I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions this year.
I built an operating system instead.

Not because I don’t believe in goals—but because I don’t want to burn out again.

It’s officially the first full week of 2026, and in this issue we’re talking about a tiny experiment I’m running to build a life reset operating system.

This is The Weekly Reset, where every week we do a deep dive into one area of my life where I’m making a small but meaningful change.

The backstory 

If you’ve been on the list for a while, you already know the story. The last three years were the hardest years of my life. A health scare. A toxic job that stole my confidence. A relationship season that broke my heart into a million tiny little pieces.

But I survived.
And I did the work to heal.
So now I kinda don’t want to talk about it anymore.

I don’t want to relive it—I want to build what comes next.

So on December 26th, I made a decision.

2026 will not look like 2025, 2024, or 2023.

By any means necessary, I was going to move out of my healing era and step fully into a new season.

But this time, I wanted more than just joy.

This time, I need an intentional life reset.

The idea

Going back to my days as a Creative Director in advertising, I was responsible for making physical onboarding notebooks for new employees.

Initially, I was going to make one for myself and my new role as the CEO of a stationery company that I believe will be bigger than Hallmark.

But when I started to think about everything I wanted out of life, I realized it was so much more than work. I wanted to look at all the areas of my life and map out a plan for living fully in alignment.

And then it hit me:

An analog life reset operating system.

A physical system that helps me analyze and adopt my natural inclinations—and build an authentic, productive life that matches my ambition without defaulting to burnout mode.

The Materials

You’ll need a cute 3-ring binder, a stack of your favorite type of paper (I prefer unlined), and a hole punch.

For the real journal girlies, you can also use a bullet journal or a disc-bound planner. I just prefer the ability to move pages around easily. It’s very good for my brain.

A quick commercial break 

Real quick: if you like paper goods, feelings, or supporting artists who are clearly very into binders right now… preorders for the new SoCurious greeting card collections and art prints are live.

As of this morning, over 330 of you have already preordered, which genuinely broke my brain and made me want to dance, cry, and laugh out loud in my kitchen. So thank you. Truly.

These collections are illustrated by me, printed intentionally, and made for real human moments—not corporate ones. Preorders help fund the first full print run (aka keep this tiny, hopeful stationery company alive), and every single order feels like a vote for more joy in the world.

If you want to be part of this chapter, you can preorder the collections right now at shop. SoCurious.co.

I’d love to make something beautiful for you.

Okay. Back to the reset.

The Framework

I broke it down into a series of steps.

1. Define 5–10 goals for each of these areas of your life: Creativity, Career, Spirituality, Health, Leisure, Relationships, and Cute Things You Want to Buy.

I keep my list pretty low-lift and easy to achieve, but for each area I also include a stretch goal that pushes me deeper into my Bad Bitch era.

2. Decide on a theme for the year.
A rallying cry you can come back to. I prefer a phrase, but it can be a single word or a sentence.

My phrase for the year is Let it Grow.

3. Define your core four life pillars.

Technically, you can define as many as you want, but I wanted to simplify my list so it fit cleanly on one page.

I chose: Creative Work, Money, Health, and Joy.

For each pillar, write what success actually looks like for you in that area.

4. Rough out a 3-month plan for the things you’d like to achieve.

But don’t stop there. Take those goals and break them down into daily, weekly, and monthly actions. Be as specific as possible. Get granular.

Why? Because the easier it is to check something off the list, the faster you build momentum.

5. Narrow your focus to three big things you absolutely want to achieve in the next three months—no matter what.

Two things you’re pretty sure you can do.
And one thing that stretches you a bit.

6. Build your ideal week.

I break my day into four distinct two-hour blocks. On any given day, I only hold myself accountable for doing three really important things—and one personal thing that keeps me grounded in joy.

But what about all the small to-dos?

I cluster like tasks into a single block. For example, a SoCurious Shop work block might include adding new products, ordering supplies, and packing orders.

Do I work in rest?

Yes. My long walks and artist dates are now part of my actual schedule, so I don’t feel guilty for working at a human pace.

7. List your time-bound deadlines.

Anything that must happen by a specific date goes on this list.

Then add those deadlines to your digital calendar with alerts. (Very important for me, because I currently have the brain of a nutty professor.)

This whole process wasn’t exactly light work. It took me about six hours total, spread across multiple days, because I needed time to be strategic about the kind of life I actually want to lead.

The Results 

It feels like I’ve created a guidebook for my specific brain.

It’s still messier than I want it to be, so I can imagine recreating parts of it digitally—maybe even turning it into a Canva template someday. But honestly? I’m in love.

It’s only been about seven days, but that notebook lives in my backpack like I’m Harriet the Spy.

Why do I like this system?

It’s flexible. If something stops working, I can rebuild it.

My days used to be filled with the low-grade stress of feeling like I never did enough. Now I always know exactly where to look when I start my morning.

I have a clear roadmap, with checkpoints and progress I can actually see.

It’s also brought a lot more order to my days through time-based blocks—which has been doing wonders for my ADHD and my tendency to hyper-fixate.

And most importantly, work feels more fun again. Which is genuinely a gift.

Why be a business owner if it’s not going to be more fun than a traditional job?

The downsides

It lives in a notebook, not digitally—which has pros and cons. I’d love to have a digital backup, and maybe that’ll come eventually. But for now, I’m really enjoying being analog again.

Once I work out the kinks, I might even turn this into a cute little download for subscribers.

But for now, if you’re a member of the Reset Society, you can see screenshots of my pages—just enough to inspire you to build your own version.

If this resonates, you don’t need to rebuild your entire life overnight. You don’t even need a binder (though it does help). Start with one question: What would support the life I actually want right now? Answer that honestly, then build from there. That’s the reset. Small. Intentional. Human.

We’ll keep experimenting together.