Hello all, and Happy New Year.

I hope you had a restful break and that 2026 is treating you kindly so far. I’ve been back from holidays for about a week and, if you’re anything like me, there’s been a bit of turbulence/resistance/doom getting back into the swing of things.

Recently I came across a phrase I am now using as an excuse: post-liminal drift.

Apparently this refers to the state after a significant transition .. when one is between old and new identities, and life feels ambiguously suspended. The academics call it “the slow integration into reality after a threshold experience.”

It’s usually applied after major life events: a breakup, a transformative journey, an existential crisis, etc… but I’m using it to explain why opening my laptop feels vaguely insulting.

All of this to say: getting back to work right now feels meh. The good news is that you, too, now have a high-falutin explanation. It’s not that you lack motivation; you’re simply experiencing post-liminal drift.

January is normally the season of resolutions i.e noble pronouncements that will supposedly produce a new, flawless version of oneself who rises at dawn, meditates, eats only raw sprouts, and conquers all.

But I hate resolutions…mainly because they tend to end up shattered in a pile of dust by February 1st.

So instead, I’ve been thinking about gentle reminders to myself. Not to optimise, but as a way to avoid being insane (Einstein’s version: doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result).

These aren’t meant as advice or recommendations. They’re simply what has caused me grief over the last couple of years, and what I’d like to pay attention to in 2026.

1. Circle of influence vs. circle of concern
Put energy into what I can directly influence or control. Let go of the rest. Everything else is just emotional taxation.

2. The 10–10–10–10 Rule
That thing I’m worrying about… will it matter in 10 hours? 10 days? 10 weeks? 10 months? 10 years?
If it doesn’t survive beyond months or years, it’s probably not worth worrying about.

3. Goals require systems
Goals without systems are fantasies. If it matters, ritualise it. Design the habit, not the outcome.
(Or suspend the goal entirely.)

4. Instincts are diagnostic
Sometimes feelings, especially the strong ones, aren’t inconveniences to be pushed aside.
They’re revealing truths I haven’t yet admitted out loud.

5. Urgent vs. Important
What’s urgent is rarely important. What’s important is rarely urgent. (Thank you, Dwight Eisenhower.)
Attend to the important before it becomes urgent.
More on that here →

6. Make space for continuity
Not everything needs to be new, optimised, iterated, or “disrupted.”
Some things require returning to: slowly, repeatedly, reverently.

7. Choose the option that keeps you human
Not necessarily the most strategic, efficient, or productive.
The one that keeps the blood warm.

8. Courage
Not the cinematic kind with trumpets blaring, but the quieter kind i.e the willingness to move toward the meaningful thing even when it’s uncertain, inconvenient, or emotionally expensive.

These are the things I’d like to remember as 2026 unfolds. If any of them resonate, wonderful; if not, chalk it up to post-liminal drift.

Welcome back.
Here’s to a year that’s meaningful, not just manageable.