Sharpen Your Edge for 2026 – Part 3: Hope Is Not a Plan
- Paul Wallace
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
If you’ve read the first two pieces, you’ll already know where this is heading.
Review matters.
Skipping it leads to drift.
Drift quietly repeats years.
The next question is the one most traders avoid:
Do you actually have a plan for how you’re going to operate in 2026?
Not a vague intention.
Not a resolution.
A plan.
What Most Traders Mean by “A Plan”
When traders say they have a plan for the new year, it usually sounds like this:
“I’ll be more disciplined.”
“I’ll trade less.”
“I’ll focus on higher-quality setups.”
“I’ll manage risk better.”
None of those are plans.
They’re aspirations.
A real plan answers harder, more practical questions:
What markets will I focus on — and which will I avoid?
Under what conditions do I trade best?
What rules matter most when pressure is high?
How will I recognise when discipline is slipping?
What does “good execution” actually look like for me?
If those answers aren’t clear, written down, and understood, then January enthusiasm does most of the work — and that rarely lasts.
Why Planning Fails Without Review
This is where many traders trip themselves up.
They try to plan forward without looking back properly.
That’s like adjusting your route without knowing where you went wrong.
If you don’t understand:
why certain drawdowns happened
where rules broke down
which behaviours helped or hurt performance
…then your “plan” is just guesswork dressed up as confidence.
Review informs planning.
Planning without review is just hope with structure.
External Perspective Matters
One of the reasons traders struggle with planning on their own is proximity.
You’re too close to your own decisions.
Too close to your emotions.
Too close to the stories you tell yourself about what’s working and what isn’t.
That’s not a flaw — it’s human.
This is why professional performance environments don’t rely on self-assessment alone. They use external review to separate facts from feelings.
That’s also why, every year, I work with traders who don’t want ongoing coaching — they want clarity.
They want:
a proper review of how they’ve been operating
a clear assessment of what actually needs to change
a practical plan for the year ahead
Nothing more. Nothing less.
A One-Off Way to Do This Properly
For traders who want that level of clarity, I offer a Trader Development Session (TDS).
It’s a one-off, 1-to-1 session focused on:
reviewing the previous year properly
identifying the behaviours that matter most
and designing a clear, realistic operating plan for the year ahead
No hype.
No signals.
No endless programme.
Just structured review, honest conversation, and a plan you can actually execute.
If that sounds useful, you can read more about the Trader Development Session here:👉
One Final Thought
2026 will arrive whether you plan for it or not.
The difference between traders who progress and those who repeat years is rarely talent or intelligence.
It’s whether they’re willing to stop, review honestly, and plan deliberately.
In the final piece, I’ll outline the different ways traders choose to support that process — from group accountability to focused 1-to-1 work — so you can decide what makes sense for you as you start the new year.