Why you need a reset

Every year for the past 15 years, I’ve done a reset.

This isn’t a midlife crisis or a simple journaling prompt.

For me, a reset is a deliberate pause to ask deeper questions and check in with my gut.

Sometimes it’s a half-day step back. Other times, it’s a weekend away in a remote cabin.

And over time, these resets have supported some of my biggest decisions: 

- Leaving McKinsey after almost a decade

- Relocating to Italy with my wife

- Leaving my 9-5 job

- And, most recently, launching Potential Academy as a vehicle for supporting inner transformation journeys at scale.

We all need clarity to make the most important decisions of our lives. But clarity rarely comes in the midst of movement.

That’s why taking time for a reset is essential.

You can do this anytime. But the end of the year is an especially powerful time for a reset as it’s a natural moment for an energetic reset. 

And this is important, because you can’t create new outcomes on top of old energy patterns.

Instead, use a reset to interrupt unconscious habits, dissolve emotional residue, and clear the internal clutter from the past 12 months.

This stops you from dragging old identities into a future they don’t belong in.

With that weight gone, the future you want becomes easier to step into.

Let’s talk about how this type of structured psychological transition can support you in 2026.

Often, people set New Year’s resolutions when they just need space.

It’s easy to confuse planning with resetting because planning gives the illusion of progress. 

You feel productive, organised, and “in control.” But planning doesn’t change the internal conditions that shape your decisions.

Without that internal upgrade, even the best plans can fall apart due to old stress responses like overcommitting, people-pleasing, or second-guessing yourself.

Where planning attempts to fix the symptom, a reset addresses the root.

So discard what society has told you about “starting the year strong.” 

Here’s what a reset isn’t:

- Planning Q1

- New resolutions

- A “vision board”

- A journaling prompt

- A motivational exercise

- Creating detailed plans

Those approaches add pressure to a system that’s already overloaded. They push you forward without clearing what’s still unresolved within you.

A reset is something very different.

A reset is:

- A deliberate interruption of your current trajectory (stepping out of autopilot)

- A clear look at the patterns that are helping or hindering you

- An honest reflection about yourself and your life, without distortion

- A release of the mental and emotional weight accumulated over the past year

- A moment to sense the future you that you are growing into

I can’t give you a precise checklist for “completing” a reset because this is deeply personal work. 

You know better than anyone the shifts you need to make in terms of: 

- How you relate to your past

- The blockages limiting your inner world

- And the direction you want to move next.

But your reset should be an internal shift across 4 layers.

Here are the deep transitions you’ll experience through a conscious reset:

1. Closing the chapter of the past year

Most people end the year by moving straight into the next one without acknowledging the experiences, challenges, and lessons of the past 12 months.

To enter the new year clear-headed, start your reset with completion:

- Naming the patterns that played out

- Making space for unprocessed emotions

- Recognising what went well and what you’d improve

- Determining what should continue and what you’ll leave behind

This integration allows you to start the new year without the past weighing you down.

A reset dissolves the weight of everything that no longer belongs to you.

You gain access to a cleaner emotional baseline to support what’s next.

2. Engaging with your deeper essence

Before planning the year ahead, you need to reconnect with the part of you that isn’t overwhelmed, reactive, or driven by pressure. That’s your deeper, wiser essence.

It’s the part of you that knows:

- What feels true

- What’s aligned

- What you’ve outgrown

- What’s no longer workable

- What wants to emerge next

In a real reset, you go deeper than your mind (the analyser), your ego (the performer), and your habits (the automators), to listen to this essence at your centre.

This is how you begin an aligned new chapter.

3. Realigning your identity

Every meaningful change requires an identity update.

You outgrow an old self each year, and a reset helps you consciously release that identity.

This process allows you to thank the version of you who lived this year, and welcome the one who is capable of living the next one.

Identity work may sound abstract, but it’s a key component of any reset.

Here’s what happens when you consciously shift your identity:

- You gain energy (from living in alignment with deeper truths)

- Your boundaries get stronger

- Your direction becomes clearer

- Your decisions line up with your values

Realigning your identity means you don’t have to force behaviour change.

You don’t have to worry about “being different” or “creating new habits.”

You just become the person who lives life in a new way.

4. Mapping out clear steps forward

Only after you properly close the last chapter, listen to your deeper truth, and realign your identity can you design your next chapter with the precision it requires.

When you get to this phase, you’ll see that resolutions aren’t the answer. 

All you need to do is find the priorities that match your new internal direction.

Assess:

• What truly matters now

• What no longer does

• What the next version of you prioritises

• What deserves your limited energy, time, and attention

• What few moves will create the biggest impact

These are the structural pieces that shape how you show up in the world next year.

This is where the reset turns into forward movement instead of another list.

Many people think they need a planning session at the end of the year, but that’s not what this is.

Planning is only useful after you restore your inner agency.

Throughout the year, your attention gets fragmented. 

Momentum builds, responsibilities accumulate, and without realising it, you start reacting to life rather than consciously choosing your path.

So don’t map out your goals or update your productivity system until you’ve achieved the true purpose of a reset: reclaiming your agency.

This means remembering who you are and what you want when you’re not overwhelmed, hurried, or driven by unconscious patterns.

A reset helps you reconnect with this higher version of you. 

Instead of trying to “get control” of your life, you can direct it from this intentional place.

When you enter the next year in this state, you’ll notice the difference in:

- The quality of your decisions

- The energy you bring to your work

- The confidence you feel about your direction

This is why a reset is more than a nice-to-have ritual.

It’s crucial to arrive at the version of you who’s best able to lead your next chapter.

Society trains us to stumble into the new year carrying the weight of the last one.

None of us wants to do that. We just never learned to create space to put the old baggage down.

A reset gives you that space.

It’s the doorway between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming.

When you step through it consciously, you’re no longer dragging old reactions, unresolved tension, or outdated expectations across the threshold. You enter the next chapter with a clearer inner landscape and a stronger sense of direction.

This is the real opportunity that a reset offers:

You don’t have to force your way to a better year.

Simply reset the version of you who walks into it.

When the person entering the new year is internally guided, life is easier to navigate.

If you want support in guiding your own reset, today I launched a free 30-day challenge on Instagram and Linkedin. Each day for the next 30 days I’ll post a short video and reflection prompt, to help you make 2026 your best year yet.