Run Your Life Like a Business: The Strategic Planning Series for 2026

Stop drifting through your year. Start designing it.

Businesses don't wing it.

They plan annually. Review quarterly. Execute weekly. They set clear objectives, measure progress, and adjust when things aren't working.

But for some reason, you don’t take the same approach in your personal lives. Instead, you hope things work out while scrolling through someone else's strategy.

You set goals in January. Maybe you write them down. Maybe you even believe them for a few weeks.

Then life happens. Work gets chaotic. Relationships demand attention. Health slides. Time disappears. And by March, those goals are buried under the weight of everything else screaming for your attention.

It's not that you're lazy. It's not that you lack discipline.

It's that you've never been taught to run your life with the same rigor you bring to your work.

So here's the question: If strategic planning works for billion-dollar companies, why wouldn't it work for you?

What This Series Is (And Isn't)

Over the next eight weeks, I'm walking you through exactly how to build a strategic plan for your life in 2026.

Not goals. Not resolutions. Not a vision board.

A real plan. With structure. With clarity. With systems that turn insight into action.

Each week, we'll tackle one critical area of life. These are the areas that, when aligned, create momentum everywhere else:

Week 1: Identity & Direction — Who are you becoming? What are you building toward?

Week 2: Health & Energy Capacity — What does sustainable strength actually look like for you?

Week 3: Relationships & Partnership — What is your closest relationship optimizing for this year?

Week 4: Work & Career Positioning — Where are you now, and where are you headed?

Week 5: Finances & Household Economics — What is money FOR in your life right now?

Week 6: Creative Work & Intellectual Growth — What body of work are you building over time?

Week 7: Community & Support Systems — Who challenges you? Who do you challenge?

Week 8: Joy, Rest & Meaningful Experience — What fills your soul, not just your calendar?

By the end, you'll have a complete strategic picture of your year. Not a wish list. An action plan.

This Isn't About Becoming Robotic

Let me be clear: this isn't about becoming rigid or soulless.

It's about getting so clear on your priorities that every decision becomes easier, not harder.

When you know what you're building toward, you stop second-guessing. You stop drifting. You stop wondering if you're wasting time on the wrong things.

This is how you make sure the decisions you're making are yours, not just reactions to whoever yelled loudest that day.

Strategic planning isn't about control. It's about consciousness.

It's the difference between living your life on purpose and living it by accident.

This is an Action Plan, Not a Goal List

Most people treat the new year like a wish factory.

They write down things they want:

• Lose 20 pounds

• Read more books

• Spend more time with family

• Start a side business

Then they wonder why nothing changes.

Here's the truth: goals without systems are just hopes.

This series isn't about what you want to achieve. It's about how you're going to operate.

Think of it as your personal Standard Operating Procedure. It’s the manual for how you run your life when things get chaotic, when decisions pile up, when you're not sure what to prioritize.

Businesses don't succeed because they have inspiring mission statements. They succeed because they have systems that execute on those statements every single week.

Your life deserves the same level of intentionality.

What to Expect Each Week

This isn't going to be worksheet-heavy. I'm not giving you templates to fill out (yet—that comes later if you want it).

What I am giving you is clarity.

Each week, you'll get:

• One focused reflection on a critical area of life

• One breakthrough insight that shifts how you think

• One question that forces honest assessment

• One directional nudge toward what actually matters

This is insight-driven work. Not tactics. Not hacks. Not motivational fluff.

By the end of eight weeks, you'll see:

• Your identity more clearly

• Your tradeoffs honestly

• Your direction more coherently

And then—if you want to operationalize what you've uncovered—I'll show you how to turn insight into execution.

But first, we build the foundation.

Why Now Matters

Here's what I know about people who plan strategically:

They don't wait for perfect clarity. They don't wait for motivation. They don't wait until everything calms down.

They decide that drifting is no longer acceptable.

And they commit to the process before they feel ready.

If you're reading this, you're already considering it. You're already tired of reactive living. You're already wondering what it would feel like to run your life with intention instead of inertia.

That's enough.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to show up.

Wherever You Are, This Works

Here's the thing about strategic planning: it's not just for people who are lost or struggling.

Even the best-run businesses—the ones that are profitable, growing, and functioning well—revisit their strategic plans every year. Not because something's broken. Because staying sharp requires intentional review.

Maybe you're already operating with clarity and systems. Great. This process will help you refine and sharpen what's working.

Maybe you're just starting to think strategically about your life. Perfect. This gives you a clear framework to build from.

Maybe you're somewhere in between: some areas strong, others drifting. That's most of us. This helps you see where you're solid and where you need structure.

The point isn't where you start. The point is that you commit to the process.

And if you're doing this work alongside your spouse or partner? Even better. The clarity you gain individually becomes exponentially more powerful when you're aligned as a team. Some of the strongest strategic plans I've seen come from couples who did this work side by side.

Here's What Happens Next

Week 1 drops next Tuesday, January 13th. We start with Identity & Direction. It is the foundation everything else builds on.

Each week after that, you'll get one email. One area of life. One focused exploration.

By the beginning of March, you'll have walked through all eight areas and built a complete strategic picture of your year.

No fluff. No filler. Just clarity.

One More Thing

If you know someone who's ready to stop drifting, please forward this to them.

Not everyone is ready for this work. Most people prefer the comfort of familiar chaos over the discomfort of intentional change.

But if you have someone in your life who's done winging it, who's ready to treat their life like it matters, who wants to run 2026 like a business instead of a series of accidents, send them this link.

This series is free. The value is real. And it starts now.

Share this link with your friends, loved ones, or children: https://buttondown.com/robbins

Week 1 drops Tuesday, January 13th.

Stop drifting. Start designing.

Let's build something worth showing up for.

-Ricky