We’ve all heard the idiom. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results.

Truth.

We’ve all done it.

And as I sit here again… on the first day of the year and look back at what happened in 2025…2024…2023 and what I want for my life in 2026 it’s uncomfortable.

More. Truth.

I’ve been expecting different results, but I’ve been doing the same old tired things.

So welcome to 2026 my friends and my new OLW (One Little Word). OLW is a concept. Instead of making a resolution, it’s choosing a word to serve as a framework. This word guides the direction I’d like my life to take in the coming year.

RESULTS.

I want different results and to do that. We start right here, right now and look at the old patterns square in the eye and we confront them. I have unwittingly taken something beautiful, a word of focus and relegated it to the despair of New Year’s Resolutions all neatly tucked away in the drawers of what might have been. Which really, makes this whole exercise futile. Doesn’t it?

But I want more than that.

I want to look back at this time next year and say well done Liz… well done.

I’m going to tell you a quick story… and then get on will driving to what I want to be this year. In my past, when I’ve not been a good shepherd of my resources and the bills would stack up and the calls would come… I would bury my head, right in the sand. If you don’t see it — it’s not there right?

Wrong.

The bills were still there, and the calls still came and my absolute phobia of answering the phone and checking the mailbox was as real as it gets. This past year, my husband and I separated while we work on our marriage. Both of us have things to sort out and get real with. Messes to clean and changes to make. Mine started with my home and financial life. I had to swallow a whole lot of pride and get help. My stepmom Carolyn came and spent a week with me for my birthday and saved me. I put my financial mess on the kitchen table, a stack of unpaid bills, an accounting of the money I make, and Carolyn got to work. Honestly, it only took a matter of a day or so before I had a well crafted budget and plan that I’ve been successfully navigating for three months. And by choosing to do something different, I stopped the insanity of financial fear and am getting different results. Now by no means am I 100% dialed in and fully executing all of the time, but I am better, and it is measurable progress.

So the results I want for this year…

Tithe 10% to my church.

Retire as much of my existing debt as possible.

Keep an emergency fund (and trust me, not EVERYTHING is an EMERGENCY)

To get a different result, you have to take different action. So welcome to #NoSpendJanuary. This month the “discretionary” spending is on pause. Similar to “Dry January” it’s a detox of my spending. The only money I can spend are budget dollars for household expenses, groceries, gas. I can spend gift cards… but my debit card is now on hiatus. Thanks so much to my Brandy for coming up with such a beautiful, slightly mad plan for getting me on the path for different results. I’ll be checking in. Doing better. Getting more intentional with my blogging so this time next year, I’m sitting in a place of fulfillment and satisfaction for a job well done.

Let me know what results you’re aiming for in 2026, I’d love to be your support!