Time to set the scene for 2026

Waking this morning, having just returned from a couple of days in London, I realise that just as I detest all the commercialism and jollity of Christmas, I actually enjoy the days that follow, when few are working and I can quietly reflect on the closing year, and plan how I will spend the one that is fast approaching.

For many years, I took this process very seriously, creating a complicated mind-map and setting targets for each area of my life and work. But it struck me that just as my wife’s parents would visit on Christmas Day and come with us for an afternoon walk, now we visit our son and go with him for a long walk. The generational wheel has made a full turn and now we are the old couple.

This reminder that I am no longer young, or even middle aged, adds some urgency to my planning. If my life follows the trajectory of my favourite uncle, who I’m told I resemble, I have 18 more years to go, of which no more than 15 will be useful, before infirmity confines me to the sofa, to await my end.

I also realise that while in the past, many of my goals were financial, if I had more money in the bank, my life would look no different as I Have no desire to fly first class, buy a Porsche of take up golf. So what targets can I set myself, if generating income is now longer my prime objective?

Of couse the answer is obvious, and I do not need a mind-map to work out that with a paperback out in March, a new book out in July, and a third now starting to take shape, I need to spend most of my time becoming a successful non-fiction author. I can focus my entreprenurial mind on writing, and promoting, books that make people think. I no longer need to plan as that will simply distract me from the task in hand.

So 2026 already looks to be a successful year, and one in which I will become more firmly established as a non-fiction author.