As we close out the year, I’ve been thinking about the value of staying positive. Not in a fluffy, everything-is-peaches way, but in a grounded, practical way.
And that’s because negativity makes you unhappy. It makes everyone around you unhappy. It pulls your energy downward. But optimism emphasises your ability to move forward. It gives you a clearer head for diagnosing problems and planning what comes next.
Here’s why digging deeper matters.
Most people only think one level deep:
- Something isn’t working → complain about it.
- Have an opinion on a subject → but you’ve only scratched the surface.
This means that, in life, as in chess or problem-solving, outcomes rarely unfold in a single step. Instead, each decision brings second, third, and fourth-level consequences. There’s always another move on the board.
For example, chess masters think 30-40 or even more moves ahead. They don’t stop at the first 5-10 moves. They play out what might happen next, then what might happen after that.
They think further ahead because they decide to, and they train for it – they study thousands of games.
And then, when it’s time to act, they stop thinking and do the thing.
That “stop thinking” moment is powerful. You see it in sports all the time. When I’m standing ready to make a five-metre putt, I’m not guessing. I’ve made thousands of these. I visualise the flight, account for the wind, feel the release, breathe in, and then switch the brain off and putt. Thinking time is over. Execution takes over.
Visualisation works best when it’s grounded in something real:
- A goal you care about.
- Actions you’re willing to take.
- A future you’re prepared to work for.
That’s the kind of visualisation that actually moves you forward.
With all this in mind, as we wrap up the year, here’s something worth doing: Sit down over the break and write down everything you actually achieved. Big wins, small wins, annoying little jobs you finally finished. All of it.
Because you did far more than you think.
You lived 365 full days. You moved things forward. You handled challenges. You solved problems. You kept going.
A written list will show you that.
When you plan for next year, write your goals down by hand. Writing grounds and clarifies them, locking them inside you instead of letting them float in your mind.
Your goals might shift. Mine haven’t yet, which is interesting. But the act of writing them every day has made them real in a way they weren’t before.
So, as I close this MondayMotivator off:
Thanks for reading this year.
Thanks for being here each Monday.
Thank you for showing up for yourself.
Have a great Christmas, and as you prepare for 2026, remember: reflecting on progress and writing down your goals creates clarity and momentum for the year ahead.
This Week’s Motivator
You can think deeper, visualise clearly, and act faster than you did this year. Those small improvements compound into a meaningful life.
Prompt for the Week
What are the five achievements from this year that you haven’t given yourself enough credit for?
