Podcast Summary: BigDeal with Codie Sanchez

Episode #110: How To Set Goals For 2026 That You’ll Actually Follow Through On
Date: December 30, 2025
Host: Codie Sanchez

Overview

This episode features Codie Sanchez breaking down her personal, hard-won approach to setting (and sticking to) ambitious life and business goals for 2026. Codie shares her five-step process—distilled from 15 years of practice—integrating insights from icons like T.S. Eliot, Dave Chappelle, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, and Sam Walton. The focus: set audacious “explorer” goals, design life’s “gravity” to pull you toward them, and execute with ruthless clarity and consistency.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Big, Ambitious Goals

• Codie opens by urging listeners not to relive 2025, but to “change the way you plan for goals and execute on them.” (00:00)
• References to T.S. Eliot: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
• The concept of “goal gravity”—your big goal acts like a planet pulling your actions and priorities into its orbit. Small goals lack the magnetic force for real change. (03:15)
  • “Write down a goal, but make it fucking big.” [Codie Sanchez, 04:00]

Explorer vs. Exploiter Mindset

• Codie differentiates between Exploitation (refining the status quo for small gains) and Exploration (pursuing untried paths for breakthroughs).
  • “Right now, almost everything—schools, jobs—nudge us towards being better exploiters … And that’s okay until you realize your whole business or life is built on habits you stopped questioning years ago.” [06:30]
• Advocates for choosing the explorer’s path for real life transformations.

Codie’s Five-Step Process for Goal Setting

1. Regret Minimization Framework (Jeff Bezos-inspired) [09:10]

   • Ask: “When I’m 80, will I regret not trying this?”
   • Focus on irreversible direction, not annual targets.
   • “Your first question in goal setting is: What will you regret?” [Codie, 10:45]

2. Naming Your Year [12:10]

   • Give each year a memorable theme and sentence.
   • Examples: “2024, my full send year … This year was the year of flow.”
   • “If you name it, you can frame it. And if you frame it, then you can actually achieve it.” [Codie, 13:00]
   • Codie invites listeners: “Tell us in the comments: what is your year and your one-sentence vision?”

3. First Principles & Backwards Timelines (Elon Musk-inspired) [15:00]

   • Start from what is physically/legally possible, then set the desired endpoint and reverse engineer how to get there.
   • On “can’t”: “Can’t only means it’s illegal, it’s physically impossible, or it is against some sort of contractual terms … Otherwise, that’s just a preference or a resource issue.” [Codie, 16:10]

4. Bucket Categories & Sacrifice [19:00]

   • Codie sets goals in key categories: Relationships, Work, Travel, Fun.
   • Write down explicit sacrifices required to hit goals.
   • “My first [goal] is always my relationship… Then work… Then travel… Then fun.” [Codie, 19:30]
   • Example relationship goal: “We’re happy and we argue well. I think it’s ridiculous to think you’re not going to argue. Just learn to argue fairly.” [20:30]

5. Anti-Goals & Ruthless Focus (Warren Buffett’s 5/25 Rule) [25:10]

   • List your top 25 long-term goals, then circle the top five, and “avoid the other 20 at all costs.”
   • “More goals equals more failure…” [Codie, paraphrasing Buffett, 26:00]
   • Codie keeps “More Of / Less Of” lists annually, identifying what to increase and what to subtract (e.g., “less respect seeking,” “less silly partnership deals,” “more big swings,” “more fun”).

Daily Execution and Measurement

• Codie highlights Sam Walton’s approach: make goals obsessively measurable and track daily.
  • Example: Walton set daily numeric targets (“sales per square foot, inventory turnover …”) and personally quizzed managers: “What is your goal today? Not this quarter—today.” [34:30]
• Codie uses the Streaks app to track habits and urges listeners to “obsess on the thing you want every single day.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you don’t take the right steps to hit [your big goal], you will never have the life that you want.” [Codie Sanchez, 03:40]
• “Most people never go big and they do what I call exploitation instead of exploration.” [Codie, 05:45]
• “What will your soul scream at you for not having tried?” [10:53]
• “If you name it, you can frame it. And if you frame it, then you can actually achieve it.” [13:00]
• “Can’t only means it’s illegal, physically impossible, or contractually forbidden... Otherwise, it’s just a preference or a resource issue.” [16:10]
• “Write down these 25 [long-term goals], circle the top five, and avoid the other 20 at all costs… if you’re actually serious about the top five, you have to be completely relentless of cutting the bottom 20. This is called ruthless focus.” [Codie, 26:20]
• “The world requires subtraction.” [27:20]
• “What are you tracking every day to make sure you know the scoreboard?” [32:20]
• “Your life is going to be your daily actions multiplied and compounded.” [35:10]

Five Patterns of Effective Goal-Setters [37:00]

1. Set far fewer goals—two or three directional goals.
2. Goals are binary, not incremental: audacious, life-shaping decisions—“Make life multi-planetary,” “Become a mom,” “Grow your business.”
3. Use time horizons that scare people: multi-year, decade-plus, or “forever” goals.
4. Don’t confuse goals with tasks: set direction, build systems.
5. Document and track everything: “What gets measured gets managed.” (Peter Drucker reference)

• “It takes 21 days to create a habit. But I think it takes 90 days to create a totally different lifestyle. Start your timer. It is now day one.” [39:05]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–03:15: The case for changing your approach to goals for 2026; “goal gravity” & inspiration from Eliot/Chappelle
• 06:30–09:10: Exploiter vs. explorer; why we need to be explorers for breakthroughs
• 09:10–15:00: The 5-step process—regret minimization (Bezos), naming your year, first principles (Musk)
• 19:00–25:10: Bucket-style goal categories, explicit sacrifices, Codie’s personal examples
• 25:10–27:20: Anti-goal and ruthless focus (Buffett 5/25), more of/less of lists
• 32:20–35:10: Daily execution, measurement, and the Streaks app for habits (Sam Walton)
• 37:00–39:10: Five patterns of the world’s greatest goal-setters; how to make habits and lifestyle changes permanent

Episode Tone

Codie's delivery is energetic, honest, and direct—mixing practical tactical advice (“steal my homework”) with candid admissions of her own failings and wins. She sprinkles in humor, personal anecdotes, and a tough-love attitude: “You are not that person. This podcast will kick you in the shin with truth and tactics they should have taught us but gatekept.” The episode feels like a motivational nudge from a friend who's walked—and measured—the walk.

Takeaway

To set and hit your 2026 goals, go big, be relentlessly focused, and make your daily actions measurable and non-negotiable. Identify what you’ll regret not doing, name and frame your year, reverse engineer from the ultimate outcome, cut distractions ruthlessly, and track progress every single day. Start your timer: it’s day one.