Get Your Ducks In A Row
The mentality I will be taking in to 2026
Sitting behind me as I write these words is a embarrassingly dusty bookshelf and a tonne of well-read books. A good portion of those are non-fiction/self-help from a period of lapping up every bit of personal development wisdom I could find. Most of the popular tomes you have heard of from your favourite (or least favourite) thought-leader I have likely read at some point.
Self-help is a type of book I have veered away from the last couple of years however for one simple reason. It’s literally the same few messages repackaged in a different way a thousand times over.
I have come to refer to that message as “get your ducks in a row”. A message I find I have to give myself and remind myself of often.
My favourite few non-fiction books as an example - Dan Charmas “Work Clean”, Oliver Burkemans “4000 weeks”, Greg McKeowns “Essentialism” and “Effortless”, Cal Newports “Digital Minimalism”, James Clears “Atomic Habits”. As much as I love these books, the message I take away from all of them is about stripping things back and doing the basic and (often) most obvious things well.
Unfortunately myself and doing the basics well have had a turbulent relationship. It turns out I am not a natural duck herder, and my ducks are all over the fucking place.
Not revising at school and then wondering whey my exam results were not as good as they could have been. Not putting the time in to consistently write, and then wondering why essays are not appearing on my Substack. Not tidying the house and then cursing when its a mess. Not exercising and then wondering why I am putting on weight.
See I am happy to fall into the trap of thinking about the more glamorous and exciting things that come later. I will spend days perfecting the exact topics and long term strategy of what I want to write, and how it’s all going to piece together in some master plan that will see me on my way to success, yet I will neglect the one thing that will actually move the needle.. Writing some words.
I will fall down rabbit holes of curating the perfect lifting routine based on research and science that will have the maximum affect but I struggle to go outside and lift the weights. Even something as simple as dropping to the floor and doing fifty push ups each day would get me exponentially further to the end goal than my inaction and overthinking.
At work, I can spend time chasing and researching the new technologies and novel ways to save age old problems rather than getting shit done.
But this is all a facade. It’s the same as all of these self-help books that regurgitate the same message a million times over. It’s not that I or you or we don’t know that these things are helpful - it is obvious - but actually having the discipline to sit down and be real with yourself about doing the unglamorous work is everything.
Maybe this plain straight talking advice doesn’t really sell well. It’s not sexy, it’s not exciting. People look for the magical routine that will solve all their problems and bestow them with unlimited riches and success and they will forever be the envy of others. This is why I believe we have so many different flavours of the same piece of advice.
For me, I am in my best place mentally when I am focusing on making sure all bases are covered and that the simple things are being done to a high standard - probably because I can see that things are getting done and that I am moving in the right direction. It might seem overly simplistic, but I am surprised everytime I catch my ducks getting out of line and I need to resort to falling back to these things, just how powerful they actually are.
This means:
Eating healthy.
Exercising regularly.
Keeping my physical and digital spaces tidy of clutter.
Setting goals each morning, and getting them done.
Spending time to write each morning.
Spending time to read each morning.
If you do those things, these few simple things in and throughout 2026, I guarantee you you will be ahead of the majority of people.
Get the basics sorted. Do them well.
Get your ducks in a row.