How I Reset My Entire Life Every Two Years
The six-step creative alignment ritual behind my biggest shifts and greatest moments.
Dear friend,
This Tuesday was a massive reset day across cultures, calendars, and even the cosmos.
Did you feel it?
In a single 24-hour span, we had:
Lunar New Year / Chinese New Year / Tết
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started
Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Beginning of Christian’s Lent
New moon cycle started
A solar eclipse in Aquarius – initiating a new two-year, future-oriented cycle, according to astrologers
Saturn-Neptune met in a conjunction at 0º Aries – creating a reset and starting a new 36-year cycle in astrology
It was the start of the work week after a long holiday weekend in the USA
No matter your beliefs, that’s a lot of fresh-start energy concentrated into one moment. To help you navigate it, I’m sharing the process I use whenever I need to reset with intention.
But before I do, I want to let you in on a little secret:
🎉📕My next nonfiction book is debuting on May 15, 2026! 📕🎉
And this is a sneak peek of the content for it.
More on that soon, but if you like this post, you’re going to love the book. So subscribe to make sure you get all the behind-the-scenes sneak peeks.
Introducing The Six-Step Creative Life Alignment Ritual
This isn’t about goal setting or adding to your to-do list. Instead, it’s a process for continually realigning your life to your bigger legacy, joys, and dreams.
You can turn to it when:
You’ve hit the summit of a major goal.
You’re grieving or overwhelmed with the state of the world.
You’re beginning anything new – a year, a quarter, or just a random day you choose to hit refresh.
It’s a great process for reassessing where you’re headed and how you want to get there.
This isn’t about adding more to your to-do-list. It’s about aligning yourself to the big dreams you have for your life.
This isn’t a strict regimen. It’s a creative ritual.
It might take an afternoon. It might take a month. It might take a season.
However long your process takes, that’s okay!
Save this post. Come back to it.
Share it with friends for accountability if that helps.
Make it your own.
Take your time.
Let it be colorful. Let it be fun. And let it adapt to your needs today.
So grab a pen and paper.
Make yourself a mocktail.
And let’s begin.
The Six-Step Creative Life Alignment Ritual
1️⃣ Step 1: Three-Pillar Legacy
Knowing why I’m doing something and how it relates to the legacy I want to leave in the world has been one of the biggest keys to both my success and satisfaction in life.
The word “legacy” might feel loaded or overwhelming for you. If that’s the case, take a big deep breath and trust me here, I promise this is a game changer and worth the effort.
Knowing the legacy I want to leave has helped me to truly understand where I’m headed and feel good about it. When I forget my legacy, I become unmoored, a ship floating in the sea. With my legacy, I have direction and purpose in life.
Do not worry about getting it “right” – it will adjust and change.
Mine has changed throughout the years; yours will as well. That is totally okay.
What matters most is taking the time to think about the impact you want to have on this world.
You can write yours out as a simple one liner, but I like to think of mine as three separate but interconnected pillars.
Three-Pillar Legacy:
Me: What am I going to create in this world for myself? What am I going to do for myself before I am no longer physically here? What does that look like in action?
You: Who am I going to serve in this world? What direct contact will I have with others that will leave a lasting positive impact? What does that look like in action?
Us: How am I going to impact the greater good? What ripple effects will my life have on society long after I am gone? What does that look like in action?
To find out your legacy, all you have to do is answer those questions – on a piece of paper or even just in your head.
If you can sum them up succinctly, great! If not, also great!
Either way, simply taking time to think about these questions will help you feel more aligned and less overwhelmed in life.
I promise.
2️⃣ Step 2: Two-Year North Star
As a Sagittarius sun, I fear losing my freedom. As a Capricorn rising, I love a good commitment. A Two-Year North Star lets me hold both.
Two years is my sweet spot. Shorter and I feel frantic. Longer and I lose interest before I even begin.
Your timeline might be different — but the point is to choose a container that feels expansive and focused at the same time.
After defining my Three-Pillar Legacy (or my overall lifetime direction), I ask:
Who am I becoming over the next two years?
This isn’t about creating a giant to-do list.
It’s about creating a clear, visible reminder of who you’re becoming — so you can stay aligned with your dreams.
I broke my Two-Year North Star into four areas:
Physical: How can I meet myself where I’m at and thrive mentally, physically, and spiritually?
Creative: Who am I as an artist in this season? What am I building? What am I practicing?
Personal: How do I want to live day to day? How do I want to feel? How do I show up in relationships?
Professional: How am I resourcing this life? What financial and career structures support the version of me I’m becoming?
I journaled freely at first. Then I distilled it down into something visible and simple — a large post-it on my wall that I look at every single day.
If this feels overwhelming, simplify it.
Make a mood board.
Write a single paragraph.
Choose three words.
The goal isn’t perfection.
The goal is a visible reminder of where you’re headed — a map you can glance at when you feel lost.
3️⃣ Step 3: Alignment Question
Your Three-Pillar Legacy is your compass. Your Two-Year North Star is your map. And your Alignment Question is how you decide which steps to take each day.
I like to frame the alignment question like this:
“Will this help me get closer to ____{insert dream and/ or legacy here}____?
For me, the question is:
Will this help me win an Oscar surrounded by people I love?
This is not actually about winning an Oscar – although that would be amazing. I chose an Oscar on purpose, not because it’s ego-driven, but because of what it would mean for me as an artist.
There are plenty of awards out there I could aspire to win, but an Oscar means I made a movie that hit an emotional nerve in the culture, was commercially successful, and required collaborating with many kinds of artists working together to make one vision come true together.
And I added “surrounded by people I love” because I do not want to do this next chapter of my life alone.
I’ve tried to do it alone and failed. Doing it on your own is a myth. We all only thrive within community.
“Will this get me closer to winning an Oscar surrounded by people I love?” is my shorthand for many other deeper questions, including:
Does this build the kind of creative work that has a culture impact?
Does this strengthen my partnerships and collaborations?
Does this align with my devotion to leaving a legacy of impactful storytelling?
This one question becomes an easy filter for daily decisions. I don’t have to look at my entire legacy. I don’t have to reread my Two-Year North Star.
I just ask the question.
Your alignment question doesn’t have to incorporate everything, but it should represent your:
Creative ambition
Bigger life dreams
Commitment to what matters to you
Then you can make decisions using one simple question as a filter.
Now don’t get me wrong, not everything I do is helping me win an Oscar directly, but things like traveling to Mexico City or taking a rope class are helping me refill my creative bucket.
And sometimes, it’s just fun to live a little.
Your version might be simpler.
It might be a single word or phrase.
It might be “will this bring me joy?”
Don’t get caught up on the exact phrasing, it will change! All you have to do right now is write down something you can reference to check in with yourself.
The point isn’t perfection.
The point is having one emotionally charged question that carries your legacy and your North Star inside it — so you can make aligned decisions without reinventing your life plan every single time something shiny shows up.
4️⃣ Step 4: Six-Month Focus
Now, using all you’ve done above, we’re going to break down your focus for the next six months.
I use six months for a few reasons:
Personally, I only really have six months of go-go-go energy in me – spring and summer. I need fall and winter to go slower and be more introspective. (And you probably do too.)
Life happens and we don’t know where we’ll be or what we’ll accomplish in a set amount of time, so six months allows for flexibility.
While training to run a marathon, I learned that I can handle almost anything if I know that I only have to do it for a set amount of time. Six months is an amount of time that feels doable to commit to without overwhelming in that commitment.
You can do a year, three months, six weeks, whatever works personally for you.
Once you have your timeline, take a piece of paper (or a journal spread like I have above) and write your Alignment Question in the middle.
Then, split it into the four sections of your North Star:
Personal
Physical
Creative
Professional
Next, decide one flame and one simmer for the next six months.
Flame = what’s hot right now, where I’m consistently focusing most of my energy
Simmer = what’s in the background gaining some steam, something I’m thinking about but not necessarily doing every day
This is a general idea focus, not yet a to-do list. Think “dance in a way that feels embodied and challenges me to learn new moves” not “sign-up for dance cardio on Monday at 3pm.”
And I’m going to say this again, you get ONE flame and ONE simmer and THAT IS IT!
You can work on the rest another time.
This allows you to set realistic expectations, prevents burn out, and makes you more likely to actually finish the thing you set out to do.
5️⃣ Step 5: Monthly Checklist
This is when you finally get to make a to-do list! Before this, you’re dreaming, visioning, and aligning. Now, you’re doing.
I did three months at a time because I’m working up to three different deadlines that needed me to pace them out. Feel free to break yours down one month at a time, weekly, daily, or whatever works best for you.
For this one, I did personal and physical separately from and creative and professional, because they’re not only two different parts of my brain but two parts of my schedule.
Here’s an example of my professional one, all of them aligned with actions it takes to get to my North Star by 45 and helping my win an Oscar surrounded by people I love:
6️⃣ Step 6: Break It Down and Do the Damn Thing!
Your next step is to take that monthly checklist and break it down into a to-do list you will actually finish!
For the goals that feel big and bold, you need 33 Asks®. It’s the best way I know how to get out there and make creative dreams come true – from building up a career to getting a book deal. And I’ve got loads of testimonials proving it works.
The key – as you can see in all the images of this post – is to make analog (pen and paper), colorful, and bold. Stickers are a bonus, if not a must!
Even when deciding to turn my little magic 33 Asks® process I made for myself into a program, I used this system.
Instead of “create a course out of 33 Asks®” – which felt like A LOT to do – I now had a simple structure for the program that then became my checklist to creating the content.
Here’s another example of a 33 Asks® style sticker chart I did for finishing my latest novel, which I’m calling Bigger. I took the chapters I knew I needed to write, and made a simple checklist with a reminder of my why and a reward to make me want to do it.
Instead of “finish your book” – which feels overwhelming to start – I now have a succinct checklist I can go down and do.
Whatever format you decide to use, make sure that it feels doable and visually appealing to look at so you’ll come back to it again and again until you’re done.
And that’s the The Six-Step Creative Life Alignment Ritual!
If it feels like a lot, here’s your friendly reminder that you don’t have to do it all at once and you definitely don’t have to do it perfectly.
Just start at the top and work your way down.
Save this post so you can come back to it.
And be sure to subscribe so you can get more details on how I personally implement this process in my life.
Let me know what you think.
Did something open up for you reading about this process?
What part excites you the most?
Is there something you’re confused about?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And if this resonated with you, share it with a friend!
You’re 92% more likely to actually do something if you bring someone along for the ride, so sharing is actually caring for yourself.
Excited to share more about each step of the process with you soon and see where it takes us on our journey to living a boldly creative life.
Because the world needs your story now more than ever.
Lauren
P.S. You can do this all on a computer if you really want, but I still think the magic is in pen and paper.
Sharing is Caring
You can do this on your computer, but I HIGHLY suggest going analog. Your basic need is something to write on and something to write with, but if you want to get a bit more fancy, here are some things I love:
Blank pieces of paper – either loose or in a notebook, preferably not lined
I love my Passion Planner for this, it has blank page spreads in the back that I fill each month I do 33 Asks – and they have great company values.
If you want to go big, try these easel pads/giant post-it notes! My clients and I love them – and they stick to walls over and over again, so you can move them around.
Stickers = dopamine hit!
Love the options Passion Planner has for sticker packs and find that the colorful images and phrases on the stickers often motivate me when I’m stuck creatively.
Bando is also a fun choice for stickers and I like this sticker book with lots of fun options in it.
Stationary sections of grocery stores or pharmacy/convenience stores like CVS, Walgreens, Target, etc.
Colorful pens and highlighters
I love the highlighter packs that have green, pink, yellow, blue, purple, and orange and this one is made from recycled plastic.
Pentel Energels are my favorite pens by far and I love this pack that comes with lots of colors – plus you can also buy refills online to save plastic.
The best option is one you’ll actually use so grab whatever feels fun for you and don’t wait for the perfect planner, sticker, or pen, just start today with what you have.