Dearest Darling Friends,

 

I recently saw the calendar belonging to a super successful serial entrepreneur, Tejas S.

 

Not only is he doing exceptionally well in his business, he has smartly invested in fabulous startups that are on the path to create stories of glory.

 

In his calendar, every slot was filled for the next 45 days.

 

After pleasantries, I asked him, now that he is super successful, now that he has a great team, now that he has money to spend on anything his heart desires for, what does he struggle to find time for?

 

He mentioned four things that are super dear to him but he is not finding time for them at all.

 

1. Quality time with his daughter who is flying off to college. (Damn. She has grown up so fast)

 

2. Time to mentor his top 10 employees and develop them with ‘entrepreneurship skills. (He has 4500 + employees and wishes to move out of operations and decision making too)

 

3. Some time to think about the next 5 years of his life as has been working non-stop for the past 28 years. (Feels tired often)

 

4. Some time to learn how to play the Guitar. (A childhood dream)

 

He gave that classic, weary smile and said again, “I just don’t have the time.”

 

We moved on to discuss an exciting strategy to scale one of his businesses to 10X in the next three years.

 

Scanning my day before sleeping that night, something about that interaction with Tejas spoke very loudly.

 

The Horizon of 2026

As we wait for the rising sun in the horizon of 2026, the question isn’t whether the hours will exist.

 

The hours are guaranteed.

The question is, will we emerge from 2026 with a few changes that life is screaming at us to make.

 

Or, will we just be one year older and slightly more tired?

 

The Myth of the ‘Not enough Time’

 

We often treat ‘Time’ like a mischievous household pet that keeps running away.

 

Actually, time is the only truly democratic resource left.

 

Whether we are managing a global team of ten thousand or managing a small boutique firm, we get the same sunrise, the same sunset.

 

Research into high performance psychology reveals an interesting anomaly called the ‘Planning Fallacy’.

 

Planning fallacy suggests, we tragically underestimate what we can achieve in just a year of consistent, disciplined effort.

 

If you commit just 30 minutes a day to a new pursuit, by the end of 2026, you aren’t just ‘better’, you are transformed.

 

It’s the magic of “compound interest” that life pays for focus and discipline.

 

Setting priorities is not a Cage, it’s a Compass

 

• In the world of leadership, setting priorities is often just the courage to say ‘no’ to the ‘distractions’ so you can say ‘yes’ to ‘what your heart beats for.
• It’s the quiet resolve to protect your boundaries against the ‘urgent’ tasks that aren’t actually ‘important.’

 

The Reframing

When we tell ourselves we will do something and then we don’t, we are essentially breaking a promise to the most important stakeholder in our lives – ourselves.

 

What if we stopped viewing ‘priorities’ as a loss of freedom and started seeing it as an act of self-respect?

 

Its December 2026

 

Imagine it’s December 2026. You are looking back.

 

* Did you master that new skill?
* ⁠Did you devote time to what was ‘truly’ important?
* ⁠Did you change?

 

Or did time simply evaporate into a cloud of pings, invitations and ‘one more meeting’?

 

As the old proverb goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

 

The time to devote to living a life of priorities, is NOW.

 

A few questions to stir the pot:

 

* What is the one thing you’ve been saying you ‘don’t have time for’ that would actually change the trajectory of your life?

* If your calendar were an investment portfolio, would you be happy with the returns you are getting on your attention invested?

* What would happen if you traded thirty minutes of ‘distractions’ for thirty minutes of ‘meaning’?

 

2026 is coming whether we prepare for it or not. The clock is ticking, but the rhythm is ours to set.

 

How are you planning to ‘invest’ your 2026?

 

I would love to hear about one skill or goal or change you are committing to.

 

In the comments, let’s hold each other’s feet to the fire and make ourselves accountable to each other.