into steps, assign deadlines. It's solid guidance. And it works. But there's another approach worth trying alongside it, one that trades bullet points for something more vivid.
Set aside 20 quiet minutes and write a single scene from your future.
Not a list. A day.
Choose a specific date in 2026 and describe, in concrete detail, what that day looks and feels like. Use sensory language. Write it as if you're already there.
Maybe the scene opens in a large retail location you landed after months of legwork. You walk through the front door. The floor smells faintly of new fixtures and fresh coffee. People are filling up their shopping carts.
The manager meets you near the checkout, smiling, sleeves rolled up. You shake hands. Your grip is firm, relaxed. Sleek new POS terminals are in place, screens bright, transactions moving through without a hitch. A cashier taps through a sale, receipt printing cleanly, no awkward pauses, no workarounds. A shopper says, "This is faster than before." You nod, not needing to explain anything.
Or maybe your scene is quieter. You're in the office early, sunlight slanting across your desk. An email confirmation sits open on your screen: approval granted, contract signed, funding secured. Something you've been chasing for years is finally settled. You take a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding. The room is still. You lean back in your chair and allow yourself a moment of satisfaction before the workday begins.
Or perhaps the scene doesn't work at all. You're standing on a bluff above the ocean, wind tugging at your jacket. The water below is slate-blue, restless. Your phone is in your pocket, silent. You know your team is handling things—deployments, support tickets, follow-ups—because you built the systems and trust to make that possible. You're fully present right where you are.
This kind of writing does something lists can't. It forces specificity. It clarifies what success actually looks like for you. It's not abstract growth or vague momentum; it's lived experience. You give your brain a destination it can recognize. And from there, the steps often reveal themselves naturally. 
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