How to Override Your Brain's Resistance and Achieve Your Biggest Goals in 2026

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 265. If you are like me, it is likely you are in the midst of trying to figure out what is happening in 2026. Maybe you're doing a mix of relaxing, reflecting, tidying your home, getting ready to go back to work full steam, and thinking about what you want from this year and from yourself. And that would make you like so many millions of other people around the world. So you are in good company. I thought I would take this episode to share with you the reasons why sometimes change and creating change can feel beyond us and how to get past that kind of resistance so that this year, the beautiful 2026, can be the year that you shine. Let's go listen to this episode together now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:05]:
Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:32]:
When you start living within your full.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:35]:
Power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:48]:
So I hope the New Year's energy and good feelings are with you still. I think I'm going to plan my episodes for this January to really be in the theme of new beginnings and changes and doing things in a way that is very sane and successful for each of us. So today I thought I would create this mini episode. It's an episode about why getting things done and changing our habits can feel more difficult than we even think and the way around that difficulty. So I believe the reason we fail to get things done is that we are all telling ourselves stories. We overlay our personal beliefs, our stories, our feelings about how difficult things are, how much time things take, how things are too burdensome for our current energy level. We overlay those kinds of stories onto our to do list or our goals. And then what happens is we forget what we actually want to see in our lives.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:06]:
We forget that we have big goals that we're interested in accomplishing. And what we do is we end up quitting. We end up trying and then failing because we're not consistent and because we're believing our own stories that we don't have what it takes. We don't have enough time, we don't have enough energy, and we're not the right people for the job. But then what happens is, I would say, somewhat sad. We end up living with, tolerating and accepting the original situation, the one that we actually wanted to get out of the less preferred circumstances. And I'm just thinking, the year 2026 is going to be different for all of us. We're going to take this year and decide maybe it's not a radical transformation, but it is certainly not going to be a year where we just accept the same old, same old, the same stuff that we really weren't happy with in 2025.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:13]:
And of course, 2025 wasn't all bad. So we need to leave 2025 with gratitude, but come into 2026 with really a transformational attitude about what we're able to do with our days. Just a single day can really hold giant possibilities of transformation. When you believe that, when you live that, when you practice that your year has changed already. So even though it's the beginning of the year, it's a perfect time for you to decide, why am I going to stay with the old stuff? I don't need to. The new year really works for millions of people as an opportunity to say, I'm going to bypass all of my old thinking because everybody else is trying to, and I'm going to bypass my old habits because I have some downtime, because it's winter, because I say so, and then try some new things on. The whole pattern of staying with what is not preferred, the old habits, is really why I oftentimes mention physical clutter and the importance of getting physical clutter taken care of so often. Because the whole reason why we tolerate clutter is because we're sticking with those old beliefs that we don't have time, that other things are more important, that we don't have the energy, that we don't have the space to fit in things, that other people have given us this stuff.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:53]:
So we can't give it up. But again, the beginning of the year is this wonderful time to say, enough with my old self, enough with my old belief patterns and systems, enough with feeling like I'm stuck holding onto stuff that I actually do not want. So the backstory of this episode is that I was going through some piles of clothes in my own bedroom, in my own home. This particular set of piles included unworn clothes, slightly old clothes, slightly not my size anymore, clothes and clothes that were really not appealing to me in the slightest. I Was just tired of them. And I've been feeling lately my wardrobe needs a total overhaul, but that's another issue. But this pile was really not making me very happy. And I was sorting through and getting some stuff out of the way.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:56]:
But I was realizing that my brain was still making arguments for keeping these tattered, old, unworn, unstylish on me clothes. And I thought that was really interesting because I was in this pile of clothes, because I had this expressed interest that I was going to be ruthless with my decluttering this January period. So even when I was completely feeling committed, my brain was coming at me with thoughts of, oh, you paid a lot of money for that. Oh, that is a reasonable piece of clothing. Oh, maybe you can lose some pounds and fit into that item after all. And I thought that was interesting enough to talk about here. It really shows us that our brains are really trying to help us manage, help us to stay alive, and help us to maintain the status quo. And if you don't know what status quo means, status quo just means the current scenario, because the brain knows you can survive the current scenario because you are currently living in the current scenario.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:12]:
The brain knows that I'm not going to die if I just shove this pile of old, tattered clothes back into my dresser drawer. But it is worried that if I do something new, like toss all these clothes, I might experience some stress. That will just be the end of me. Now, we all know, hopefully, that sorting clothes and sorting clutter is not a life and death scenario, thank goodness. But sometimes we act like it is. Sometimes we think I'm just going to collapse if I have to sort anymore or if I have to make these decisions anymore, because these decisions actually do drain our energy. And again, our brain, our brain's main task is to make sure we're not wasting our energy, depleting our energy to the point where we don't have enough to survive. So how do we work around this brain setup situation? And how do we get through this pile of clothes that is really just begging us to get through it? What we do is we decide consistently that we are safe.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:28]:
First of all, we're not in any threat of dying, thankfully. And we are also going to do something more. We are going to override our. Our brain's belief that we should keep things the same. Instead of keeping things the same, we are going to say, I am choosing my happiness and I am choosing my chosen goal instead of sticking with my old habits. I will repeat that because it is super important for transformation. You are going to tell your brain, I am going to choose my happiness and I'm going to choose my chosen goal over sticking with the status quo. When you do this, when you tell yourself what to do, when you do this consistently, you will have less clutter, not just physical clutter.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:23]:
You will have less emotional clutter, less schedule clutter, less mind clutter. And you're going to have less worry because you will be taking action steps towards the things and the situations and the life circumstances that actually make you happy. And we all know that our brains, as much as they're our biggest supporter, also sometimes make us really unhappy with thoughts of catastrophe, with thoughts of I'm not good enough, with thoughts of self doubt. So we need to make peace with the fact that our brain isn't always working for us for our highest goals, but we also have to side with ourselves in a really deep, meaningful and consistent way. I keep using the word consistent today because you can't just do this in one day. It's not just one pile of clothes, right? So we really need to check in with ourselves every morning. I now journal to myself, with myself, for myself, every single morning, at least for the few days that we've had in January 2026. And I am sticking with this habit because it is keeping me grounded, it is keeping me real, it is keeping me safe, and it is keeping me feeling like I've got this year under control.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:50]:
I've got my goals in view and I'm not going to let go of my bigger goals. And believe you me, my goals are not just to declutter my home and my clothes. My goals are really big this year and they go way beyond clothing. So let me know how this translates for you in your life. What is one master plan goal that you have for this year that is not going to overwhelm you, but it is going to inspire you, it's going to stimulate you, it's going to keep you consistent, it's going to keep cropping up in your journal entries. Think for a while what is important for you to achieve, to see, and to make happen this year? This is the blessing of January. And of course things can change way before January 31st of this year. But things might also change for the better.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:48]:
Things might change in the direction of you becoming a person who lives by their dreams, lives by their words, and lives by their plans. I really hope that for you and I hope that you find that it's not difficult, that it's actually really what you've been craving all along. If you would like a beautiful free download that goes with this lovely New Year's message, I invite you to go to MakeTimeforSuccesspodcast.com/reflection again. Go to maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/reflection and you'll get that free download to work through your own thoughts about what you need this year. Remember, you can change yourself for any reason at any time and you can take your turn and think about what you want right now. I've already done my thinking for this year. Now it's your turn. What will you decide to change? Not because you feel like you are not enough, but because you truly desire this kind of change.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:03]:
Who do you want to become? What identity do you wish to bring to the surface? What practices do you want to start? What practices do you want to continue? What practices do you want to say goodbye to? This is all yours to consider, but know that indecision is not going to get you very far, but taking action steps really will get you there. And after all, this is a new beginning for you to enjoy. I'm going to read to you something that I wrote when I was jotting down notes for this episode and I think I'm going to make this a mini practice for the podcast this year where I will write down some things and I will read that aloud and then I invite you to read along with me and repeat what I'm saying as affirmations to yourself for your power and your potential. I choose to side with the part of me that understands that my choices matter, that my choices open up opportunities and that my time is truly precious and priceless. I move forward with confidence in myself that I can handle what is coming. And not only that, I can really learn to be more deeply myself. As I learn how to navigate what comes my way and what I choose, I understand that I will always be supported when I back myself, when I follow my intuition and what I desire to wish and see, and when I remember to add fuel to my passions every day. The timeline may not be fully in my control, but the direction I travel in surely is.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:59]:
I hope you enjoyed this episode. I look forward to bringing you the next one next Thursday. Make sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review for the show if you haven't already. I would love that and please make sure it's a five star review. Of course, of course. I'll see you next week. Thanks so much. Bye.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:18]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also Visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mention on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episode you've been listening to, and let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.