Why We’re Not Building Vision Boards, Choosing Anchor Words, or Making Resolutions
Every January, the same rituals appear: vision boards covered in aspirational images, carefully selected anchor words, and lists of resolutions we promise ourselves we’ll keep this time. But here’s what we’ve learned: these practices often keep us stuck in the fantasy of change rather than the messy reality of actually changing. The Problem With Traditional Goal-Setting Vision boards ask us to curate a perfect future. Anchor words demand we distill complexity into a single theme. Resolutions require declarations before we’ve done the work of understanding what actually needs to shift. They all share a common flaw: they prioritize the *idea* of transformation over the *practice* of it. These tools can feel productive in the moment. They give us something tangible, something we can share, something that looks like progress. But they rarely account for the resistance we’ll face, the systems that need updating, or the daily choices that actually create change. What We’re Doing Instead: Sustainable Scale Sprint here in Reset Circle, we’re taking a different approach with the Sustainable Scale Sprint—a focused period of doing rather than declaring. Instead of imagining who we want to be, we’re examining who we actually are. Instead of setting goals before we understand our patterns, we’re investigating what’s working and what’s not. Instead of commitment before clarity, we’re creating space for honest assessment. This Reset Sprint isn’t about inspiration. It’s about information. It’s about getting real with where we are so we can make intentional choices about where we’re going. We’re looking at our systems, our habits, our energy, and our choices with clear eyes. We’re asking better questions: What’s actually draining me? What do I keep avoiding? Where am I operating on autopilot? What needs to change not because it sounds good, but because continuing as-is isn’t sustainable? From Performance to Practice Here’s the shift: we’re moving from performing change to practicing it.