In this special year-end reflection, Lucy Brazier invites you to pause, take stock, and step into 2026 with intention rather than pressure.
As the year draws to a close, there’s always that quiet moment when we take stock. The emails slow down, the calendar starts to clear, and we finally have space to ask the questions we rarely stop long enough to answer. What did I achieve this year? What did I learn? What did I let go of?
For many of you, 2025 has been a year of enormous change. The role itself is in an acute state of change. You’ve adapted to new technologies, navigated organisational shifts, and supported leaders through this time of transformation. You’ve been the anchor in the storm who kept everyone, and everything calm. Yet if you’re honest, you’ve probably spent much of the year running from one demand to the next, with little time to reflect on what YOU need next.
Before we race into another packed calendar, let’s pause, resist the urge to write endless resolutions and instead set intentions, rooted not in pressure but in purpose.
Intentions, Not Resolutions
Resolutions are built on ‘shoulds.’ I should be more organised. I should learn a new skill. I should take more time for myself.
Intentions, however, come from choice. I want to feel calm and capable. I want to lead with confidence. I want to grow into my full potential.
One is driven by guilt., the other by growth.
And for Assistants, right now intention-setting shouldn’t be a luxury. When you set clear intentions, you shift from reacting to leading, from firefighting to future building. You become more deliberate in how you use your energy, where you spend your time, and how you define success.
So as you step into 2026, I invite you to make this your year of purpose, presence, and progress.
Ten Intentions for 2026: A Year of Purpose and Progress
These are not resolutions. They are invitations to grow, to lead, and to rediscover what makes your work matter.
Build Your Influence
This is the year to step forward as a strategic partner. Influence doesn’t come from your job title; it comes from your insight. Be curious. Ask thoughtful questions. Contribute perspectives that move conversations forward. When you consistently bring clarity and value, you’re no longer just supporting the room, you’re shaping it.
Master One New Technology
You don’t need to master every AI platform or automation tool. Just choose one that excites you and commit to learning it properly. Whether it’s Copilot, Notion, Power BI, or workflow automation, every skill you build strengthens your credibility. Every hour you save creates capacity for higher-value work. Mastery builds confidence, and confidence changes perception.
Create Systems That Sing
The best aAssistants don’t just manage systems, they design them. This year, look for one process that could run more smoothly and fix it. Simplify. Automate. Document. Then measure the result, time saved, errors reduced, smoother collaboration. That’s not admin work. That’s operational leadership.
Lead From Where You Are
Leadership is about taking the initiative. Mentor a junior colleague. Volunteer to lead a small project. Share a best practice with your team. Each act of leadership, no matter how small, expands your influence and strengthens your voice.
Grow Your Professional Brand
Your professional brand is already being formed by the way you show up, communicate, and add value. This year, take ownership of it. Update your LinkedIn profile. Engage with your network. Share a success story or insight from your work. Visibility isn’t self-promotion. It’s how opportunities find you.
Develop Your Commercial Edge
If you truly want to elevate your role, learn how your business makes money and how your work contributes to that success. Ask questions about revenue streams, strategy, and performance indicators. When you understand the bigger picture, you can connect your work directly to outcomes that matter. That’s what makes you indispensable.
Invest in Your Future
Choose one major learning experience this year that genuinely excites you, whether that’s a course, conference, or professional certification. Investing in your development is how you keep delivering at your best. Every new skill you gain strengthens your career and your confidence.
Strengthen Your Executive Partnership
Partnership doesn’t just happen. It’s built through communication, clarity, and trust. Set a quarterly alignment meeting with your executive. Discuss goals, challenges, and what’s changed. The aAssistant–executive relationship is one of the most powerful in business, but only if both sides nurture it intentionally.
Prioritise Your Wellbeing
Your energy is the foundation of your performance. Protect it. Set boundaries around your time and focus. Schedule true breaks. Treat recovery as part of your role, not a reward for completing it. Sustainable success starts with you being well, physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Celebrate Your Progress
Most aAssistants are so busy moving forward that they rarely stop to notice how far they’ve come. Start keeping a ‘wins’ list, of small triumphs, kind feedback, projects completed, and challenges overcome. By the end of 2026, you’ll have a record not just of what you achieved, but of who you became in the process.
Subhead: The Power of a Fresh Page
There’s something magical about the start of a new year:, a clean diary, a blank notebook, and the sense of a fresh start. But your intentions should be set not from a place of exhaustion. but a place of excitement. You don’t need to overhaul everything. You just need to choose what matters most.
Imagine ending next year able to say:
– You built systems that made life easier for everyone.
– You learned something that gave you confidence and time back.
– You strengthened your relationships and influence.
– You looked after yourself as well as everyone else.
That’s what sustainable success looks like. Not more work. More meaning.
A Final Thought
Your work shapes the culture around you. Every calendar you manage, every meeting you prepare, every piece of communication you refine, it all adds up to something much bigger. You won’t always see the difference you make, but it’s there. In the systems that run smoothly. In the leaders who think clearly. In the teams who trust that things will be taken care of.
That’s your legacy. That’s leadership in its purest form.
So as you turn the page into 2026, set intentions that excite you. Choose growth that feels good. Choose rest that restores you. Choose courage over comfort, and curiosity over complacency.
Because this isn’t just another year to get through. It’s another chance to step into your power as a modern administrative professional –, strategic, capable, and utterly unstoppable.
Here’s to your next chapter. May it be filled with clarity, courage, and career-defining moments.
