Tomorrow’s informal poll found people’s 2026 intentions weren’t necessarily about doing more, but rather being more present and intentional. 

Ah, the traditional New Year’s resolution—often fraught with unrealistic lofty promises and typically forgotten after a month or two.

Yet the annual tradition of goal or intention setting has never faded. The tone is just shifting—at least in the workspace and design world.

ROOM asked some of our go-to voices on the blog to share their New Year’s resolutions. The intentions were similar: calm and presence, wellness and positivity.

Screentime was a big focus for people this year. Tracy Brower, PhD and author of the upcoming book, Critical Connections: The Secrets to Happiness at Work and Bring Work to Life, realized she was picking up her phone and looking at it during red lights while driving. And she knew that screentime was a problem.

Brower’s New Year’s Resolution is to limit her screentime with mindfulness and the help of an app that introduces delays in her activity. “I can set a delay when I open certain apps and even set messages for myself,” she says. “I put apps in a folder on my third screen called ‘Is This Really How You Want to Spend Your Time?' designed to introduce friction and make me think twice before opening.”

She says she is also trying to not open her device for one hour after waking up. “There is research that your brain is most malleable then, so it's better to be analog in that time period.”

Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence, also intends to put the phone down for a goal of  “less screen time, more presence.”

“With two young kids, I’m realizing that attention—not hours—is the most limited resource I have,” he says.

Schwabel wants to be more intentional about how and when he uses screens, cutting out the noise so he can be fully present where it matters most.

“That means working smarter, not longer—being more efficient during the day so my time offline is actually offline. I’m not aiming for perfection or total disconnection, just better boundaries and clearer priorities. The goal for this year is focus, efficiency, and showing up—at work and at home—with more intention.”

Presence is also on the mind of Kay Sargent, director of thought leadership in HOK's Interiors group HOK, an engineering, architecture and design firm.

“In 2026, I commit to leading with presence rather than pressure,” she says. She will prioritize her own self-care while spending her time very intentionally on issues that matter.

“I want to focus on what I am leaving as a legacy for the next generation and give them space to achieve their goals and aspirations. I resolve to work smarter, not harder to demonstrate that high impact does not require high burnout.”

Dianna Murata, founder of office design and facilities management firm Kimiko Designs, says she doesn’t use resolutions as much as she tries to identify a theme, or a guiding principle. Hers included less over-functioning and more self-care, more focus on and fostering reciprocal relationships both personally and professionally, and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Lenny Beaudoin, who often offers workplace perspective as CBRE’s managing director of global strategy and design, says his 2026 resolution is convergence.

“In workplace strategy, this means integrating all aspects of experience—technology, hospitality, and design—to enhance placemaking,” he says. “Personally, convergence means aligning health, relationships, community, and work into a unified experience, rather than just balancing them.”

Amina Moreau, founder of Radious, a site that lets you book residential spaces for third workplaces, says her New Year’s resolution is to not have New Year’s resolutions anymore. “To just live my life intentionally every day,” she says.

Moreau came to this conclusion a few years ago after putting on a recurring monthly event that was labeled Day of Happiness— just to remind her that she could choose happiness. “It was supposed to be a reminder that I can choose how to respond to what life throws at me,” she says. “Then I had a realization that it's absurd to just have one day a month like that. Shouldn't I live that way every single day?”

Courtney Murphy, founder of WorkWell People Solutions, has a similar mindset for 2026.

“With political tensions, polarization, extremism and uncertainty in the U.S. right now, I want to be intentional to not succumb to negativity,” she says. “I plan to set a daily positivity intention upon waking, practice reframing when I have negative thoughts, seek out glimmers instead of triggers, practice gratitude, and aim to start ripples of positivity in my interactions.”

Brittney Riley, founder of coworking company Haven, offers a simple intention for 2026: to continue to find joy in the tiny moments. 

“It has been life changing to learn to focus on this as it is the only place where perfection truly lives,” she says. “The moments with my daughters are completely irreplaceable.”

Unlike a recent poll of American’s new year’s resolutions, which put exercise and being healthier at the top of the list, Tomorrow’s informal survey found the throughline wasn't ambition, but awareness and a quiet recalibration toward what already matters.