Stop Making Resolutions: How to Run a Personal P&L Audit for 2026
We are two days away from 2026.
Right now, LinkedIn is flooded with "New Year, New Me" platitudes. Everyone is busy writing vague resolutions that they will abandon by the third week of January.
As a business advisor, I find this fascinating. We would never run a company this way.
Imagine walking into a board meeting on January 2nd and saying, "My strategy for Q1 is to just try harder and hope for the best." You would be escorted out of the building.
We govern our organisations with military precision. We scrutinise 2025’s EBITDA, forecast 2026’s risks, and optimise our COGS. Yet high-performance leaders, the same people managing multimillion-dollar portfolios, often run their own lives with no governance whatsoever.
They hit what we call a "liminal space" that foggy transition between career chapters, and they panic.
If you are entering 2026 feeling stuck, exhausted, or anxious about your relevance in the age of AI, it isn't because you failed a resolution. It is because your personal business model is broken.
It is time to stop treating your career like a lottery ticket and start treating it like a P&L. Here is how to run your audit for the year ahead.
1. Revenue vs. Margin (The 2026 Sustainability Audit)
In business, "Growth at All Costs" is often a strategy for bankruptcy. Yet, many leaders enter the new year planning to operate precisely this way.
Your Revenue: This is your salary, your job title, and the dopamine hit of "being busy."
Your COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): This is the cost of generating that revenue, the missed family dinners, the cortisol spikes, the 60-hour weeks.
I see far too many leaders who are Revenue Rich, but Margin Poor.
On social media, they look profitable. Internally, they are insolvent. If you treated your company’s capital the way you treat your own energy, the board would fire you for gross negligence.
The Fix for 2026: Look at your calendar for Q1. Are you projecting a profit or a loss in energy? Restructuring your operations doesn't mean earning less; it means setting governance rails around your time. Acknowledging that "rest" isn't the opposite of work; it’s a supply chain requirement for high performance.
2. The R&D Check (The Relevance Audit)
This is the harsh part of the forecast. In 2026, experience is a depreciating asset.
If your primary value proposition is "I have done this for 20 years," you are competing with an algorithm that can process those 20 years of data in seconds.
If you aren't allocating a significant percentage of your 2026 "operating budget" to R&D, you are becoming legacy tech. You are the on-premise server in a cloud-native world.
The Fix for 2026: Audit your learning plan.
Are you just "patching bugs" (clearing your inbox), or are you upgrading your OS (learning new AI workflows)?
Are you mentoring younger talent? (The fastest way to learn new behaviours).
Relevance isn't about knowing the answers anymore; it's about structuring the problems.
3. Goodwill and Equity (The Ecosystem Audit)
Finally, look at your balance sheet. What is your "Retained Earnings" entering this year?
I don't mean your savings account. I mean your ecosystem.
Many leaders confuse transactional networks with ecosystem equity. A transactional network evaporates when you lose the budget. Ecosystem equity is built on years of generosity, mentorship, and ethical behaviour.
The Fix for 2026: Don't just network to sell. Invest. Mentor a founder. Advise a startup. Engage in the comments section to support, not to pitch. In the liminal spaces of your career, your ecosystem is the safety net that catches you.
The Bottom Line
A new year can feel daunting when it lacks KPIs. But you don't need a resolution. You need a strategy.
You are the CEO, the Board, and the Primary Shareholder of your life. Ensure your fundamentals are solid for 2026.
Unlock Your Leadership Potential. Whether you are a founder facing scale-up challenges or an executive navigating a career pivot, clarity is your most valuable asset. Our coaching and mentorship services provide the structured frameworks and honest feedback you need to grow.
