It’s Go Time

My grandson loves to race. On foot. In a riding toy. Around the yard. Through the house. And often when you least expect it. No matter the environment, every race begins the same way: “On your mark … get set … go!”

That’s how I felt when I woke up in 2026. The sense of anticipation grew as the final weeks of December accelerated to a crescendo of fireworks, aspirations, and promises made to ourselves. Like many, I “got on my mark” by focusing on plans for the new year. I “got set” by organizing, making notes, and adding key events to my calendar.

And then it was “go” time.

As I’m writing this, we’ve burned through more than half of the first month of 2026. One-twelfth of the new year is almost behind us. By the time you read this, about 10 percent of 2026 will be in the rearview mirror. Time and Tide wait for no man.

The moments when we’re struck by the reality of our finite journey often lead us to start making lists, adding new goals, charting new courses. We plan the work and work the plan. We have so little time, living this vaporous life, that we must cram more into it and squeeze more out of it, right? That has always been my tendency, and it has both added abundance to my life and robbed me of opportunities.

A popular New Year’s exercise is to choose a “word of the year” to act as a theme, a guiding light for the year unfolding. For 2026, my word is “legacy.” There are some monumental things on the calendar this year, including the wedding of our daughter. This is also the final year before we have to start sharing our grandson with the school system. A friend, one of our children’s elementary teachers, told me many years ago that once a child starts school, they are gone — you’ll never have this much time with them again. Michele and I intend to build memories with our grandson, along with a solid foundation of loving life and his fellow man, that will impact him long after Mawmaw and Pawpaw are gone.

The word “legacy” will help keep me focused this year on building things that matter, things that will remain long after my eulogy is read. That doesn’t mean cramming more projects into the workday. It means pursuing the projects that matter. This includes investing more in the relationships that matter most, being present when I’m with family and friends, and prioritizing experiences over material consumption.

If you’re having similar thoughts, I recommend a couple of books. “Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life” by Donald Miller will help you identify the role you are playing in your own story and develop a plan to build the life you really want. In “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” author Oliver Burkeman forces us to face the brevity of our lives here on earth, a realization that frees us from the ridiculous thinking that we can ever complete all those projects in our notebooks, computers, and minds.

I hope I’m sharing with you next year in this space that 2026 was the most fulfilling, abundant, enriching year of my life. Likewise, I hope you will share similar comments on that article via social media, through email, and even letters delivered the old-fashioned way (use an America 250 stamp, please; I’m collecting them). There are few certainties in life, but one thing I know for sure: we won’t get there without knowing where “there” is. Once you have that vision, get on your mark, get set, and go!