Hello Friends,
It’s that time of the year when you are thinking about goals, intentions, and habits for 2026.
For many, motivation is high right now, fuelled by possibilities of what could be radically different this year. Others have stepped away from goals and resolutions altogether, content to be carried along by how things unfold.
I find myself somewhere in the middle of these extremes. I don’t have new goals that I’m setting this year, as I continue to work towards the goals and habits I’ve set over the past few years.
That’s very boring. I agree.
In 2025,
- I’ve meditated all 365 days of the year, with my daily average session time being 54 minutes.
- I’ve read 54 books, with an average length of 313 pages.
- I’ve tracked every single paisa I’ve spent, meticulously logging 1,413 financial transactions.
I’ve never been known as a disciplined person by my family, or even friends, until a couple of years ago. I enjoy variety, I get bored very easily, and I’ve found it hard to sustain routines. And yet, here I am in 2026, noticeably more consistent than I was at the beginning of 2025.
Today, we’ll explore the principle that proved to be my game changer for how I work towards my goals.
Enjoy the read!​
​Siri🌱🌀
The Observer Effect
What if you could significantly reduce your reliance on discipline, willpower, motivation, and self-control to move towards your goals this year?
It sounds outrageous, doesn’t it?
The Observer Effect has been the principle that helped me build habits and achieve my goals.
In its essence, the observer effect refers to a phenomenon where the act of observing or measuring behaviour changes the behaviour itself.
This is a well-documented finding in behavioural psychology. Research shows that simply measuring behaviour, or even asking about a person’s intentions, can influence what they do next.
Systematic reviews and intervention studies consistently find that self-monitoring (for example, recording food intake, physical activity, or weight) predicts better behavioural and health outcomes.
The act of measurement alters behaviour.
If there is one thing you could do in 2026 to improve your chances of meeting your goals without relying on willpower or self-control, it is this: self-monitoring.
If you want to lose weight this year, track your food intake by keeping an eating log (not calories or protein targets).
If you want to increase your physical activity, track your steps or exercise sessions (not whether you hit a perfect 10,000 every day).
If you want to be more productive at work, track the time you are actually working (not the number of hours you are in the office or “available” to your team).
If you want to reclaim your attention from devices, track your screen time and app usage daily (not just an occasional glance).
If you want to manage your money better, track every single rupee that comes in and goes out (rather than relying on automatically generated app reports).
If you want to reduce your consumption of outside food, track how often you order from Swiggy or Zomato.
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The key here is not optimisation or judgment, but bringing the data into awareness.
Turning Automatic into Intentional
In today’s high-tech world, much of this data is already available to us. We only need to open our apps to see it.
But we rarely engage with the data intentionally.
As a result, even though the data is being tracked and stored, it often fails to create any meaningful behaviour change.
What works more effectively is manual tracking. Log your data yourself in a spreadsheet or a notebook. Open the app, look at the numbers, and write them down for each day.
This year, my goal is to manage my eating better so that I am nourishing myself, rather than relying on willpower or deprivation.
I started tracking my food on November 15th. I made very few conscious changes, but the simple act of logging what I ate each day changed my food choices over time.
I had assumed I was eating well most of the time, but once I started tracking, I realised I was eating properly about 40 percent of the time, not 90 percent as I had imagined.
That awareness has carried over into my daily life and begun to shift my behaviour around food.
Behaviour changes not because we force it to, but because we finally see it.
The observer effect doesn’t guarantee change. It creates the conditions where change becomes possible, often without effort.
Try this
In 2026, pick the one goal or habit you want to achieve or put in place. Track it. Not the outcome, but the behaviour, process, and input that feeds into that goal.
The observer effect can sometimes bring up shock or discomfort, which can tempt you to stop tracking altogether.
If you would like to explore this more deeply and give yourself the best chance of succeeding with your goal, I invite you to book a coaching conversation with me.
Siri’s Pick
I’ve returned to mindfulness teachings after a year’s break, and lately I’ve been exploring the work of Dipa Ma, a prominent Indian Vipassana teacher. Her teachings are known for being direct and deeply experiential. Dipa Ma says, “Awareness is curative.”
Harnessing awareness in our everyday lives can quietly ignite the change we want to see.
Bye for now.
Siri 🌱🌀
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