Before You Plan 2026, Do This First.

Before You Plan 2026, Do This First.

Before You Plan 2026, Do This First.

Everyone's already focused on 2026 goals.

You know what most people skip?

Actually appreciating what they achieved and learned in 2025.

Here's something better. Takes about an hour. Way more valuable than another OKR doc.

Turn Your 2025 Achievements Into an Epic Tale

The key is picking a narrator style that actually sounds epic to YOU. It could be a movie trailer voice, a documentary narrator, whatever makes it feel legendary. For me, it's Baldur's Gate 2-I played it 2 decades ago and still remember Piotr Fronczewski's Polish narration. Absolutely epic.

Take this:

"Did 50 pushups without stopping for the first time"

Becomes:

"The Hero faced the Trial of Fifty-a test that had defeated them countless times before. Arms trembling, breath burning, doubt whispering surrender. But on this day, when muscle screamed and will faltered, they pressed onward. Thirty. Forty. The body begged for mercy. Forty-five. Forty-nine. And then... fifty. Victory. A feat worthy of legend, forged not in a single moment, but through every failure that came before."

Or this:

"Fixed the production bug that was crashing the app"

And turn it into this:

"A phantom haunted the kingdom-invisible, ruthless, striking without warning. Each night it returned, bringing chaos to thousands. The Architect hunted this specter through endless logs and twisted code, following trails that led to darkness. On the third sleepless night, deep in the bowels of the Ancient Codebase, they found it: one line, forgotten by time, poisoning all it touched. With a single strike of the keyboard, the curse was lifted. The realm knew peace once more."

Same achievements. Legendary telling.

Now imagine hearing that narrated by your favorite epic voice. Feel different?

How appreciation feels when you do it right.

Why This Works

We ship faster. Decide faster. Iterate faster. AI everywhere. Next quarter already planned.

And somewhere in all that speed, we forgot to pause.

Your team shipped 40 features this year. You survived a migration everyone doubted. You made hard calls that worked.

That was HARD. You did it.

When did you actually acknowledge that?

I spent a decade as Co-founder & CTO at Albacross, and I have never properly celebrated any of those years. Just: goal → next problem → next fire.

Turns out appreciation isn't weakness. It's strategic.

Looking back at what worked (and what didn't) gives you better data for planning forward. But you need to actually remember what you did first.

The epic narrator trick forces you to:

  • List what you accomplished (most can't)
  • Realize the impact was real (we minimize our wins)
  • Feel proud without cringing (humor gives permission)

Plus it's fun. And your kids will finally understand what you do for a living. 😉

How to Do It - Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: List Your 2025 Achievements

Open a doc and write down what you actually accomplished this year.

Include:

  • ✅ Big milestones (shipped product, raised funding, hit revenue target)
  • ✅ Hard problems solved (migration, refactor, critical hire)
  • ✅ Personal growth (learned new skill, stepped into new role)
  • ✅ Close calls (prevented disaster, fixed critical bug)
  • ✅ Team wins (culture built, conflict resolved)
  • ✅ Life outside work (ran a marathon, learned guitar, quality time with kids)

Work achievements matter, but you built other things this year too. Include them.

Don't filter yet. Just brain dump for 30 minutes.

Example:

- Fixed the phantom production bug that crashed us every night for a week (10k users affected, found it at 3am on the third sleepless night)
- Finally learned Docker after avoiding it for 2 years (now I deploy without fear)
- Talked Jenny off the ledge when she wanted to quit, helped her grow, watched her get promoted to senior
- Stopped the team from rewriting the entire platform (would've cost €500k and 6 months we didn't have)
- Shipped the AI thing everyone said wouldn't work (handles 60% of support tickets now)
- Ran my first 10k without stopping (yes, include life wins too)

Step 2: Use AI to Make It Epic

Copy this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini.

Pick your narrator: I use Baldur's Gate 2 style, but use whatever feels legendary to you-Lord of the Rings, Morgan Freeman, David Attenborough narrating your achievements like a nature documentary, whatever.

You are Piotr Fronczewski, the legendary narrator from Baldur's Gate 2
(Polish version). Rewrite my 2025 achievements in your deep, dramatic,
epic fantasy style.

STYLE:
- Use dramatic, cinematic language
- Transform boring technical terms into epic metaphors:
  * Bug → "The Beast", "The Phantom", "The Corruption"
  * Database → "The Ancient Archives", "The Data Realm"
  * Code → "The Ancient Text", "The Sacred Scripts"
  * Engineers → "Companions", "The Fellowship"
- Make it 70% epic, 20% archaic/dramatic, 10% humorous
- Keep specific numbers but make them sound legendary
- Paint pictures - make me SEE and FEEL the struggle
- Optimize for spoken word: rhythm, pauses, power

MY 2025 ACHIEVEMENTS:
[paste your list here]

Transform these mortal accomplishments into a LEGENDARY tale.

You'll get something like:

"In the year of 2025, a phantom haunted the production realm, striking fear into the hearts of thousands each night. The Architect hunted it through endless logs until, on the third sleepless night, the beast was found and slain with a single commit."

Step 3: Listen to It (This Is the Fun Part)

Don't skip this. Reading epic text is one thing. HEARING it narrated is what makes you actually feel it.

Go to ElevenLabs Reader (free tier available).

  1. Paste your epic narration
  2. Pick a dramatic voice that feels legendary to you
  3. Generate audio
  4. Listen

Hearing your year narrated like you saved kingdoms? That's the whole point.

You'll feel different about what you built.

Share it with your team. They'll love it.

The Psychology Behind It

Yes, it's silly. That's the point.

Here's why it works:

  1. Humor lowers resistance - We're trained not to brag. The ridiculous narrator voice gives permission to celebrate.

  2. Reframing changes perception - "Prevented catastrophe" vs "fixed bug" makes you realize the impact was real.

  3. Specificity reveals value - Forces you to remember what you actually did. Most of us can't.

  4. It's memorable - You'll remember the year you "saved the realm" more than "hit Q4 targets."

The Unexpected Bonus: Your Family Might Actually Understand Your Job

Here's something I didn't expect:

If you have kids who have no idea what you do all day, this actually helps.

"Dad prevented catastrophe and saved the realm" is way more comprehensible than "Dad optimized database queries for improved latency."

One sounds like a hero. Try reading your epic version to your kids. Watch their eyes light up.

Suddenly your job sounds cool.

What to Do With This

Once you've appreciated 2025, then plan 2026.

You'll plan better because you'll know:

  • ✅ What actually worked (not what you thought would work)
  • ✅ What was hard (respect the difficulty next time)
  • ✅ What made you proud (do more of that)
  • ✅ What you want to let go (stop repeating mistakes)

Appreciation isn't nostalgia. It's strategic reflection.

Looking back at what worked (and what didn't) gives you better data for planning forward. That's the strategic part-understanding your own patterns before setting new goals.

Try It Today

  1. List your 2025 achievements (30 min - everything that was hard)
  2. Make them legendary with AI (10 min - copy-paste the prompt)
  3. Listen to your epic year (10 min - don't skip this part)

Do it before you dive into 2026 planning.

Jakub Grzesiak

Jakub Grzesiak · Fractional CTO

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