01-24-2026

Hey Tribe 🤍

Most people start January trying to force clarity.
New plans. New goals. New discipline.

But here’s what I’ve learned — personally and professionally:

Clarity isn’t something you think your way into.​
It’s something you regulate your way into.

And there’s something else worth remembering here.

The calendar we follow now is relatively new.

For much of human history, the “new year” didn’t begin in January at all — it began in spring, when life actually starts moving again.

When Europe shifted to the Gregorian calendar in the late 16th century, the new year was officially moved to January. Not everyone adopted the change right away. Those who continued celebrating the new year in spring were mocked and called fools for not “keeping up” with the new system — a story often linked to the origins of April Fools’ Day.

Whether the folklore is perfectly precise or not, the wisdom still stands:

We weren’t designed to begin again in the dead of winter.

January, in the northern hemisphere, is a season of conservation, not expansion. The body is still restoring.

The nervous system is wired for inward focus, not aggressive forward motion.

So asking yourself to overhaul your life, lock in big resolutions, and perform at full speed, while your system is still in a kind of hibernation, is a mismatch

It’s not that you lack discipline.

It’s that your biology is smarter than your calendar.

And when your nervous system is activated, the mind does very predictable things:

• it scans for risk
• it tightens time
• it inflates urgency
• it overthinks, avoids, or over-controls

That’s not a mindset problem. That’s not a personality flaw. That’s a system trying to keep you safe.

And this is why so many “New Year” intentions collapse by week two —

because we try to build strategy from a dysregulated state, under pressure that was never natural to begin with.

If you want a different 2026, start here.

A simple reset to use before you decide the next move, pause and ask:

1. What state am I in right now?

• Urgent?
• Scattered?
• Heavy?
• Shut down?
• Clear?
• Grounded?
• Or simply in a season of rest and reset?

Clarity doesn’t come from answers, it comes from state.

2. Do I know what I want, even if I don’t know how yet?

This is important. Not knowing the next step doesn’t mean you’re stuck. It often means your system hasn’t organized itself around the path yet.

If your nervous system were calm and unpressured, what would feel like the next right step, not the full plan, just the next movement?

• Sometimes the step is action.
• Sometimes the step is waiting.
• Sometimes the step is staying present with what’s already working.

3. What would create more clarity right now?

Not to force certainty.
But to allow information, alignment, and opportunity to meet you.

• A conversation you’ve been avoiding.
• A decision you’ve been postponing.
• A “no” you keep negotiating.
• Or a simple action you’ve been putting off.

Then — take that step.

You don’t need to fix yourself, or become someone else.

You need to stop turning to the calendar, or cultural pressure, to dictate your timing and behavior.

Turn inward instead.

Let your authentic desire lead.

Let your nervous system set the pace.

Regulate first. Then decide.

That is self-leadership.

And it changes everything.

If you can feel that your internal operating system is ready for recalibration, I offer a Leadership Re-Boot Diagnostic — a strategic diagnostic designed to identify the emotional and nervous-system patterns shaping how you lead, decide, and scale.

With strength and alignment,

📩 Email:[email protected]
🗓️ Schedule a Leadership (re)Boot Diagnostic:​
​https://cal.com/reparentyourself/leadership-re-boot-diagnostic​

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