The irony of New Year’s  resolutions isn’t that we make them and break them within 6 weeks.

It's that we never break them at all.

We live by our resolutions 24/7. Not the ones we write down — the ones we actually commit to. The real resolutions reveal themselves in your calendar, your inbox, your daily fire drills.

One of my mentors often said, “We are defined by our commitments.”

He was right. If you need a crystal ball to predict what’s going to happen in 2026, look no further than your commitments.

Most business owners I meet are committed to working in their business. They love what they do. They've built something real.

The problem? They're working in their business at the expense of working on it.

And the cost compounds quietly: peace, time, profit. The exact things they built the business to protect.

Here's the pattern I've seen for 30 years: great leaders don't fail because they lack effort. They plateau because their systems rule them instead of the other way around.

I spent 60 days with a financial advisor who works with business owners on succession planning, exit strategy, and the kind of financial architecture most advisors won't touch. 

She had 60 high-value clients, a referral machine, and a decade of expertise.

She also had a color-coded spreadsheet, 12 hours a week trapped in paperwork, and 40% of her referrals dying in email threads.

We built three things: 

• a pipeline that captures every lead
• playbooks so her new hire could actually function 
• an owner map that got the chaos out of her head

Here's what she told me last week:

"I've gained more confidence in my processes and vision for the value I bring to my clients."

That's what sovereignty looks like. Not perfect systems. Not zero stress. Just a leader who finally has room to breathe.

–Matt McGill
Rule Your Systems. Don’t Serve Them