What I’m Paying Attention To This Year
- Clive Schwartz
- 14 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The start of the year demands focused attention.
A few years ago, as the year kicked off, I made a series of decisions after careful consideration that all felt right at the time. I found myself saying “yes” to extra work, to reasonable requests, to opportunities that made sense in isolation.
By mid-year, the cost of those “yes” decisions became evident.
There were no major failures or open conflicts. It showed up in smaller, quieter ways. Longer conversations. Slower thinking. Too many things competing for attention and needing to be “fixed”.
The organisation was still performing, but it felt like we were all carrying more weight than we needed to.
That experience changed how I approach the start of a year. I now pay closer attention to the pressure points that don’t appear obvious early on.
In practice, that means I deliberately protect a few things before they get strained:
What we focus on, before a constant whirlwind becomes normal
How we conserve our energy, before tiredness turns into irritability or disengagement
Trusting our teams with decisions early, before pressure tempts shortcuts
Listening to quiet contributors, before they’re overlooked or burned out
Monitoring capacity, before resilience is quietly depleted
What helped me course-correct wasn’t a big reset. It was noticing where weight was building and making small, intentional adjustments early before the strain became visible to everyone.
So as 2026 unfolds, I’m less focused on saying “yes” to everything. I’m more focused on our capability and capacity to sustain what we take on.
Reflect on your current commitments at the start of 2026. What decisions are you making now that your future self will need to manage or sustain? Take a moment to consider whether these choices align with your long-term goals and capacity.
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