2026 Is the Year of the Try: Here’s How to Actually Live Like It
🗓️ LEX NIKO POSTED TO THE GROUP CHAT FEB 26, 2026
CAREER & PERSONAL BRANDING | LEADERSHIP & IDENTITY | COMMUNITY, NETWORKS & SOCIAL CAPITAL
I wrote a newsletter about how 2026 will be The Year of The Try. Because I’ve noticed we’ve spent the last decade pretending effort is cringe and desire is distasteful.
And I’m so tired of that narrative.
So 2026 marks a clean break. TRYING IS SO BACK!
Here’s how you can actually participate.
1. Start Here: Name What You Want
Say what you want and say it out loud.
You’re not tempting fate. You’re signaling intention to yourself and to the world. The discomfort you feel? That’s old conditioning fading into the distance.
2. Stop Preemptively Editing Yourself
If you hear a voice saying “people will judge this” before you even act then yes, it’s time to break the cycle. Don’t cut yourself off before you’ve even started.
2026 rewards people who move. Done is better than perfect. And it’s more important to start than to feel ready.
3. Rebrand “Trying Too Hard”
“Trying too hard” is just code for you didn’t hide your ambition well enough.
Effort is not something to downplay, it’s literally the whole point. The culture is done rewarding self-deprecation. We want hunger. We want delusion. And if someone says you’re trying too hard, you’re probably doing it right.
4. Campaign for Yourself Like It’s Normal (Because It Is)
In 2026 we champion for our work. We follow up. We build in public. We cheer others on.
This is clarity we’re moving forward with. In an unstable attention economy, intention is the differentiator.
5. Expect Vulnerability
Trying openly feels vulnerable. But you're not doing it wrong because it feels scary. You’re doing it right because it does.
Confidence in 2026 isn’t about pretending you don’t care. It’s about caring so much, being scared and the willingness to be seen anyway.
Let this be your permission slip, but also your assignment.
Want things and say so.
Try in public. Root loudly for others.
Be scared and do it anyway.
In 2026 we are moving with intention. Trying is cool again. Let’s act like it.
