Every new year arrives with noise.

Gurus flood our social feeds with ultimate formulas, the one way to maximise your goals, smash your resolutions and finally make this your best year yet.

We are encouraged to declare that we will be better, faster, stronger, more successful.

Let’s face it: we are conditioned to measure our lives in outcomes – promotions earned, medals won, boxes ticked.

But as we step into 2026, I’ve been sitting with a different question: what will be your currency this year?

I recently listened to a Modern Wisdom podcast where George Mack spoke about the idea of high agency. In simple terms, high agency is the ability to make things happen rather than waiting
for life to happen to you.

It is clear thinking, resourcefulness and a bias toward action. High-agency people don’t wait for permission or perfect conditions. They move, adapt and figure it out as they go.

They focus on outcomes without obsessing over inputs. At first glance, it may sound like just another productivity mantra. But the more I reflected, the more I realised: high agency isn’t about
winning. It’s about responsibility. Ownership. Choosing how you respond when life gets uncomfortable.

And let’s be honest, anything of real worth should take us beyond our comfort zone.

That’s when another voice entered my thinking: Bear Grylls. He once said that what matters most is not how many awards you win or whether you’re ‘the best’. What matters is being courageous, being kind and being a never-giver-upper. Because winning is not the true currency of life.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Kindness is. Resilience is. The quiet decision to keep going is. High agency doesn’t mean bulldozing your way through life or chasing success at all costs. It means choosing courage when
fear would be easier. Choosing kindness when the world feels sharp and the critics are loud.

Choosing to get back up again and again, even when no one is watching and there’s no applause at the finish line. As we approach a new year, maybe the better question isn’t what I want to achieve, but who I want to be when things don’t go to plan.

In a world that rewards visibility and outcomes, choosing courage, kindness and perseverance can feel unremarkable. Yet these qualities are available to all of us, every single day. No titles required. No podium needed.

So as 2026 unfolds, let high agency be your mindset, the belief that you can act, choose and respond.

But let your currency be something deeper. Courage. Kindness. Resilience. And the refusal to give up.

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