Every January, leaders are asked to do the same thing: set ambitious goals, plan for the year, and commit to executing them harder than before. We frame this as discipline or vision, but more often than not it is a pressure ritual. Success is supposed to come from wanting more and trying harder faster.
After years of leading teams, building companies, and advising executives at the intersection of AI, work, and leadership, I came to an uncomfortable realization. Most people don’t fail because their goals are unclear. They are failing because their capacity is already exhausted before the year even begins.
That realization fundamentally changed the way I approach the start of a new year.
I no longer start January wondering what I want to achieve. I start by asking how I want to work.
This change may seem subtle, but it has reshaped my leadership, my productivity, and my ability to maintain momentum over time.
The problem of goal-centered planning
Traditional New Year planning assumes a stable environment. It assumes that our time is predictable, our energy is consistent, and our attention is under our control. None of this reflects the reality of modern work.
Today’s leaders operate in a constant state of disruption. The meetings are stacked on top of each other. Slack never sleeps. Decision fatigue quietly increases. Add to this the personal responsibilities, emotional labor, and cognitive load of dealing with rapid technological changes, and it becomes clear why so many January plans fail in March.
We set goals in a vacuum, ignoring the systems we will need to support them. We optimize for ambition rather than sustainability.
The result is not a lack of discipline. It’s exhaustion disguised as motivation.
A different initial question
At some point, I stopped asking, “What do I want to accomplish this year?” and replaced it with a more honest question: “What capacity do I really have?”
Capacity is not just time on a calendar. It’s energy, focus, decision-making bandwidth, and emotional resilience. It is also deeply personal and deeply contextual.
When I design capacity first, I look at four things before setting a single goal.
First, energetic rhythms. When am I most creative? When do I do my best strategic thinking? When am I exhausted? Most people know this intuitively, but they plan as if every hour is the same.
Second, the burden of decisions. How many decisions do I make daily that could be automated, delegated, or eliminated? Leaders often underestimate how much cognitive energy is consumed by low-risk decisions that silently accumulate.
Third, the friction points. What constantly slows me down or causes me unnecessary stress? They could be meetings without an agenda, tools that don’t communicate with each other, or workflows that rely too much on me as a bottleneck.
Fourth, leverage. Where can systems, technology or people multiply my efforts without demanding more from me?
Only after answering these questions do I start thinking about goals.
Capacity as a leadership skill.
Designing capacity is not about doing less. It’s about doing what matters with intention.
As an AI strategist, I see organizations rush to adopt new tools without addressing the human systems that underpin them. The same mistake occurs in personal planning. We put more goals on top of broken workflows and wonder why execution fails.
Capability-first planning forces leaders to address trade-offs early. If you want to launch something new, what should you pause? If you want to grow, where should you reduce complexity?
This approach also normalizes a truth that leaders rarely say out loud: You can’t do everything at once, and trying to do it is not a sign of strength.
In fact, the strongest leaders I know are ruthless in protecting their ability. They understand that clarity, judgment, and presence are finite resources.
How does this change the beginning of the year?
When January comes, I don’t run. I audit.
I review what really worked the previous year, not just what seemed impressive. I identify what drained me out of proportion to its impact. I redesign my calendar before I redesign my goals.
Then, and only then, do I set intentions that fit the container I’ve created.
Some years, that container is expansive. Other years, it is intentionally restricted. Both can be successful if they are honest.
This ritual has helped me avoid the boom and bust cycles that so many leaders accept as normal. It has also allowed me to build with consistency rather than urgency.
A rethinking of modern work
New Year’s resolutions are not inherently flawed. What is wrong is to treat ambition as the main variable when the real limitation is capacity.
In a world defined by constant change, leaders don’t need more pressure. They need a better design.
The most effective way to start a year is not by demanding more of yourself, but by building systems that support the work you want to do and the life you want to sustain.
Design your capabilities first. Let your goals follow.
You may find that you accomplish more if you ask less of yourself and more of your systems.