How to Make 2026 the Best Year: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
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Do you want to make 2026 your best year yet?
An amazing year doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by choice. And there are only 6 questions to ask yourself for instant clarity and insight. Your answers will show you what the very next steps are in your life.
The brand new companion workbook to this episode can be found at https://melrob.co/bestyear2026
In this episode, Mel walks you through her empowering, research-backed, year-end ritual designed to set you up for success. By the end, you’ll know exactly where to steer your energy to make next year your best yet.
She will cover:
-The powerful year-end ritual she has used for the past 22 years
-The simple question to ask yourself to know what you really want
-Why doing this every single year is the key to her own success - and how if you've done this process in the past, you can take it up a notch this year
-How to use your camera roll to highlight your year
-The one best step you should take after listening to this episode
-Her own reflections on the year and the goals she is setting.
This episode comes with a 20-page companion workbook. This brand new workbook is designed to help you get clear about what you want and empower you to take the next step forward in your life.
And the cool part? It takes less than a minute for you to get your hands on it.
Just sign up at https://melrob.co/bestyear2026
To learn more about Pure Genius, which Mel mentioned in today’s episode, get on the waitlist here:
https://www.puregeniusprotein.com/MY
For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-351.
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I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode.
In this episode:
00:00 Welcome
00:58 Plan Next Year With 6 Questions
11:00 Question #1:  What Were the Low Points of Your Year?
26:02 Question #2: What Were the High Moments?
37:19 Question #3:  What Did You Learn this Year?
45:54 Question #4: What Are You Going to Stop Doing?
52:19 Question #5: What Are You Going to Continue Doing?
58:58 Question #6: What Are You Going to Start Doing?
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Design Your Best Year Ever With Six Honest, Science-Backed Questions
A.Mel Robbins shares a six-question, research-based year-end reflection ritual she has used with her family for 22 years to intentionally design a better year ahead.
B.She emphasizes looking backward before planning forward: identifying lows, highs, and lessons from the past 12 months to create realistic, intrinsically motivating goals.
C.Using a simple Stop / Start / Continue framework, she shows how to translate insights into concrete behavior changes instead of vague resolutions.
D.Throughout, she weaves in neuroscience and psychology findings, personal examples from her own challenging and successful year, and announces a new company, Pure Genius, inspired by her struggle to meet protein and health goals.
🧠IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideas
1
Start by honestly reviewing your low points to process and release them.
Research shows that when you avoid reflecting on hard experiences, the unprocessed emotions stay in your body, increase stress, and make daily life feel harder; writing them down helps your brain process and create distance.
2
Celebrate your high points to see what you actually want more of.
Scrolling photos and calendars reveals joyful, often small moments you may have forgotten—these highlight what genuinely lights you up and should be intentionally repeated and expanded next year.
3
Extract concrete lessons from the past year to guide future decisions.
Treat both highs and lows as data about what works, what doesn’t, what you value, and what you’re done tolerating, then turn those insights into new norms rather than vague reflections.
4
Use the Stop / Start / Continue framework to turn insight into action.
Identify one big thing you’ll stop, specific habits you’ll start, and practices you’ll continue; this simple structure converts reflection into a realistic, strategic plan for behavior change.
5
Quit strategically: winners regularly stop what no longer serves them.
Letting go of draining jobs, habits, relationships, and expectations creates the mental and time bandwidth needed to focus on what truly matters, instead of just piling more onto an overloaded life.
💬 WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotes
An amazing year, an amazing life, it doesn't happen by chance. It happens by choice.
— Mel Robbins
You can't create directions for where you wanna go unless you know where you're starting from.
— Mel Robbins
When you tell the truth about what knocked you down, what drained you, what broke your heart, you're not being dramatic. You're being self-aware.
— Mel Robbins
Winners quit all the time, because they quit the things that keep them frustrated, exhausted, distracted, so they can actually move forward.
— Mel Robbins
The highs show you what you want more of. The highs show you what you're willing to work for.
— Mel Robbins
The six reflective questions and year-end ritual structureWhy you must look back (lows, highs, lessons) before planning aheadEmotional processing and the science of writing to your future selfIntrinsic motivation and setting goals based on personal meaningThe Stop / Start / Continue framework for behavior changeHealth, self-care, and the challenge of prioritizing protein and resistance trainingMel’s new venture, Pure Genius, and connecting expert advice to real-life tools
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