What should I be doing next?

That’s exactly the question I tackle with my student, Marcella Garcia, in today’s Hot Seat Friday. And here’s the TLDR of the conversation: If you’re stuck asking, "What should I be doing next?," it usually means you’re not clear on two other questions:

1. What do you want to achieve and why?
2. What’s actually stopping you?

These are core components of the GO FAR framework, which is the foundation of all my work in the Arnold Academy, and in less than 25 minutes, I help Marcella go from complete lack of clarity to knowing exactly what she needs to do next.

Want to learn more about working with me and having your own Hot Seat session?

→ Click here to learn more about The Arnold Academy coaching & mentorship program

This mini-episode from my lastest Substack article is a quiet gut punch and a wake-up call. A single Christmas photo opens the door to the moments you never realize are the last ones, the traditions that end without warning, and the time we unknowingly trade away to screens, noise, and busyness. It’s not about doing more, achieving more, or optimizing your life, but about noticing what actually matters before it’s gone and asking a simple, uncomfortable question: what moments are you choosing to create while you still have the chance?

All that in more in my latest Substack → You are not lost. You are just asking the wrong question.

When you're done, I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

If you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, and if it feels like all the effort you've been putting in this year is not leading to the results you want, then I invite you to learn a little bit more about this thing called the plateau of latent potential, a concept from James Clear's Atomic Habits that I talk a whole lot more in today's Hot Seat with one of the students in the Arnold Academy, Rob Tovey.

After that, Rob and I shift gears to discuss how he can prioritize and clarify what his goals are for 2026, defining specifically what is that scary goal in work, and in life. We also explore how to prioritize attention from everything he could be doing to the things he should actually focus on.

Want to learn more about working with me and having your own Hot Seat session?

→ Click here to learn more about The Arnold Academy coaching & mentorship program