Today we're adding a new subcategory to one of this blog's recurring themes: the "untranslatables": words, phrases and expressions that I think are very clumsy to translate from Spanish into English or vice versa.

The other day I was looking around in El Corte Inglés (a very well known department store in Spain) and saw this:

Image description: photo of the cover of a weekly planner notebook by Mr. Wonderful, with a drawing of Mafalda (the famous comic strip character by Quino) flying, looking happy, and the following sentence: "¿Y si en vez de planear tanto VOLÁRAMOS un poco más alto?", which can be translated as: "what if, instead of planning/gliding so much, we FLEW a little higher?"

I thought it was a nice word play, although it only works in Spanish, where we use the same verb (planear) for planning and for gliding, instead of two distinct verbs like in English.

Still, I hope the idea is clear in both languages. My interpretation is that we often spend our lives making plans in our heads but then fall short when it comes to "flying", that is, taking action.

And in reality, the problem is not with planning, which is great, as long as it's done in the right amount. The danger, as usual, is going to the extremes, and either planning too much or too little. Like when we get stuck adding more and more details to the plan, continuously preparing and never seeing the moment to get started.

Or when we fall into wishful thinking (another untranslatable), declare our intentions of doing or achieving something, and think that that's enough planning and it's magically going to happen. Many of our New Year's resolutions also fall in this category, and then we get surprised when they don't last long: unless we turn them into a plan that's both motivating and realistic, all our good intentions are useless.

So my proposal for this New Year, which is already around the corner, is to quietly sit down with pen and paper and answer the following questions:

• In what area of my life do I want to "fly" more (or fly higher) in 2026?
• What specifically do I want to achieve this year?
• What steps / routines / systems do I have to set in motion in order to achieve that?

From there, elaborate an initial plan, just enough to get started, and then, most importantly, get started! Get on to it. The rest is just a matter of checking and adjusting as you go, based on the results you get along the way.

Happy 2026! Let's get flying...