Leadership Focus: Mail Yourself Three 2026 Goals

As the year comes to a close, the Esteemed calendar tells us we have spent the last three months focused on operational planning for 2026. We have established revenue targets, set goals for the year ahead, outlined departmental plans, and identified core KPIs for the company, teams, and even individuals.

On paper, everything is in place for a successful year.

At least in theory.

For leaders who already feel overwhelmed by plans, forecasts, and dashboards, I want to offer a simple additional exercise. It is designed to cut through complexity and help you stay focused on what truly matters to you and to the business.

Take a piece of paper and answer the following three questions. Place the paper in an envelope and open it on July 31, 2026.

Question One: What is the single most important thing this organization must accomplish in 2026?

This might be a major project, an acquisition, or a meaningful organizational shift. It could also be something much simpler, such as improving one critical metric by ten percent that would have a disproportionate impact on the business.

Identify the one overwhelmingly important thing that must get done this year. Write it down clearly and plainly.

Question Two: What is the one thing I insist on continuing to do that is preventing me from focusing on more important strategic work?

One of the hardest challenges for leaders is letting go. Most of us rose through the ranks because of technical expertise. Doing that work still feels productive. It is measurable. It allows us to check items off a list and feel useful.

However, that is rarely where a leader’s time is most valuable. Strategic thinking, team building, developing people, staying close to clients, and thinking about the future of the organization are harder to quantify. They are also far more important.

What is the task you are holding onto that is keeping you from leading at the level the organization truly needs?

Question Three: What is something the organization is doing that simply needs to stop?

Every organization does something because it has always been done that way. I once read about companies spending thirty or forty hours a week producing reports that no one ever read.

Somewhere in your organization, effort is being expended without meaningful return. If you do not immediately know what it is, ask your people. Ask those closest to the work. In a culture with trust, they will tell you quickly.

Now place your answers in an envelope. Write your name on it. Put it in a desk drawer, hand it to a trusted colleague, or give it to a friend and ask them to return it to you on July 31, 2026.

When you open that envelope midyear, my hope is that none of the answers feel surprising. Even better, my hope is that they feel familiar because the work is already underway or completed.

Then, we can begin asking the same three questions for 2027.

Give it a try and always, Be Esteemed.