This story is part of our January 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

I’ve been thinking about the various catch phrases of self-discovery that we’ve heard through the years, like “What’s your thing?” “What’s your sign?” and “What’s your passion?” Each is intended to encourage us to get in touch with ourselves.

Sometimes it’s not a bad idea for an entire region to get in touch with itself — and for that, I turn to a favorite quote from the late educator and writer Stephen Covey, whose simple but direct point for businesses and individuals was to focus on “the main thing.”

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” he wrote in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” That may sound slightly comical at first — but he was stressing the importance of focusing on attainable goals based on our figuring out what was actually important to us, our work, our family and our community. So I ask: In this new year, how do we make the main things we care about the main things we pursue and act on? What resonates with you on that subject?

A personal main thing would be very different from a family’s main thing, a city’s main thing, a region’s main thing, a state’s main thing or a country’s main thing. For me, the Lord is my main thing, seconded by my integrity as a human being, then my personal health, my family and my business — these are all main things. For my family, the main thing is helping one another become the best we can be and to support each other wherever and whenever possible.

For our cities, state and country, the main thing to me is law and order. Without it, you have chaos, unruliness and the demise of human respect for one another. I often wonder if we’re losing some of that.

It’s no surprise that pride and ego (the twin causes of the leading character’s undoing in Greek and Roman tragedies) are behind many people’s main thing. Can we minimize those distractions? What would our main thing look like? Would we all get along, conduct our politics and business in the sunlight instead of in dark rooms, tell the truth even when it’s painful to hear and accept the responsibility for it when something we do has a negative effect on our friends, family, company and community?

As I’ve written before, I have a sign in my office that says “Health isn’t everything, but without it, everything is nothing.” That statement says it all  for me and is certainly a main thing. After all, what’s left when your health is gone and money can’t buy your healing?

I ask these questions of myself just as I ask them of our leaders, elected and otherwise. Where do we, the Capital Region, as a group of counties, cities, towns and villages, put our priorities? What’s the main thing for us? After all, our region is the capital of the fifth-largest economy in the world (down from fourth-largest as of October 2025). Do we, however, actually trust the people we elect to represent our best interests to the best of their abilities? Put another way, are we our leaders’ main thing? Or is their main thing running for one office after another, playing endless musical chairs to combat term limits which, Heaven forbid, might cause one of them to have to go out and actually find a civilian private sector job, one that demands genuine results instead of “playing the game” required to please some well-heeled contributors while maintaining the status quo?

So, how do we make the main thing the main thing, as Covey puts it?  Maybe we do it by asking a lot of questions. Here are eight for us to consider:

• How do we enhance the quality of life for our citizens?
• How can we educate our children for the future?
• How can we protect the environment?
• How can we protect the quality of life for our seniors?
• How can we maintain the robust economy we have here in spite of all the changes going on elsewhere in the country?
• How can we make our population healthier?
• Today, young people are stressed about job opportunities. How can we help them?
• What defines us as a region — and where do we want to take ourselves? In short, where do we fit in, and how do we remain resilient?

In planning for this new year and the years to come, we need to brainstorm questions we should be asking ourselves — maybe through town halls, forums or the universities. (Valley Vision works on many of these kinds of issues.) Maybe we look back and see what’s worked for us in the past — how did we succeed? We debated and brought about The Railyards, Aggie Square, the MIND Institute, the resurrection of McClellan and Mather AFBs as business parks. Citizens United kept the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, which brought in a new sports arena for downtown. Going back even further, we came together to create SMUD, our own public utility.

We’ve worked together on many issues, thinking through the challenges and coming to a consensus. By keeping the main thing the main thing, we’ve accomplished a lot. Where should we put most of our effort this year? What thoughts do you have on the topic? Please let me know. Because as I hope is clear by now, over 36 years after the founding of this magazine, for this publisher, our readers are the main thing. I wish you a wonderful 2026!

Winnie Comstock-Carlson
President and Publisher

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