The 2026 Mental Reset Challenge Serious Business Owners Swear By.
- Insights Inc
- Jan 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 2
A personal Misogi challenge. Business target achieved, fear conquered, Ski-Paraglide in the Alps.
January is tricky for small business owners. You start with energy, vision, and good intentions. By March, most are back in BAU, chasing activity instead of outcomes.
This is not because business owners are procrastinators or lazy. It is often because their goals fail to truly demand or inspire anything from them emotionally.
Result: Most owners drift from year to year, never fully leveraging their potential, stuck in a gilded cage.
Whether planning for Growth, Stability, Acquisitions or Exit Planning. Small business ownership can be isolating, volatile, physically & mentally demanding. Having been there myself, I know.
Yet practising the ancient technique of Misogi is a well proven activity for Business owners that want to stretch themselves and achieve (sometimes) the impossible.
Misogi is a neuroscience‑backed and behaviourally proven way for business owners to train their brains under pressure so they can do harder things, make bolder decisions, and achieve extraordinary results.
It supported us significantly in our own Growth to Exit journey & we have subsequently included a Misogi activity with hundreds of business owners in their strategic planning, over the years.
So, every January, before my business owner clients get dragged back into the noise, I ask them one question — a question that reliably resets focus, motivation, and momentum for the year ahead:
“What’s your Business & Personal Misogi for 2026?”
This isn’t goal setting.
It’s a line in the sand.
One bold business outcome linked to a challenging high-stakes personal reward or experience. I like to call these 'memory dividends'.
When a business owner can answer this question clearly, you can feel the shift: goals stop feeling like chores and start feeling like a story worth showing up for.
For example, post achieving a few BHAG business metrics & with a fear of heights, my primary 2025 Misogi was Ski-Paragliding off Mont Blanc. I also had diving with Sharks as a rather uncomfortable reward style-challenge - Check! (video below)
Over the years, I’ve watched hundreds of owners use this question to anchor their year — not just in business, but in life. I’ve also applied it relentlessly myself, from the grind of business start-up, growth, through to an exit of my own.
Misogi works because it’s not about trying harder.
It’s about choosing one bold, uncomfortable challenge that changes how you show up for the other 364 days.
Start Your Year with our Free 90minute Misogi session - Reset Your 2026 Objectives & Rewards.
Meantime, learn more below about why this technique works so well.
Read about our 90 Minute Misogi sessions & why this could be the most important challenge for you, to kick start 2026.
Why Business Owners Drift (And Don’t Notice)
Here’s a pattern I see constantly.
Business owners pour years of effort into their companies — long hours, pressure, responsibility — and rarely stop to acknowledge progress. One year quietly rolls into the next. Wins are brief. Fatigue accumulates.
Without a compelling personal “why,” effort becomes mechanical.
Misogi fixes this by linking business performance to personal meaning.
Focus: One clearly defined Misogi tied to a specific business outcome collapses scattered priorities into a few critical actions.
Inspiration: The story of who you’ll become — or what you’ll earn the right to do — is far more motivating than hitting a number for its own sake.
Motivation: When intrinsic drive and external targets are aligned, owners show up with more energy and more persistence.
What Is a Misogi (And Why It Works)
The word Misogi comes from ancient Japanese tradition and refers to purification through challenge. The modern interpretation is simpler — and far more relevant to business owners.
Once a year, you choose one challenge so meaningful and demanding that you’re not completely sure you can achieve it — but if you do, it fundamentally changes you.
Misogi works because it bypasses logic and hits behaviour.
Most incentives and targets are abstract.
Misogi is visceral.
Why This Matters Specifically for Small Business Owners
Small business ownership is isolating. Volatile. Mentally demanding.
A Misogi becomes a simple but powerful north star — something that cuts through daily noise and decision fatigue.
The courage, adaptability, and discipline built through a Misogi-style challenge translate directly into the business: handling sales slumps, staff issues, and strategic risk with more confidence and less reactivity.
Done annually, this creates a pattern — not just for the owner, but for the business itself: stretch, resilience, and intentional growth.
Why Linking Misogi to Business Performance Works
Focus, Inspiration & Motivation are strongest when goals align with intrinsic drivers: mastery, autonomy, growth, experiences, pleasure / enjoyment.
When a business result becomes the gateway to a personal Misogi, something important happens:
The business goal stops feeling hollow
The personal challenge stops feeling indulgent
Each reinforces the other.
Progress at work fuels anticipation of the Misogi.
Preparation for the Misogi builds discipline and confidence that improves business performance.
That feedback loop is where momentum lives.
How to Choose Your One Meaningful Misogi for 2026
Misogi isn’t about a long list of resolutions. It’s about one commitment.
Define one bold business outcome Something hard but believable within 12 months — EBITDA, cash buffer, client count, or strategic milestone.
Choose a Misogi-style reward or challenge It must feel transformational and carry real uncertainty — ultra-endurance, creative, experiential, reflective. If success is guaranteed, it’s not a Misogi.
Last year, my own Misogi reward involved diving with sharks and paragliding off Mont Blanc — both well outside my comfort zone.
Make the rule explicit “If the business achieves X by date Y, I commit to Misogi Z.”
Track progress visibly so daily decisions reconnect to that commitment.
This single anchor simplifies everything. Strategy, priorities, and even calendar decisions can be filtered through one question:
“Does this move me — and the business — closer to our Misogi?”
Distraction drops away naturally.
As Jesse Itzler puts it:
“Once a year, do something so hard it changes how you see the other 364 days.”
Next Steps in 2026 (For Serious Business Owners)
Each January, I work with business owners to define one Personal Misogi and one Business Misogi that links into the broader business strategy— not as ideas, but as commitments.
This happens over two focused 90-minute sessions, where we:
Identify the one business outcome that truly matters this year
Design a Misogi challenge or reward that creates real emotional leverage
Lock in the trigger business metrics & build a simple plan so it’s not just an idea in your head
Lock the rule that links performance to action — no ambiguity, no fluff or drift
At a minimum, take 10 minutes today to write down one bold business outcome for 2026 and one Misogi you’d be proud (and a bit scared) to attempt if you hit it. Share with me (if you like).
This work is not for owners looking for motivation or another framework.
It’s for owners who want clarity, commitment, and a year that actually feels different.
If that’s you, email me directly at matt@insightsinc.com.au
Or book a Founder Clarity Session here
Quote “Misogi” for 10% off your session.
With a healthy fear of heights, I’ll leave you with a short video of one of my own 2025 Personal Challenge Misogis — Ski-Paragliding in the French Alps after a business target was achieved. Mont Blanc’s take-off ramp was closed on the day, so Champagny-en-Vanoise had to do but the views were still acceptable.
Here’s to You & Your Business in 2026, a year that doesn’t drift.
Matt
Insights Inc.
A personal Misogi challenge. Business target achieved, fear conquered, Ski-Paraglide in the Alps.
Another personal Misogi challenge. Business target achieved, fear conquered, Shark Dive in Australia.
