As the nation crossed into 2026, the annual ritual of New Year’s resolutions once again crowded our public discourse. The Philippine Government announces yet another reform agenda, our political leaders issue promises of change, and citizens renew long-held hopes. Yet experience, both personal and collective, instructs us that most resolutions do not endure. Studies show that only a small fraction of these intentions are ever fulfilled. The rest dissolve under the weight of vague goals, weak accountability, and the unwillingness to confront difficult structural constraints. They are more crucified on paper, rather than converted.
What is true of individuals is true of nations.
More than a decade ago, Gay Hendricks, in The Big Leap, described what he called the “upper limit problem”: the self-imposed barriers that prevent people and institutions from realizing their full potential. Progress, he argued, requires first acknowledging these limits and then deliberately transcending them, moving from incompetence, to competence, to excellence, and finally to what he termed the “zone of genius,” where purpose, capability, and responsibility converge.
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