The New Year often triggers us to think ahead to what accomplishments we want to strive for in the upcoming year. Reflection on what you want to prioritize and visualization for your road ahead are always a great investment of time. If the New Year prompts you to do it then great, jump into that process.
As we jump into this process, I see a key piece we often miss. It’s easy to focus solely on what we want to add in life. The accomplishments, relationships, milestones, etc. are easy to identify as we look ahead to the new year. One piece that we can’t afford to miss is to identify what we need to shed in the process. There are ideas and narratives we are holding onto that doesn’t belong with the person we’re striving to become. We need to unhook the anchor from this narrative that’s holding us back as we look ahead to 2026.
One of the best concepts I’ve come across in the past few years is Adam Grant’s focus on the skillset of unlearning our past to rethink our future. It’s nothing new that the pace of change will continue to increase. As the world changes so quickly around us, our need to evolve our thinking becomes more important. To evolve our thinking means we can’t be so set on past truths. Unlearning a past truth can be the freedom we need to reimagine what our future can be.
Let’s face it, it’s hard to let go of a truth we’ve settled on. The risk we run is the truth we’ve settled on is based on the past and hasn’t had a version update. Whether it’s how we approach our work, the way we build relationships, how we approach our health and wellness, or any other aspect of life, new insight and opportunities are all around us. The question is whether we will be open enough to challenge what we believe today so that we can evolve our perspective for tomorrow.
This includes the limitations we’ve secretly been building within ourselves. Limitations like we can’t find the time to be healthy. My company will never promote me. I’m just not that good at networking. Limitations are built over time, and we need to disrupt these to make sure we’re not carrying them into 2026.
This skillset Adam Grant acknowledges unlearning the past to rethink the future could be one of the most important skills we can build for the future. To unlearn the past, we must take the time to challenge our current truths. When we challenge our current truths, we actively search to see if there’s a version update we need to make. We invest important time to explore another version of the truth so that we can rethink our future.
As we rethink what 2026 can be, first we must unlearn the old truths we no longer should be holding to in 2025. These old truths of limitation have no business being carried forward to 2026. Unlearn the past to rethink the future.
Take your step: when you go through your process of looking forward to 2026 and develop priorities or goals you’re focused on, pick one to get started. For that priority or goal, what old truth or limitation are you holding onto? What truth have you settled on that may need a version update? Explore what you may need to shed in 2025 to create momentum forward in 2026.