Reflection: Why a Strategic Reset Beats Pushing Through to Exhaustion | IP 179

As we step into a brand new year, I wanted to start 2026 with a different kind of conversation.

In this episode, I’m sharing why I chose to hit the reset button on the podcast over the last few weeks — not by stopping, but by shifting the rhythm. 

After a demanding fall, caregiving responsibilities, and a deep need for creative breathing room, I realized I didn’t need to quit or push harder.

I needed a strategic reset.

So this reflection is an invitation to rethink how we approach consistency, productivity, and growth — especially in seasons where our energy, priorities, or capacity have changed - or need to change. ;)

In this episode, you’ll hear…

• Why “pushing through” or quitting entirely are not your only options.
• What a strategic reset can look like in real life (and in your private practice!).
• How small tweaks in rhythm and structure can make a big difference in your energy...
• Why you don't have to burn out to evolve.
• And a gentler way to approach goals, planning, and presence in 2026. (Totally what I’m going to try this year. 🤨)

I’ll share about how I’m approaching this new year differently — with broader intentions, more spaciousness, and a renewed focus on being present rather than forcing outcomes.

Because here’s the thing.

Sometimes the most sustainable way forward isn’t more discipline or bigger goals — it’s permission to pause, recalibrate, and let what’s next unfold with care.

I kind of like that.
How about you?

~Wendy

P.S. If you need an easy tool to help you review all aspects of your practice for your own strategic reset, download your copy of the IP360 Scorecard, right here.  No cost. Takes 10 minutes to do. And will give you a quick overview of the stress points in your practice! 

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• IP360 Scorecard:  https://www.wendypittsreeves.com/360

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

You're listening to Ideal Practice episode number 179. Welcome back, everybody, and happy new year. Today, we're going to talk about why I decided to hit the reset button on the podcast over the last couple of weeks, the last few weeks, and what this season of slowing down and shifting gears has been teaching me. And I hope you'll stick around to the end because I want to share a short prompt for you, a reflection to help you decide what's ready for a reset in your life or in your practice. So stay tuned. Hi, I'm Wendy Pitts Reeves, and with over two decades of experience in the private practice world, I've built my six-figure business while learning a lot of lessons the hard way. This is the first podcast that shows you how to apply the principles of energy, alignment, and strategy to build a practice that is profit-centered, but people forward. This is the Ideal Practice Podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Ideal Practice Podcast. This is Wendy, Wendy Pitts Reeves, your host. And yay! I'm back. I'm back. So happy to be hanging out with you. Welcome to 2026. I have to say, after a time of being out, it takes a little bit of a lift, doesn't it, to kind of get back to it. And this is the week for that. I am going to be continuing this mix I've been playing with of short reflections and curated replays for the next few weeks. I am still working behind the scenes on my course Evolve, which is a DIY version of the mastermind that I've been leading for some time. I hope to be sharing more with you about that coming up soon. But can I just for a moment take a second to thank you guys? Because do you realize, I mean, we're at episode 179. Thank you, all of you, for your support for the countless episodes that we've already been through together here. I am so, so grateful for all of you who are listening to this podcast and all the different ways that you continue to reach out to let me know that it matters to you. Just next week, I'm going to be doing a little coaching with someone from Bellingham, Washington who has reached out. And what a cool coincidence that was. Bellingham is one of my favorite places. That's where my accountability partner, Michelle Knox, lives at the moment. You all met her a few episodes ago. It is really a beautiful special place. And I'm so thrilled that a practitioner from that area has reached out for a little help. Cannot wait to meet her and talk about where she's going in her practice because it already sounded exciting just from the homework that she's already sent in. So that's coming up. Today I wanted to share with you some thoughts about sort of the process of how we approach our work, how we approach our practice. I don't know about you, but I realized back in the fall that I was craving a little more space. I needed some time to work on some projects. I needed some time to catch my breath, but I don't want to stop. I don't want to, I don't even really want to change what I'm doing. I wanted to change the way I was doing it for a while. I got really tired, y'all, back in the fall. I don't some of you who've been following me for a while know that I have been dealing with some um a lot of issues actually dealing with my my folks as they have gotten older. Lost my dad in 24, but I'm still helping my mom, who had a number of medical crises back in the fall, that um, thank heavens, all have turned out well. She's doing fine. You all would love her if you ever got to meet her. She is a spunky, little, resilient piece of joy. Yes, she is. But tending to her needs as well as, you know, the rest of my life is no small thing. And keeping a podcast going is no small thing either. And I was tired and I needed a little room to breathe. So I wanted to think about how I could fit this in my life over the fall and through the holidays as we make this transition into the new year. And I wanted to introduce to you the concept of a strategic reset. Not even really a pause. It was more of a reset. And I want you to think about how you might apply this to yourself. This is a little bit about that idea about working smarter, not harder, but it's also about working smarter, not smaller. That is, you know, keeping what's working for myself and trimming what doesn't. Um, and honestly, this is the same kind of mindset that I approach everything, honestly. And it's a lot of what we'll be talking about in Evolve, how to refine your practice to make it more sustainable, more aligned, and more in keeping with what serves you. I want you to always think about this, y'all, because I am I am approaching 2026 in a very different way. I'm going to share some of that with you in a minute. Many of us, our default is to either go full speed ahead or we just quit, right? We completely stop when we feel tired. In fact, y'all, there's a concept called pod fade in the podcast world. It's not at all unusual that folks will start a podcast with lots of excitement and make it for 10 episodes, 12, and then just quit. Or do a few and then disappear for a year and then come back, that kind of thing. That happens all the time. We tend to push too hard and then we crash. That doesn't serve anybody. That doesn't serve anybody. What we often need is more of a reset, like a temporary change in rhythm. Maybe sometimes it's a permanent change, but some kind of a change in the rhythm of what we do and how we show up for people in our life and for our work that helps us recenter and regain clarity. And there is nothing like the deep of winter to help you do exactly that. And that's really a big part of what I've been doing. Y'all, I am um I have a Virgo moon if you're into astrology. I have a very strong one-wing, if you're into the Enneagram. What all of that means is that I can be quite dogged about discipline and about continuing something that I set for myself. I am not one who quits easily. And in fact, it's been kind of a problem because sometimes I probably should have along the way. But I realize that this, I'm not the only one who does this. We often equate showing up consistently as meaning that we never change. But the whole definition of evolution, of an evolving practice, is that true consistency means staying aligned with your purpose, not your old pattern. And sometimes just a few small tweaks can make a huge difference in what your days feel like for you. As I'm recording this, I'm thinking about what I've been doing with the podcast. But the truth is, I do this all the time in other parts of my practice as well. I am constantly messing with the schedule. As I moved into December and now fully into January, y'all, I have I have yet again adapted the way I want to manage my time. I am scheduling most of my scheduled appointments these days in the afternoons. I've got one morning a week that I'm going to be seeing folks, but for the most part, I'm trying to save mornings for creative time, a little bit for admin time, but mostly for creative time, and afternoons for face-to-face time because my energy is different in those different parts of the day, and I do better with that kind of schedule. I've just been playing with it and I like it already. And I was speaking to a dear friend, one of my closest colleague friends, just the other day, who I found out is doing the same thing in her practice. Both of us have been in the field for a very long time. Both of us are at a point in our life where we want a little more breathing room where we can dig into some of the more creative aspects of our life and our work. And she's doing the same thing. She's shifted her practice. So she's seeing people in the afternoon and saving the mornings for her creative work. Pure coincidence, didn't know that. Sometimes a small tweak can make a big difference. In my case, right now, what I've been doing for the last month, as you've been seeing, is I've been alternating a chosen, a very specific, on-purposely chosen replay of uh one of our favorite episodes of Ideal Practice, mixed them with episodes like this, where I just want to sort of speak to you from my heart for a little bit. And I'm going to be doing that for a few weeks later before we start getting back into our interviews. Although I am lining those up, I've got some good ones already coming. It's going to be a great year, I can just tell you that. Went to the beach partly to get away, partly for a stress break, but really because I just wanted some unbroken time to dive into the content of that course. And as is sort of not unusual for me, I'm already underestimating what that's going to take. There is so much, so much good, juicy, helpful, informative, really good guidance in that course that I know you guys are going to want and love and need. But I did get into that. I got about halfway through sort of a review of the course and what all I want to do with it. And uh and was kind of all over again. Like, oh my gosh, I forgot how good this is. It's really good. If you want to know about that, y'all, when the time comes, when I go live with that, if you want to get on a wait list, if you want me to be sure you get emailed when there are updates about that course as it becomes available, make sure I've got you on my mailing list, okay? You can just reach out to me, send me an email, wendy at wendypitzreeves.com and tell me, Wendy, make sure I'm on your list, and I will do that. Um, one of the easiest ways, honestly, is to download one of the free resources I've got for you on the website. Go to the free resources tab. You can find all kinds of goodies there. Um, if you have ever wanted to take your private practice to the next level without burning out, I think that's what Evolve is going to be for you. So definitely want to make sure you know about that when the time comes. For me, what I want to share with you today is that learning how to simplify your systems, giving yourself permission to not have to do everything perfectly, finding a way to tweak the way just something as simple as your schedule, like I shared earlier, or like I'm doing with the podcast. Um those are some of the simplest ways to reset your practice this season. Evolution doesn't require burnout. What I would love for you to do is take a moment to look at your practice. And if you want, guys, one way you could do this is by using the Seven Pillars framework that you can get in the 360 scorecard. Y'all know that I have that, right? That the IP360 scorecard, which is a very quick, like 10, 15-minute overview of your practice. Check a few questions. It gives you sort of a quick high-level overview of what's working in your practice, what isn't. You could use that just to help you think through what are the different aspects of your practice. Or you could think about what's draining your energy right now, and what could you do? What would feel good to make a little tweak, make a little shift? What can you do now to prevent burnout for you? What's one area of your business or your life that here in January you might want to refresh? Even a small one. But I want to share with you what I'm doing that's new for me. In addition to just kind of giving myself permission to step back from the intense weekly production of the podcast. I mean, we're still publishing every week. I've just I'm just changing the way I've approached it for a little while here. Although we'll be getting right back to the full-blown thing here soon. But um taking this break in December and January has been helpful. Taking that break and heading down to uh I went down to Pensacola's where I went. Uh I had to go down to um to Alabama anyway to take care of some family property issues. Uh and since I had to be down there anyway, I thought, why not go on down to the panhandle and spend a few few days down there? So I did that. That break was really helpful for me, and it has just reminded me of how how good it is just to get out of town every so often. What I have done with this just sort of a little bit of a shift, just a little bit of a strategic reset, is I am approaching 2026 in a new way. I want to tell you how I usually do this, and I want to tell you how I'm doing it right now. Usually I spend the week between Christmas and New Year's doing some intense and serious planning. I'm a big planning person, y'all. Um, I like kind of knowing where I'm going and when I'm going. I I y'all know for the last couple of years I've done a planning workshop. Anybody notice I didn't do that this year? That too is part of the reset. Normally, what I do is I map out my big annual goals for the year. I break those down in by into quarters, I decide what I'm going to be focused on in each quarter, and I kind of go from there. I didn't do that this year, y'all. Instead, and this is really, really different for me. Instead, I have what I think of as like broad strokes. I know of two, maybe three, kind of big picture goals, achievements, accomplishments, desires that I want to see happen this year in my work life and in my personal life. In the work life, it's getting this course to you because that is so important. In my personal life, I've got some other things I'm I want to do. But when I say big picture, I mean big picture. And I am I have not nailed it down by the quarter, by the week, by the day like I normally do. Instead, instead, here is my intention for this year. I intend and desire to focus more on being present, present to myself in my daily life, present to those I love, and present to you, my listeners and my clients, in a way that is less about pushing forward for anything and more about allowing what unfolds, allowing what unfolds as I have these very clear desires in front of me. Of course, I have ideas. Of course, I have kind of um, you know, steps in my mind about what it would take to do this, that, and the other. But instead of my usual kind of hardcore step one, step two, step three, this is what I'm gonna do, how I'm gonna do it, when I'm gonna do it, I am not doing that right now. Instead, I am I am very consciously honoring what an ideal week looks like in terms of my energy flow. I have taken some time to write down what my morning rituals and my closing of the day rituals might be and what I want those to look like. I am consciously tuning into those practices. I am creating more space in the day for things like exercise, yoga, meditation, breathing, journaling, reading, being thoughtful and deliberate about ramping up into the day, what I do during the day, and wrapping up at the end of the day. And I'm just gonna kind of see where it goes. I'm just gonna see where it goes. I have a retreat coming up in a couple of weeks with my accomplished group, the group that I run for women leaders. We're gonna be hosting an I've got an in-page in-person retreat that we do in January. Really looking forward to that. I am working on this course for you guys, and I am gearing up for bringing the podcast fully back with you with a whole new line of interviews coming up. That's what I'm doing, and trying to take care of myself in the process. How about you? How about you? I would love to know what taking a lighter approach might be doing for you. Because for me, what it's doing is it's helping me feel more creative, more rested, more connected to the earth and to the universe and to those I care about. And that's what I that's what I want. That's what I want right now. I'd love to know where you are. Thank you for listening today. Here's what I'm gonna suggest for you. If the idea of a strategic reset resonates with you, take a few minutes this week to journal on this prompt. What part, what aspect, what segment, what tiny bit of my business or my life is ready for a reset? Not a pause, not an end, not a quit. Just a thoughtful, strategic, gentle reset. And what would that look like? Or what could that look like? Play with it. Just play with it. For all the talk in January about new year, new you, driving forward, setting goals, blah, blah, blah. This is the days are short, the nights are long. This is the time for reflection. Make the most of it. That's what I'm trying to do. And that's what I got for you this week. I hope that's helpful. I hope it gets some wheels turning. I love you. I am so glad to be back with you. And I look forward to what 2026 is going to bring for both of us. And with that, everybody, have a great week, and I'll see you next time, right here. Right here on the Ideal Practice Podcast. Bye now. Hey y'all, if this program has become important to you, if ideal practice matters, it would mean so much to me if you'd be willing to take just a minute to do one or two of the following things. First of all, would you follow or subscribe to the show here at Ideal Practice? Following me helps you because you'll never miss an episode. But it helps me as well for all kinds of reasons. To do that, all you have to do is go to the show page for Ideal Practice. On Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. There, just click on the plus sign that you'll usually find in the top right hand corner, or click on the word follow that you're going to find somewhere there on that page. Of all the things, this really is the most important thing you can do for the podcast itself. While you're there, it would be extra special if you would be willing to give me a five-star rating. And even better than that, a review with your own words. Your words matter. And when you write what you feel, what you think, you uplift and encourage others. And I love that. If you want to go a step further than that, take your favorite episode or two, one of the ones that has meant a lot to you, and share it with a friend. Could you do one or two of those things for me? I promise I will love you forever. You guys matter to me, and I value your support more than I can possibly say. Thank you, sweet friend, for anything you can do to help me out and support the show. I'll see you again soon.