A mid year reset is a great way to mindfully move into the second half of the year.
A mid year reset is the ideal way to reflect, review, and realign your life to support you in living the life you want for yourself.
If you’ve been wondering how to do a mid year reset, you’ve come to the right place.
What Is A Mid Year Reset?
As we make our way through the year, we tend to start off strong but waver off course as time progresses.
A mid year reset is a conscious opportunity to pause, have a mid year check with yourself, assess the important areas of your life, and reset however necessary.
Life happens, and sometimes we go slightly astray from our intentions, goals, and all we set out to do for ourselves.
We may have taken on too many commitments, lost sight of our priorities, gotten distracted, or allowed the decisions of others to affect us.
But where there is a will there is a way!
Carving out time for a mid year reset allows you to have clarity on where you are at the halfway mark of this year, and to get back on track.
Mid Year Reset: 12 Steps
- Schedule In A Day For Mid Year Reset
- Prepare Your Mindset For A Reset
- Mid Year Reflection
- Mid-Year Life Audit
- Review & Reset Goals
- Review & Reset Habits and Routines
- Create A Bucket List
- Create A Vision Board
- Reset Your Daily Routine
- Cleanse Your Space
- Schedule “Important Days”
- Unwind
12-Step Mid Year Reset:
Here is my go-to mid year reset routine to get you feeling excited and ready to take on the second half of this year!
Personalize this reset to your life, feel free to pick and choose the steps that speak to you, you don’t have to follow these steps identically.
You may even feel like adding your own steps to the mix and that would be great!
Before we start, I’d also like to encourage you to have fun with it and do this reset with self-compassion and unconditional love for yourself.
While it’s important to be honest with yourself, be sure to not be hard on yourself here.
Create Space & Time For A Mid Year Reset
Although doing a mid-year reset doesn’t necessarily require a huge chunk of your time, it will require you to be focused for at least a few hours.
Here are a few things you can do on the day you’re doing your reset to make sure you won’t be interrupted or distracted during the process.
- Clear out your schedule for the day
- Set aside at least 1 to 2 hours to be alone
- Find a comfortable and quiet space in your home
- Create a conducive environment (turn on light music, tidy the space, make a warm cup of tea)
- Prepare a pen and notebook or if you’re using an iPad or laptop, make sure its charged
- Mentally prepare yourself by resting and relaxing before you start, make sure you feel ready and excited to begin
Mindset Reset
Before deep diving into the mid year reset, I take account of what my mindset has been like over the past half of the year.
It’s easy to get stuck in a mindset that doesn’t support your growth.
By taking the time to understand what thought patterns or beliefs are holding you back, you can then go on to reframe them and affirm positive beliefs.
Exercise:
As part of the mindset assessment, I like to do an exercise where I write down the beliefs I have about myself. For each limiting belief,
- I strike through the limiting belief
- Think about where this belief could’ve stemmed from and take a moment to recognize that this belief is not true
- Allow me to release this belief and write down a new belief that supports me
- Spend a few minutes in silent meditation affirming the new belief
Also, a reset can be overwhelming if you’re not in the right frame of mind. I find this to be a great way to cleanse your headspace before you dive into new possibilities with your reset.
With the right mindset, a reset is an empowering practice that’ll set you up for success.
Mid Year Reflection
In this next step, I share with you a mid year reflection sample that will give you an overview of how the last 6 months have been. Here we’ll start with a gratitude practice followed by a self-reflection journaling session.
Gratitude Practice
Research implies that practicing gratitude has a plethora of benefits which include healthier relationships and improved health.
Here you can choose to express gratitude in any way you want, perhaps you may want to write a short note for someone you’re grateful for, or you may want to say a little prayer.
My gratitude practice for the mid year reset is to note down the 10 most significant blessings that I have encountered in the last 6 months.
This practice allows me to feel blessed for all the things that have gone well.
After I complete the gratitude portion, I revisit some of my favorite moments, things I’ve accomplished, and challenges I’ve overcome, with a series of self-reflection prompts.
Self-Reflection Journaling Prompts
Here are some of my favorite mid year journal prompts:
- What are the three most favorite memories of the first half of this year?
- What were your biggest wins in the first 6 months of this year?
- What were your biggest challenges in the first 6 months of this year?
- What did you learn about yourself in the last 6 months?
- How fulfilled were you with work in the last 6 months?
- What did you prioritize from January to June?
- How well have you been looking after yourself these past 6 months?
- What habits have been good for your health, and what habits have been interfering with your progress?
- What have you done for self-care in the last 6 months?
- What goals did you have at the beginning of the year? How have you been progressing with these goals?
Mid-Year Life Audit
If you’ve never heard of a life audit, it is one of my favorite self-reflection tools that help you thoroughly assess where you are in life.
The purpose of a life audit is to take stock of how you’re living life, and what changes are necessary to live life more intentionally.
A life audit, however, is a process that requires you to be honest and vulnerable with yourself. It can be easy to fall into a trap of self-shaming, guilt, and self-doubt here.
I encourage you to enter this process with self-love, self-compassion, and mindfulness.
This process isn’t about judging yourself, it is about nudging yourself in the direction of growth, purpose, and a life that is truly yours.
I believe mid year is a great time to carry out a life audit, especially if you haven’t done one before.
Here is how I carry out my mid year life audit, this is a rather simpler version of what I’d usually do at the beginning of the year.
Step 1:
On a piece of paper, list out the significant areas of your life.
I usually have 10 key areas which are:
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Spirituality
- Personal development
- Relationships
- Career
- Daily life
- Home environment
- Finances
- Self Love & Care
Step 2:
Create 2 columns side by side for the list.
Column A: Rate how you currently feel about each area of your life, on a scale of 1 to 10.
Column B: Rate how you hope to feel about each area of your life, on a scale of 1 to 10.
P.S. Life is up and down and it’s unrealistic to expect a perfect 10 in all areas simultaneously. Be practical here and align the scores with how you want life to be like in the second half of the year.
By rating the areas of your life in this manner you’ll have more clarity on which areas of your life are going well and which areas need more of your energy.
Step 3:
For each area of your life, list things that
- You want to continue doing
- You want to start doing
- You want to stop doing
Step 4:
In the last step of the life audit, I’d like you to consider
- Which areas of your life need your immediate attention?
- What actions can you take right now?
- What can you do to ensure you are successful at taking these actions?
- How will you keep track of your progress?
Review & Reset Goals
You’ve probably briefly reviewed your goals in the first half of this mid-year reset. Here let’s take a closer look at each of the goals and intentions you set out for yourself at the beginning of the year.
Are you in the process of achieving these goals? More importantly, are these goals still relevant to you?
One of the amazing things about a mid year reset is it is a mindfulness practice. It allows you to be present with yourself and see if you still want the same things as the version of yourself 6 months ago.
And it’s more than okay to change course, set new intentions, and go after new goals.
Tip: A great way to assess if you are still aligned with the goals you set out at the beginning of the year is to go back to your “why”.
If the “why” doesn’t make sense to you at this point, set it aside.
Once you have decided which goals want to prioritize, create a strategy in place to achieve your mid year goals.
When setting goals, remember that they shouldn’t just be limited to your “productive” activities.
I encourage you to have goals that allow you to rest, care for yourself, have fun, and explore your passions.
Review & Reset Habits and Routines
In this part of the process, let’s assess the daily routines and habits that make up our lives.
Some of our habits or part of our routines may not be serving us.
There is no better time than now to consider what habits need to go, and what new habits you intend on practicing.
Here is a simple self-awareness exercise I use to evaluate my habits and set new intentions.
Step 1:
List out your daily habits, and be really honest with yourself here. Are you ordering takeout too often? Do you find it hard to switch off after work? Have you been getting enough movement? Are you drinking enough water daily?
Step 2:
Highlight the habits that you feel are not serving you or you can improve on. On the side of each of these habits, note down why you want to change this habit.
Step 3:
What triggers you to repeat this habit? In place of the current habit, how would you like to deal with the triggered situation? Set an intention.
For example, instead of binge-watching tv when I am stressed, I will go for a walk.
Habits essentially make up our lives, I believe it is beneficial to pay close attention to our habits.
I suggest resetting your habits on a monthly basis to improve productivity and to feel fulfilled.
A great way to ensure we have habits that serve us is by having a set daily routine.
Reset Your Daily Routine
Having a daily routine is unbelievably powerful, it has a great deal of benefits including better mental health, higher productivity, and living a more meaningful life.
If you don’t have a daily routine for yourself, I suggest you get on it right away. You don’t have to have your whole day figured out, and some parts of your day may require more flexibility.
Focus on the parts you can control, that’s usually mornings and late evenings. Here is how you can start.
- Set times for when you intend to rise and go to bed daily.
- Evaluate how much time you have for each of these routines, I recommend having an hour (but if you have less time, it’s okay, go for it!)
- Determine what habits you want to include in your routines.
For example, I start my mornings with meditation and journaling followed by breakfast, and then 30 minutes at the gym or on a walk.
Get some ideas to curate a spiritual morning routine that’ll help you start each day feeling zen.
If you already have routines in place, this may be a great time to check in with yourself to see if these routines are working for you.
Maybe your current routine is too lengthy and you end up having to rush through it to get to work on time which makes it hard to stick to.
Your routines may need some tweaks to meet your reality.
If you only have half an hour in the morning, choose 1 or 2 habits that are most important to you to start your day and try to fit in desired habits throughout the day.
For example, have breakfast and meditate before you start your work day, and go for a 10-minute walk during your lunch break.
Also here’s your reminder to create a routine that supports you and is easy to stick to vs a routine that doesn’t make you feel good.
Create A Vision Board
Now, let’s create a visual representation of everything we’ve covered and more!
In this practice, I want you to visualize your higher self, living in your highest truth. There are no limits, there are no barriers, you are the creator of your life.
And, you are the creator of this vision board, so go all out and get wildly creative. I love this part of the process, I get to have so much fun expressing myself.
This year, I’ve used Canva to create my vision board, you can create yours online as well or take the old-school route and use colored pens, papers, pictures, and cutouts.
I love to dive a little deeper and create a bucket list to get myself excited about life.
Create A Bucket List
A bucket list is a list of things that you have not done before but want to do before it’s too late.
I create a bucket list every year, and I revisit it during the mid-year reset. I reminisce over what I’ve done and get excited about the things I am going to do in the second half of the year.
It doesn’t have to be things that are out of this world or unreasonable given your reality, which usually is what bucket lists are for.
This is a way to get yourself to do things that you want to do for your growth but you haven’t made an effort to.
I aim to tick one thing off my list every month.
This month I wanted to attend a class that taught a spiritual modality I wasn’t familiar with, and I was able to do it, the picture above is of the tarot cards I picked up!
Tidy Your Space
Before entering the second half of the year, I highly recommend resetting your home environment to reflect a warm, welcoming, and conducive space.
I usually give my home a little refresh and reassess which parts of my home environment may require a bit of tidying up or fixing in the upcoming months.
At this time, I’ll usually declutter and tidy up each room, making a list of things I’d like to do for each room as the year progresses.
If there are any small fixes like a busted bulb, I’d do it right away. I’d also make appointments on the spot for major fixes that I’ve been putting off.
Schedule “Important Days”
You may be wondering what “important days” are and why would we need to schedule them.
Well, have you ever been in a situation where you overlook an important event, task, or simply time you needed for yourself?
Here is how you never forget about getting a gift for a friend’s birthday party or changing the oil on your car.
Pen it down on your calendar! It’ll be even better if you could note it down on your phone and set reminders.
I make it a point to schedule “life admin days”, “self-care days”, “slow days”, and “family fun days” on a monthly basis.
I share about these days and their benefits in detail in my monthly reset routine.
Unwind
The last step to your mid year reset is to pat yourself on your back and relax! Do something for yourself that will help you unwind and rest after a long day of resetting your life.
You could get a massage, make yourself a nutritious meal, go for a walk, soak in the bath or simply take a nap. Whatever feels good to you at the moment.
You might feel motivated and inspired to start taking action but be sure to not exert yourself.
Rest is a necessary part of growth, so recharge, energize, and give yourself some self-love and care here.
Now You’re Ready To Start Fresh!
After a good night’s rest and resetting your life, you must feel incredible.
You have now built a solid foundation in the right direction, you’re ready to live a life of alignment with your true self.
I’ve got no doubt that you’re going to have an incredibly successful rest of the year !
P.S. If you enjoyed this process and you want to ensure you stay on track throughout the year, I highly suggest following up with a monthly reset routine.
