It’s January 19th.
If you’re staring at your "2026 Goals" list and already feeling a twinge of guilt, you’re not alone.
According to Forbes Health and a 2023 Statista study, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolutions. That means by the second week of January, most have already slid back into old habits.
Why?
Because a resolution is usually just a wish with a deadline attached.
As founders, we love big, hairy, audacious goals. We write down: “Double revenue.” “Lose 20 pounds.” “Stop checking email at night.”
But we rarely change the underlying machine that generates those results.
We try to bolt a Ferrari engine onto a Civic chassis and wonder why the car shakes apart by February
The Problem with “More”
Resolutions are almost always additive. You want to add a workout. Add a sales strategy. Add a new product line.
But if you're already capped on capacity—trapped in the Firefighter or Lone Wolf cycle—adding more isn’t ambitious.
It’s delusional.
As McKinsey’s 2023 report on Stress, Burnout, and the Scaling Founder shows, adding more without subtracting emotional and operational friction leads directly to founder fatigue, stalled growth, and team disengagement.
Your “Itty Bitty Shitty Committee” loves resolutions because they’re safe.
They let you feel productive without doing the scary work of identity shift and process reset.
The “Reset” Strategy (The Anti-Resolution)
Instead of a resolution, use this month to create a Strategic Reset.
A reset isn’t about dreaming up what you want to achieve.
It’s about being ruthlessly honest about what you need to remove.
Harvard Business Review’s “The Founder’s Dilemma: Scaling Beyond Yourself” nails it: most leaders don’t fail to grow because of external forces—they fail because they refuse to let go of the identity that got them here.
If you want 2026 to look different than 2025, don’t build a To-Do list.
Build a Not-To-Do List.
Here’s Your Challenge for the Week:
**1. Audit the Friction
**Where did you lose money, sleep, or key employees last year?
Don’t just write “Make more money.”
Write: “Stop doing $25/hr work that bleeds my profitability.”
The 2025 Founder Mental Health Index by Neurolaunch shows a direct correlation between founder overload and team turnover. The cost of not subtracting isn’t just missed goals—it’s burnout, talent loss, and another year stuck in reactive mode.
**2. Silence the Committee
**Your inner critic is whispering:
- “If I’m not grinding, I’m failing.”
- “Why am I so tired when I should have it all figured out by now?”
- “My team is grinding. I should be too.”
- “If I step away, everything will fall apart.”
Those are fear voices. But here’s the truth: You can’t grow a business from a place of fear. You can only grow it from clear intent.
**3. Commit to ONE Process—Not Ten Outcomes
**The 8% who succeed don’t fixate on the finish line.
They fixate on the daily systems that get them there.
If you want to double revenue, stop obsessing over the P&L.
Commit to offloading one operational task per week until you are finally free to do the actual work of a CEO.
And remember when you are unclear, your team moves slower.
When you subtract noise, you scale leadership—not just output.
Stop Wishing. Start Subtracting.
Resolutions are for people who hope things will get better.
Strategic resets are for founders who intend to make things better.
Give yourself permission to subtract this year.
Let go of the clients, the mindsets, and the low-impact tasks that are clogging your system.
If this landed for you, forward it to a founder who’s drowning in ‘more.’
This is the conversation they aren’t having—but should be.
Want Help Spotting Your Friction?
Most founders know they’re stuck.
They just can’t see exactly what’s slowing them down.
That’s why I created the [Growth Ceiling Audit]—a free 5-minute diagnostic that helps you locate the invisible bottlenecks holding you back.
No resolutions. No noise. Just clarity.
