2026

Your 2026 Reset
A guided journey to reset your direction and refocus on what matters most. Seven powerful prompts designed to help you gain clarity, align your goals, and create a year of intentional growth—in both business and life.


7 Strategic Prompts
Business & Personal Alignment
Weekly Anchor System


Why most goal setting fails
Setting a new direction isn't about motivation. It's about clarity.
Most people struggle with goal setting. They jump into action without knowing what truly needs to change. They plan harder, push faster, and stay busy.
But direction doesn't come from effort alone. It comes from asking better questions, in the right order.
This guide helps you do exactly that. Instead of adding more tasks to your overwhelming list, we'll help you:
  • Step back
  • Gain clarity
  • Move forward with confidence and purpose
The difference between feeling perpetually busy and genuinely making progress often comes down to one thing:
Knowing what truly matters
...before you decide how to spend your time.
Planning harder
More effort, no clarity
Pushing faster
Increased speed, same direction
Staying busy
Activity without alignment
Why Sequence Matters
Clarity isn't found in a single question. It emerges from a sequence of connected questions, each answer informing the next.
Isolated prompts yield shallow insights. But when prompts are used in sequence, something powerful happens:
  • Patterns emerge.
  • Priorities become clear.
  • Trade-offs become obvious.
  • Direction starts to take shape.
The prompts in this guide are intentionally ordered. They are designed to work together, building upon each other to create a comprehensive picture of where you are and where you need to go.
Individual Questions
Isolated insights, no context.
Connected Prompts
Reveal patterns & relationships.
Strategic Clarity
Actionable direction emerges.
Think of this process as building a map. Each prompt adds detail, context, and nuance to your understanding of the terrain ahead, guiding you to your true destination.
How to Use This Guide
Work through the prompts in order. Do not skip ahead.
Answer what is true, not what sounds impressive.
Pause if you need to. Save your answers. This is not just a productivity task; it's a reset.
Give yourself permission to be honest and unhurried.
The quality of your answers depends on your willingness to sit with uncomfortable truths and genuine aspirations.
Some prompts may take five minutes. Others might require stepping away and returning later. Both are valid. The goal is clarity, not speed.
01
Work in Sequence
Complete prompts as presented.
02
Be Truthful
Answer honestly, not impressively.
03
Take Your Time
Pause and reflect when needed.
04
Save Your Work
Document insights for reference.
Prompt 1: 2026 Big Picture Direction – Business
Business Focus
This first prompt is designed to establish your foundational business vision for the year ahead.
It's deliberately broad. It asks you to articulate more than just revenue targets or client numbers. It delves into the deeper motivations behind your work.
What does success mean to you?
Don't focus on what it should mean, or what it means to others. What would genuinely make you feel fulfilled and energised by the end of 2026?
Take your time with this. Your answers here will inform every decision you make. An unclear foundation means everything built upon it will wobble.
Ready to dive in?
Copy and paste this prompt directly into ChatGPT:

Act as a strategic thinking partner for a small business owner.
I want to reset my overall business direction for 2026.
Help me clearly define:
  • What success in my business would genuinely look like by the end of 2026
  • What I want my business to give me financially, emotionally, and lifestyle-wise
  • What I no longer want to tolerate, maintain, or carry into another year
Keep this outcome focused and high level. Do not give me tactics or action plans yet.
Ask me any clarifying questions if needed.
Prompt 2: 2026 Big Picture Direction – Personal Life
Personal Focus
Daily Rhythms
How you want each day to feel.
Protected Time
Relationships that deserve attention.
Personal Wellbeing
Your energy and health priorities.
Business success is incomplete if your personal life feels depleted. This prompt focuses on the quality of your daily experience.
Consider these questions for a more fulfilling year:
  • What truly needs your attention?
  • What are you tolerating that quietly drains you?
  • What would genuinely improve your weeks, even if it requires difficult conversations or boundary setting?
Copy and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT.

Act as a reflective life coach focussed on clarity and alignment.
I want to reset the direction of my personal life for 2026.
Help me clarify:
  • How I want my life to feel weekly in 2026.
  • Which areas need more attention or protection.
  • What I want more of and less of next year.
Keep this grounded, realistic, and honest.
Ask me any clarifying questions if needed.
Prompt 3: Define Your Primary 2026 Business Outcome
Outcome Definition
Focus for Impact
Now, we narrow our focus. Other goals still matter, but diluted attention produces diluted results.
This prompt challenges you to identify your single most important business outcome for 2026. What would create the most significant positive ripple effect across your work and life?
Why a Primary Outcome?
  • Simplifies decision-making: Opportunities either support this outcome or they don't.
  • Guides energy allocation: Your time either advances this outcome or it doesn't.
  • Removes negotiation: Eliminates constant internal debate about where your energy should go.
  • Creates a filter: Acts as a filter for every choice you face throughout the year.
One Primary Outcome
Creates focus and momentum.
Multiple Competing Goals
Fragments attention and energy.
Copy and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT:

Act as a business strategist focused on moving from vague goals to focused outcomes.
Help me define the following for my 2026 business direction:
  • One primary business outcome that matters most in 2026
  • Why this outcome matters more than chasing multiple goals
  • What would meaningfully change in my life if I achieved this outcome
The outcome should be clear and motivating, not overwhelming.
Ask me any clarifying questions if needed.
Prompt 4: Define My 2026 Personal Priorities
Priority Setting
Three priorities. Not ten. Not a vague wish list.
This prompt demands specificity. It also highlights an uncomfortable but necessary truth: honouring priorities requires trade-offs. You cannot add new commitments without removing something else.
What will you reduce to make space for what truly matters?
What will you stop doing altogether?
What requests will you decline, even if it feels slightly uncomfortable?
Personal priorities become real only when protected by boundaries. Without boundaries, they remain theoretical desires, perpetually postponed.
Copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT:

Act as a clarity-focused coach.
Based on my personal direction for 2026, help me identify:
  • My top three personal priorities for the year.
  • What each priority supports in my well-being or lifestyle.
  • What I may need to reduce, stop, or say no to.
Keep this practical and realistic for real life.
Ask me any clarifying questions if needed.
Identify three priorities
Three clear focus areas – no more, no less.
Understand the purpose
What each priority supports in your life.
Accept the trade-offs
Reduce or stop activities to protect your priorities.
Prompt 5: The Reality Check
Honest Assessment
This is the prompt most people want to skip. Yet, it's the most valuable.
Optimism helps set goals. Realism is essential for achieving them.
This prompt forces you to confront the very patterns that have quietly undermined your progress in previous years.
The Uncomfortable Truths
What are you avoiding?
What keeps slipping?
What do you repeatedly tell yourself will improve without any corresponding behaviour change?
These are not comfortable questions. But answering them honestly separates intentions from results.
You cannot solve a problem you refuse to acknowledge.
Copy and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT:

Act as an honest but supportive advisor.
Looking at my current habits, workload, and patterns, help me identify:
  • What is most likely to block me from achieving my 2026 goals
  • What I keep underestimating, avoiding, or hoping will fix itself
  • What will realistically stay the same if I do nothing differently
Be direct but constructive. Ask me any clarifying questions if needed.
"What keeps derailing me that I pretend is not a problem?"
"What will not change unless I actively change it?"
Prompt 6: Alignment Check
Alignment Audit
Copy this prompt into ChatGPT:

Act as an alignment-focused business and life coach.
Based on my 2026 goals and priorities, help me identify:
  • What I am currently doing that does not support where I want to go.
  • What feels busy but is not meaningfully moving me forward.
  • One or two things I could simplify, remove, or deprioritise.
Focus on clarity, not guilt or judgement. Ask clarifying questions if needed.
You've defined your destination. Now, audit where your energy is truly going.
This prompt reveals the gap between intention and action. It exposes activities that feel productive but serve no meaningful purpose in the context of your priorities.
Misaligned Activity
  • Creates the illusion of progress.
  • Keeps you busy without impact.
  • Prevents focus on what matters.
  • Drains energy unnecessarily.
Aligned Activity
  • Directly supports your goals.
  • Moves you meaningfully forward.
  • Protects your priorities.
  • Energises rather than depletes.
What can you simplify? What can you remove entirely?
What have you been reluctant to let go of, even though it no longer serves you?
Alignment isn't about doing more. It's about doing less of what doesn't matter, so you can focus on what does.
Prompt 7: Weekly Anchor Prompt for 2026
Weekly Practice
Your weekly recalibration tool. Not a productivity review. Not a guilt session. Just a calm, honest check-in on alignment.
Ten minutes each week. That's all. Enough time to notice patterns, catch drift early, and make small adjustments before they become big problems.
Consistency matters more than intensity. A brief weekly reflection keeps you more aligned than overwhelming, abandoned quarterly planning marathons.
Copy and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT.

Act as a steady accountability partner.
Each week, reflect on:
  • Your progress: What moved you closer to your 2026 goals?
  • Energy drains: What wasted time or energy without meaningful return?
  • Next steps: What one small adjustment can you make next week to stay aligned?
Keep this short and calm. This reflection should take no more than 10 minutes.
Ask clarifying questions if needed.
Progress Check
What moved you closer to your goals?
Energy Audit
What drained time or energy without meaningful return?
Course Correction
One small adjustment for next week.
Personalisation with ChatGPT
You may notice ChatGPT asks clarifying questions as you work through these prompts. This is normal.
The more context ChatGPT has about your business, goals, and constraints, the more precise and useful its responses become.
When ChatGPT understands your thinking and what you're building, it delivers:
  • More relevant insights.
  • Less back-and-forth communication.
  • A true thinking partner experience.
Do not rush through clarifying questions. They are integral to the process, not an interruption. Each question refines the output, ensuring genuinely applicable guidance for your specific situation.
Better Context
Produces relevant insights
Fewer Questions
Reduces back-and-forth
Strategic Partner
Feels like thinking together
Think of ChatGPT as a strategic thinking partner that improves with familiarity. More information means more tailored and actionable guidance.
What Comes Next
This guide works as is. The prompts deliver clarity and direction without extra training or tools.
However, mastering ChatGPT is a skill.
  • Giving it better context.
  • Reducing follow-up questions.
  • Refining prompts when outputs are off.
  • Creating custom prompt sequences for any situation.
We teach these advanced techniques in our Skool network and the upcoming ChatGPT Advantage Course.
Join AI Made Simple – a supportive Skool community for Gen X small business owners who want to learn AI without overwhelm. Daily posts, monthly live sessions and shared learning. Only $4 USD per month for founding members.
You'll learn to craft prompts that consistently deliver high-quality, relevant outputs tailored to your specific needs.
Start Here
Use this guide exactly as presented.
Build Skills
Learn advanced prompt engineering.
Master the Tool
Create custom sequences for any challenge.
There's no rush. This is the next layer when you're ready.
The foundation you're building with these seven prompts will serve you, whether you deepen your skills or not.
Course link: [ INSERT LINK HERE ]
For now, focus on working through the prompts. Get clear on 2026. Everything else can wait.