Photo by Arina Krasnikova
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
2026 is finally here, and with it comes the expectation that the year will be fruitful and rewarding. Achieving success in 2026 is doable and the best time to start right off the block is now. This is the time to begin reviewing and setting strategies to ensure that one’s goals and objectives for the new year are clearly spelled out, with steps in place to achieve them.
For the Black community, with the start of the new year, it is customary to hear the usual talk of New Year’s resolutions among friends, colleagues, and family members. In truth, new year resolutions are of necessary importance as it provides Black men and women with the opportunity to assess what went right or wrong in the previous year and what steps can and should be taken to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated while the successes are either built upon or reinforced in .2026
For individuals and groups within the Black community, entering 2026 with intention is crucial if one hopes to make considerable strides in whatever goals and objectives have been lined up for the coming year. Achieving this is feasible. By applying certain rituals and routines that can become daily practices, the capacity to see them grow into habits that are both positive and beneficial can bring fulfillment in the long run.
Here are 5 rituals and routines to get you ready for 2026.
Self Reflect
“A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body” – Chinua Achebe.
One cannot plan if one cannot grasp the areas wherein changes are required, or aspects where failures were encountered and successes were achieved. Starting in 2026 Black individuals must take stock of every area of their lives. Stock taking helps to bring into focus aspects that hold great importance above those of least importance.
Whether it relates to family, job, siblings, children, or any other areas of concern, self-reflection helps bring things into focus and enables one to prioritize. Though the activities of this season can be engaging and quite distracting, making a conscious decision to take time for oneself can be helpful especially as one looks to hit the ground running in 2026.
Find time off for yourself to do a self-check on all that happened in 2025. Where necessary, have a notebook beside you to jot down important observations of one’s journey throughout 2025, what role one plays, and how certain decisions brought about varied outcomes. Do a frank assessment of your contribution whether for good or bad to make the required change where necessary.
Feed Your Brain
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.” — Matthew 6:22–23
“Knowledge is power”, though a worn out cliche, the quote has continued to remain essential in our everyday existence. As Black individuals, seeking knowledge should always remain a priority and what better way to gain knowledge and get one ready for 2026 than to invest time and resources in feeding the mental and physical aspects of our person.
Information is critical in understanding issues as well as finding solutions to the same. This can be achieved with an in-depth study, whether it is knowledge about investments, understanding how the stock market operates, or a do-it-yourself (DIY) manual, having the right information is key to addressing issues that one is likely to encounter in 2026.
Also, an in-depth study especially in areas related to one’s professional endeavour can be of great importance for Black individuals looking to grow professionally. Continually improving on what you know and finding ways to bring in fresh insight and ideas to issues within the corporate environment can help one scale up the professional ladder.
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Reassess and Redefine Goals and Target
As the new year approaches, now is the best time to review the objectives set out last year or early this year to assess what worked, what didn’t, and the circumstances around their success or failure. Understanding the issues and prioritizing how to either improve on them or address the concerns can be instrumental in shaping one’s progress in 2026.
One’s goals or targets can cut across several aspects like family, jobs, schooling, marriage, child upbringing amongst others. For Black individuals, it is also important to know that not all goals or targets should be carried over into the new year. The ability to let go of unachievable expectations, especially the ones not aligned with growth is crucial to one’s development.
Also important is knowing your limits and not setting unrealistic expectations when listing your goals and targets. Prioritize what matters most to you and the satisfaction you would get once they are achieved. Rather than setting a long list of goals, give attention to fewer, more meaningful goals with a clear plan on how to go about achieving them.
Take Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Stock
Being accountable to oneself can be a useful leveller especially when one can easily be distracted by engagements and activities that occur every single day. As part of the growth process of Black individuals, taking regular stock of one’s activities can continue to reinforce objectives in the mind and help one navigate through the many distractions.
Stock taking can be on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis. By reviewing one’s activities while aligning them with the targets or goals, one can easily discern areas where one got distracted, review what worked and what didn’t while also readjusting to ensure one is still on track. This makes for easy course correcting.
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Take a Break
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for Black individuals is that we are activity junkies with a growing need to constantly be engaged in one activity or the other. Whether it is something as simple as hanging out with friends, going to parties or weddings, or even scrolling through social media which the prevalence of mobile phones has made both a necessity and a distraction, our human nature seems hardwired not to sit still for long without craving one form of engagement or the other.
In 2026, it is important to plan days for rest where your mind and body can fully recharge and be decluttered from all the many activities that put an undue weight on your mind and body. This might require you to take short leaves from work, unplugging from social media, getting enough sleep and rest over the weekends and in some cases generally doing nothing so that your mind and body are revitalized to rise to the upcoming challenges. Be intentional about your breaks.
Okechukwu Nzeribe works with the Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, in Anambra State, Nigeria, and loves unveiling the richness of African cultures. okechukwu.onicima@gmail.com
