Three Wishes for 2026
One of my favorite sports contacts, an elegant thinker, recently asked: is our seeming inability to retain information the way we used to just a function of “getting older”...or is part of it due to the digital devices (phones) via which we engage?
It was an excellent question, and I suspect the answer is a bit of both.
The way in which we consume information – particularly digitally – is often one of speed: rapidly skimming the surface. It’s a byproduct of how we receive our news, including entertainment and sports, a constant drip-drip of information as it plays out. What gets lost is the context, the time to process and understand in order to make bigger connections.
That’s what I think of as mind elasticity: to think beyond the immediate, to brainstorm ideas, to ruminate on problems and create solutions, or to make outside-the-box connections between events, ideas, and stories while providing those unique “ahha!” moments (even if they are just for myself).
The last year was a big one on a personal and professional level.
🎯I stepped into a new role at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport, where as part of the full-time faculty I’ve launched our sports diplomacy track and programming.
🎯I pivoted my consulting business to focus on helping others to better understand, communicate, and engage through sports diplomacy.
🎯I relocated back to New York City, after five years in the ski mountains of Vermont with long intervals in Paris.
💡I re-found my love of writing, and published this piece on my hoop dreams at Paris 2024 and this piece for TIME on the long history of U.S. sports diplomacy.
It was a bit of an overload (albeit overall in good ways) and I desperately missed the time to exercise my own mind elasticity. Instead, I found myself constantly engaged with digital content, emails, conversations, or other information-driven needs.
What I’m looking forward to in 2026 is creating more space for mind elasticity, making more memories, and remembering to look up and enjoy the moment.
This applies professionally — particularly with the three tentpoles I’m focused on this year: FIFA World Cup 2026, Franco-American relations around the 250th anniversary of the United States, and FIBA World Cup 2026 where the best female basketballers in the world will tipoff for global bragging rights and a chance for a podium finish.
But it also applies personally, too.
Wishing you a sparkling new year, one filled with memories, mind elasticity, and enjoying the moment.
Cheers to 2026!
