Still Time for 2026 Goals - Try BINGO
Posted on: Mar 26, 2026
January has come and gone. Did you skip the goal ritual? While the New Year pressure is off to do annual goals, Spring, the season of rebirth and life, is a good time to reconsider your decision to coast through 2026 without goals. It is never too late to write or update your goals, and your happiness is at stake. Here are some arguments to help convince you that you do need written goals and a few ideas to help you past the goal barriers.
I doubt you need convincing about the effectiveness of goals. You have probably seen information before such as this article about the 8 reasons to have goals, and a simple web search will pull up plenty of statistics on how many people generally have goals, and that these people are more effective in accomplishing their desires. When you write a goal, your extremely powerful brain goes into automatic search mode to work to achieve your objective. Your written goal helps the executive function part of your brain sift through the irrelevant information that bombards you and focus on the people and tasks that help you move to your goal.
Even with all the evidence of the benefits of goals, most people avoid goal setting. Why? One reason is fear of failure, which is why many people either don’t have goals or make easily achievable goals. If that is why you avoid goals, then I encourage you to take a calming breath and run right into a big goal where you might fail. Big goals mean big risks but fortunately failing while trying has benefits. The try but fail experience gets you out of your comfort zone. The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter is a must read if you are worried about failing at a goal. He explains and supports with documentation the benefits of setting a goal and being uncomfortable. While his work leans heavily into physical challenges, the idea is applicable to any goal. You might not succeed, but you set a goal and tried. That is an accomplishment, especially considering how many people don’t try.
Understanding that you get benefits from working towards a goal where you may fail isn’t a new idea. Some cultures have terms for this. Misogi is the Japanese term for a purification ritual where you engage in physical or mental challenges with only a 50% chance of success. Many of these cultural goal rituals involve ice, fire, or extreme hunger so they don’t translate exactly into the modern world. What does translate is the character development that happens when you are willing to put yourself in a tough situation such as working towards a difficult goal. You succeed by trying, the outcome is secondary.
Maybe fear of failure isn’t keeping you from setting goals, and instead it just seems hard and you lack practice. Goal setting is habit you can learn, and it doesn’t have to be all drudgery and ice baths. Here is a fun ramp to goal setting to help get you in the goal habit. First, write down at least 9 SMART goals. These don’t have to be Misogi ritual goals, but think about things that you want to do, have been avoiding for some reason, and would feel satisfied if you accomplished. Goals don’t have to be just things to do, but can also be things to stop doing, or effort based goals such as spending 20 hours working on a specific project (rather than finishing the project.) After you write the list, go to this bingo card generator, and enter one goal per square. If your goals are long, you may need to give them a short title to fit the bingo card format. Give your Bingo Card a motivating title and a date by which you are going to try and get a BINGO. Put the date on the card and print the card out. You can also capture your Bingo card image and put it in your digital universe. Keep the goals visible, cross off squares as you accomplish them, and reward yourself when you get a BINGO. What is fun is that while you may start with the easier goals, once you need a certain square to get BINGO, you are motivated to work on that goal.
Goals give you direction that you choose. Without direction, who is running your life? Hopefully you decide to try goal setting for 2026 whether in a BINGO card, or a more conventional format. It is never too late!