Every January, leaders promise themselves some version of the same thing:
This year, I’ll finally have things under control.
It’s an understandable goal—and a fragile one.
Reality doesn’t wait long to interfere. Priorities shift, plans bend, people surprise you. The illusion isn’t that you planned poorly. It’s that control was ever the point.
Which is why these three New Year’s resolutions are worth breaking early.
Resolution #1: “I’ll have everything planned.”
Planning helps you start, but it doesn’t help you stay steady. When leaders over-invest in plans, they often under-invest in themselves. The result is constant re-planning, second-guessing, and decision fatigue.
What works better is planning enough—and conserving energy for what happens when the plan inevitably breaks.
Resolution #2: “I won’t be caught off guard.”
Surprises are unavoidable. What isn’t unavoidable is how draining they feel. Leaders who expect certainty tend to burn energy fighting reality—getting frustrated, reactive, or overly involved.
Leaders who expect uncertainty use their energy differently. They stay calmer, decide faster, and give their teams something far more valuable than answers: stability.
Resolution #3: “I’ll stop being the bottleneck.”
Trying to remove yourself from every decision is exhausting. So is being pulled into all of them. The real shift happens when you protect your energy for the moments where your presence actually creates clarity and confidence.
Availability isn’t leadership. Intentional presence is.
The resolution that actually matters
You don’t lead by controlling outcomes. You lead by managing your own energy well enough to act with certainty inside uncertainty. That means showing up grounded when others are unsettled.
Making decisions without needing perfect information. And responding deliberately instead of reactively.
Break the resolutions built on control, keep the one about energy. Because when everything is uncertain, your steadiness becomes the strategy.
The TeamGuru team wishes you the best of luck in 2026!