2025 was long and unpredictable.
Trade wars. Tariffs. Volatility. A stop start treasury recruitment market.
And as 2026 approaches, I’ve found myself reflecting on something that I kept seeing across LinkedIn and social media channels.
Did you win 2025?
Did you crush the year?
Do you really need to?
Do you need a reinvention plan to “crush” 2026?
I’m not convinced you do.
Every December, I hear the same lines from friends, clients and treasurers:
“I’ve got to finish strong.”
“I’ll rest at Christmas.”
Meanwhile, most of you are heading into year-end close, quarter-end reporting, audits, forecasts and the usual family chaos. On top of that, because you’re driven individuals, you pile even more pressure onto your own shoulders.
So here’s my question:
Why?
Somewhere along the way, the profession picked up this idea that everyone should run the same race on the same timeline.
January means resolutions.
March means pushing harder.
December means sprinting.
But this year reminded me that success has nothing to do with collapsing over an arbitrary December finish line.
It’s about running your own race. Steadily. Consistently. Sustainably.
On a personal level, I try to swim at least twice a week. Three if I can, but I don’t beat myself up if it’s two.
I cycle when the weather cooperates.
I aim to walk a couple of times a week. Not to Strava brag, but to stay healthy enough to enjoy time with my wife and kids. That’s the real win.
In business, it should be no different.
If we don’t hit every target by December 31st, does that mean the year was a failure?
Of course not.
If we’ve moved forwards, learned something and served the people who trust us, that’s a good year.
When I launched the Treasury Career Corner podcast, I genuinely hoped ten people might listen.
Now some episodes have passed a thousand downloads.
Picture a room with a thousand treasury professionals choosing to spend an hour listening to a conversation about careers, leadership and cash management.
That still amazes me.
And yet, I catch myself comparing.
Why did one episode outperform another?
Why aren’t we growing faster?
Then I have to remind myself of something important.
I host a niche show for a niche audience. Corporate treasury professionals.
I’m not competing with Joe Rogan. I’m here for my community. That’s the lane I run in. And that’s enough for me.
So here’s a final thought for 2025.
If you want to push hard through December, brilliant.
If you’d rather pause, reflect and start fresh in January, that’s just as valid.
What matters is not letting someone else’s calendar decide whether you’ve “won” the year.
Run your own race. Measure success by progress, not pace.
Now, just to be clear, when I talk about progress, I’m not saying goals do not matter.
They absolutely do.
What I do mean is having SMART goals. Not buzzwords. Just sensible goal setting.
SMART goals are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time bound
Goals that give you direction, but do not punish you if everything is not neatly wrapped up by December 31st.
This hit home for me in 2025.
It was a tougher year than we expected. No point pretending otherwise. But with Katie and Carly’s help, we stabilised things and had a solid end to the year.
At that point, I could go into full push mode for 2026.
I could say, right, Q1 needs to make up for everything we thought 2025 would be. Let’s restart 2026 flat out!!!
Instead, we made a different decision.
We agreed to properly rest over Christmas and come into 2026 clear headed, energised and ready. Yes, we have targets to guide us. But not targets designed to beat us up.
That thinking links directly to something else I’ve reflected on this year.
When we started building what has now become the Treasury Career Corner LIVE Roadshow, I knew it would be a big investment of time and effort.
I also knew I could rely on Katie to take on a lot of the recruitment heavy lifting. That gave me the space to focus on something equally important.
Actually meeting people.
Not just sitting behind a phone asking, “Got any jobs?” but getting out, being in rooms, listening to treasury professionals, clients and candidates, and building real relationships.
So we invested. Time. Energy. Effort.
Not just into recruitment, but into a wider ecosystem.
When hiring slowed, we focused on market data through the Treasury Salary Survey.
We built the podcast to educate and coach treasury professionals on how to build successful careers. We ensured it earned CPD and CTP credits, so it genuinely supported development within the profession.
And over time, all of that led naturally to the Treasury Career Corner LIVE Roadshow.
None of it was quick. None of it was accidental.
For a long time, it was more about investment than measurement.
Now, finally, it’s producing the results we hoped it would.
That’s the point I’m making.
Sometimes progress looks slow on the surface. But underneath, the foundations are being built.
So if you’re reading this with a cup of coffee, or something stronger, take a breath.
You’ve earned it.
See you in 2026.
Best regards,
Mike
