2026 Goals & Intentions

Written By Sarah Lokker

One of my goals & intentions for the New Year was to write more…. so this post comes 27 days later. (At least I’m trying to hold up my end of the bargain.)

Ever since I was little, I always strived to be the one who had it all together. I remember being handed an agenda/planner when I got to the third grade and never looked back: I’ve always been organized and take an immense pride in that. One of the nicest things you can say to me is that “Holy shit, you’ve got it all mapped out”. It was while listening to an episode of the Confident Collective podcast, the hosts discussed reframing the mindset of New Years Resolutions to Goals & Intentions, so they could be evolving and changing as we go through the seasons of the year. Immediately I adopted this mentality and this idea of Goals & Intentions was born.

Eons ago, on Life With Sarah, I would do Monthly Goal Diggers, a dedicated post where I would make a list of short-term goals to focus on for the month, and then I would reflect on how they went at the end of the month. Believe it or not, when I held myself accountable and put it out into the ether for others to keep me accountable (or the immense pressure that someone would actually read it and bully me into doing what I said I would do), I was a lot more motivated to be consistent. Who knew?! I never loved the term resolution: It always felt so finite and stagnant to me. Goals and Intentions should be fluid, because the person I am in January 2026 should NOT be the same person who wraps up the year in December 2026.

I break down my Goals & Intentions into seven categories that reflect the important aspects of my life. Mapping out each area that I take pride in and continually work to improve makes the goals feel more obtainable over the long haul and motivated to keep it going well past the third week of January. Since adopting a word of the year, I try to incorporate it into everything I do, using it as my guiding compass.

My word for 2026 is ‘present’, and the reasoning behind this is because I’ve spent so much of my recent years looking ahead for the next opportunity, the next milestone, the next thing that I rarely celebrate the accomplishments I’ve worked my booty for. Being present allows me to take a pause, celebrate the blood, sweat and tears that goes into creating this life I’m so proud of, and shift directions (if needed).

Here are the following categories & their goals:

Career:

  • Make at least $65K through either a raise at Legends Global, new job or part-time gig

  • Attend one career-related networking event per quarter

  • Continue to brainstorm business plan

  • Build brand/identity as Content Creator

    • Get 5,000 TT followers by EOY

      • Post 4x/week on TT

    • Get 500 YouTube followers by EOY

Creativity:

  • Create Vision Board for 2026

  • Try a new creative hobby per quarter [Q1: Dot-By-Letters;]

  • Get back into creative writing

    • Blog on sarahhlokk.com more (this is where you come in! You can help keep me accountable by following along)

Home:

  • Opening/Closing Shifts daily (at least 10 minutes)

    • A opening/closing shift is tidying up my home and giving it a little reset, so ideally the next morning I’m not running rampant and chaotic

  • Meal plan weekly

  • Reorganize one area a month

  • Make seasonal upgrades [new decor, projects, etc]

Financial:

  • No Spend Months at least once a quarter [January, April, July & December]

  • One Money Date a month

  • Try the 48-hour Rule [If I want to make a spontanteous purchase, I need to wait at least 48 hours before doing so]

  • PAY OFF CREDIT CARDS

    • Pay off Credit One card by end of February & keep balance at $0

    • Pay off Target card by end of April & keep balance at $0

    • Pay off Sephora card by end of July & keep balance at $0 

  • 650 Credit Score by EOY

  • Emergency Fund to $2,000 by EOY

Personal Development:

  • Complete monthly Duolingo challenges

  • Read 35 books

    • Read 15 pages daily

    • One read must be either personal development or career-related per month

    • “Read” audiobooks when not listening to podcast in the vehicle

  • Journal daily

  • Listen to podcast rotation weekly

    • My current podcast rotation includes Financial Feminist, The Everygirl Podcast, Ladies & Tangents, Unlonely with Dr. Jody Carrington and Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Social:

  • One intentional date night per month

  • One intentional friend-date a month

  • Join a sports league 

    • This one is VERY dependent on how my work schedule pans out, tbh. It’s on my list because I love the idea of the building a community through physical activity, but I cannot fully commit myself to making it a priority with how unpredictable my schedule is.

  • Join a book club [The EveryGirl]

Wellness:

  • Drink at least 100 ounces of water daily

  • 30 grams protein at every meal

  • Prioritize more veggies at every meal

  • 7 hours sleep/night (non show days)

  • Acupressure Mat at least 3x/week for 15-30 min each session

  • 7,000 steps/day

  • Workout at a gym at least 3 times a week/minimum

  • One day unplugged a month

  • Hit One-derland (Weigh under 200 lbs)

Sarah Lokker
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