How to Make 2026 the Best Year: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
Executive Summary
Robbins begins planning the next year by examining the one just lived. She asks for low points, high points and lessons, then turns those answers into decisions about what to stop, continue and start. Photos and a calendar can jog memories that a quick impression misses. Her examples are personal, and the title’s promise is motivational rather than a guaranteed result. This summary leaves out the product promotion and unverified health claims.
Key Takeaways
A destination is not enough to make a plan
Robbins uses a directions metaphor: knowing where you want to go does not tell you where you are starting. She wants a review of the previous twelve months before new resolutions. The exercise aims to make goals responsive to actual circumstances, rather than repeat an attractive list without examining what changed.
Use records to recover forgotten events
She scrolls through photos and suggests holding both difficult and positive moments in mind while reviewing them. A calendar can also supply prompts. Such records are incomplete, but they can reveal ordinary joys or draining periods that disappear when a whole year is reduced to one general feeling.
Low points are information, not a self-attack
The first question asks what was hard. Robbins encourages honesty about strain and patterns without turning the review into another way to criticise yourself. The summary treats this as a reflection prompt, not therapy or an instruction to relive events that require professional support.
High points show what deserves space
The second question asks about the year’s highlights, including small moments rather than only impressive milestones. Her examples include time with friends, family and concerts. The point is to notice what you valued in practice so that future planning is not limited to tasks and obligations.
Extract a lesson before deciding a change
She asks what the highs and lows taught you. A difficult period may suggest asking for help, changing a pattern or recognising a capacity you overlooked. Those are possible interpretations, not automatic conclusions. A useful review distinguishes what happened from the lesson you choose to carry forward.
Stopping can make room for a deliberate choice
Robbins distinguishes quitting because something no longer fits from quitting simply out of fear. She wants readers to identify habits or expectations that drain their time. For a major obligation, this prompt still needs practical planning; the episode’s enthusiasm does not eliminate financial or relationship consequences.
Continue what works and begin something small
The last two questions protect useful routines and make space for a new start. She describes scheduling friends in advance and offers small beginnings rather than only a dramatic reinvention. The decisions should connect to the review, making the next-year plan a response to lived experience instead of an unrelated wish list.
The Conversation Breakdown
Stop, continue and start
⏱ 45:54After reviewing lows, highs and lessons, Robbins asks what to remove, retain and begin. Continuing a valued habit counts as a decision, and a start can be a small experiment rather than a wholesale life change.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Six-question year review
Low points, high points, lessons, stop, continue and start. The video covers continue before start.
Memory prompts
Use photos and a calendar to recover specifics before judging an entire year.
Make room before adding
Consider what to stop alongside what you want to begin.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Review your calendar or photos and note both hard and positive moments.
- ✓Write one lesson supported by a specific event.
- ✓Choose one low-risk habit or expectation to stop.
- ✓Name one thing to continue and one small start for the coming year.
Notable Quotes
“You can’t create directions for where you want to go unless you know where you’re starting from.”
“You’re not giving up. You’re getting strategic.”
“One of the fastest ways to change your life and level up is to identify what you’re going to quit.”
The One Thing to Remember
Review your actual year before adding goals to the next one.