Twenty-six thoughts for 2026: Essentials for excellence

A refreshing 31,557,600 seconds in 2026 are with us.

- By Ajantha Dharmasiri

The sparkling spirit of a new year invites us not only to have brand new thoughts but to convert them into grand actions. As usual, people tend to have New Year resolu tions. My suggestion is to go beyond scant resolutions, to have specific reinforcements. As an appetiser for a productive new year, I would like to share twenty-six thoughts for 2026 as essentials for excellence, especially with the Sri Lankan managers in mind.Efficient

We all complain about lack of time. Even though there are seminars, workshops, trainings, and lectures on “time management,” we really cannot manage time. It is finite and fixed. Instead, what we can do is to “manage ourselves” in getting the best out of the given limited time. Only way to do that is to be efficient in our tasks. It involves minimising the wastages, reducing the defects, curtailing the deviations etc. Let us be efficient in the year 2026.

Effective

Being efficient is not enough. We can efficiently climb a ladder placed against the wrong wall. Effectiveness is results related. It deals with the outputs and the outcomes. That is where we need to begin with the end in mind. The mistake we make sometimes is trying to be super duper efficient, losing track of the larger goal. Let us be effective in the year 2026.

Empathic

As we know, empathy is getting into other’s shoes and walking like them. In other words, it means having the ability to look at a problem or an issue from the other’s frame of view. Sri Lankan managers and administrators can improve vastly on this. Rather than jumping to conclusions merely looking at one side of the story, a mature broad approach of being empathic is required. Let us be empathic in the year 2026.

Energetic