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One Word For 2026
This podcast is my public journal, where I share reflections on leadership, mindfulness, technology and culture.
INTERVIEWER: Welcome back to the How to Live podcast. Today we're sitting down with Kunal Gupta to discuss his unique approach to the new year—instead of setting goals, he chooses a single word to guide his entire year. Kunal, welcome back.
KUNAL: Thanks for having me. It's great to be here again.
INTERVIEWER: So, you were in Lisbon over the holidays, going through your journals from the past year. That sounds like such a reflective practice. What were you looking for as you read through them?
KUNAL: You know, it's funny—I wasn't really looking for anything specific. It's more like... I'm watching the story of my year unfold through my own handwriting. I can see patterns I missed while living through it. And I'm preparing for what's become my favorite ritual: choosing that one word for the year ahead.
INTERVIEWER: I love that. But I'm curious—you mentioned you stopped setting goals years ago. That's pretty counterintuitive in our goal-obsessed culture. What made you walk away from goals?
KUNAL: Yeah, I know it sounds strange. But I realized that goals made me really efficient—I'd move quickly toward something. But here's the thing: efficiency and effectiveness are not the same thing. Efficiency is about speed. Effectiveness is about direction, about moving toward what actually matters. And with goals, I found myself sometimes moving really quickly toward things that didn't really matter.
INTERVIEWER: Wow, that's such an important distinction. So the one-word practice is really about effectiveness—about figuring out what actually matters to you?
KUNAL: Exactly. It's become a way of identifying what feels true. Not what's out there in the world demanding my attention, but what's in here, in the quiet space where I actually live.
INTERVIEWER: That makes so much sense. You also wrote something really powerful about control—that we don't control what happens to us, but we do control the 'how.' Can you tell me more about what you mean by that?
KUNAL: Yeah, um, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I don't control what happens to me, or why certain events unfold the way they do. I don't control who enters or exits my life. I barely control when or where things occur. The one thing I have real control over is the how. How I show up. How I respond. How I make the hundreds of small and large decisions that, when I look back, compose what I call my life.
INTERVIEWER: And that's where your one word comes in—it's like a lens for all those decisions?
KUNAL: Exactly! It works like a compass. It doesn't tell me what to do. It asks me to bring some intentionality to the decision. And here's what I love about it—with goals, I always felt like I was serving them, working for them. With a one-word intention, the dynamic reverses. The word serves me. It supports me.
INTERVIEWER: I really want to hear about your word from last year—'inspire.' How did that actually show up in your life?
KUNAL: Oh, it was fascinating to see. Looking back, I can see how it functioned as a filter. It helped me become more intentional about the people I spent time with, the projects I took on, the places I went. I said no more than I ever had before.
INTERVIEWER: Really? That's interesting—I would have thought 'inspire' would lead to saying yes to more things.
KUNAL: Right? But it wasn't from a place of withholding. It came from a deeper connection to what actually inspired me, what made me feel alive and curious. I found myself seeking out new things—new people, new skills, new knowledge. I'd given myself permission to be inspired, and that permission changed the texture of the year.
INTERVIEWER: That's beautiful. And the year before that was 'flow,' which sounds like it was even more transformative?
KUNAL: Yeah, that one taught me about surrender, about letting go of my desire to control outcomes. The experiences that emerged from that intention became life-changing, completely altering my trajectory. Had I spent that year gripping tightly to some goal, pushing toward some predetermined outcome, I would have missed what actually wanted to happen.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so tell me about 2026. Your word is 'leverage.' How did you land on that?
KUNAL: It came to me through sleep, of all things! Over the past few weeks, I've been sleeping eight to nine hours a night consistently. This is not my norm—I've been a six-to-seven-hour person for as long as I can remember. And I feel rested, light, clear. I realized that improving my sleep might be the highest leverage thing I could do for my health. Not the supplements, not the biohacking protocols. Just sleep. More of it.
INTERVIEWER: Huh, that's such a practical insight. But I'm guessing leverage means more than just sleep for you?
KUNAL: Definitely. That insight opened something larger. Leverage, for me, is about working smarter rather than harder. Being more choiceful with how I apply myself. I have certain skills and strengths, and many more weaknesses and blind spots. I'm at a stage now where I need to evolve from trying to be adequate at many things to focusing on being excellent at a few things.
INTERVIEWER: That sounds like a real shift. What's driving that evolution for you?
KUNAL: You know, for years I could throw my energy at problems and opportunities. I was younger then, and brute force was easier. Now I don't have the same energy I once did. But I do have more skills, resources, experiences, and confidence. So the word 'leverage' reminds me to ask: where can I apply my limited energy for maximum impact? What deserves my attention? What can I stop doing because someone else could do it better, or because it doesn't actually need doing?
INTERVIEWER: I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling of not having unlimited energy anymore, but having more wisdom about how to use it. There's something really freeing about that perspective.
KUNAL: Yeah, exactly. It's like... I'm not trying to do less because I have to. I'm choosing to focus because I can.
INTERVIEWER: You've been doing this practice for twelve years now. When you look back at all those words, all those years, what stands out to you most?
KUNAL: What delights me most is when friends share their one word intentions with me, unprompted. When they've taken this practice and made it their own. There's something vulnerable about declaring a single word that captures how you want to grow, how you want to show up. And that vulnerability is part of what makes it work. Each year's word becomes my North Star, my anchor. And I can only see how it shaped the year in retrospect, when I'm reading through another year's journals.
INTERVIEWER: That's beautiful. Kunal, thank you so much for sharing this practice with us. I have a feeling a lot of listeners are going to be thinking about their own word for 2026 now.
KUNAL: I hope so. Thanks for having me.
INTERVIEWER: And to our listeners, thank you for joining us on the How to Live podcast. Until next time.