[sei]

[the genius filter]

How To Make 2026 The Best Year of Your Life

Most people plan their year around comfort. They set goals that fit their limits and wonder why nothing changes. Jesse Itzler redefines that approach with one question: What if you planned your year around a single challenge that scares you?

He calls it a Misogi—a test so demanding it forces growth. The idea comes from an ancient Japanese ritual of purification, reimagined as a modern reset. One event, one goal, one moment that defines your year. A Misogi is a challenge that transforms you from the inside out.

Jesse’s approach connects to what Dan Pink calls self-cueing psychology: a recognition that transformation requires intelligent design, not just wishful thinking. Together, they form a blueprint for a year that’s both intentional and alive: bold challenge, clear guidelines, and deliberate outcomes.

This issue explores how to plan your own Misogi and make 2026 the year that truly changes you.

[the spark]

The Misogi Mindset

The new year often begins with a list of small, safe promises.

Last-minute goals designed to fit inside our limits, that end up forgotten just as quickly. Jesse Itzler saw this predictable cycle and proposed a radical alternative. His path forward is built around a single, year-defining event. Preferably, one that terrifies you.

He calls it a Misogi. One challenge, like a grueling half-marathon or writing a book, designed to push you past your perceived breaking point. During his ‘Hell on the Hill’ event, he has participants run in silence for twenty minutes. In that quiet, painful space, they're forced to confront why they're there.

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The goal is to go beyond just finishing a race and find a source of strength that pain can't touch.

And that’s the point of the Misogi: it reveals that your limits are negotiable. It forces a confrontation with the person you are, clearing the way for the person you could become.

The real prize isn’t crossing the finish line; it’s proving that you can get there.

[the science]

Difficulty drives change.

In 2002, psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham published their comprehensive analysis of 35 years of goal-setting research. They aimed to answer a single question: what kind of goals actually work?

Across hundreds of experiments and field studies, they found a consistent pattern. People who set specific, difficult goals performed better than those told to “do their best.” Hard goals directed attention, increased effort, and sustained persistence. They also triggered strategy formation and, once achieved, raised self‑belief. The effect was so reliable that over ninety percent of studies showed higher performance under high‑difficulty conditions.

Locke and Latham argued that difficulty functions as the mechanism driving change. The challenge itself reorganizes focus and energy. When a person commits to a clear, demanding objective, the mind and body align around it.

That same mechanism powers Jesse Itzler’s Misogi. A single, intimidating challenge forces full engagement and reshapes identity through effort and completion.

Change happens when the goal is hard enough to make you different.

[the takeaways]

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1) Choose One Defining Challenge ​
​Lock in one difficult, year-defining goal that feels just beyond your reach. A hard target directs energy, sustains effort, and raises self-belief upon completion.

2) Define Your Deeper Motivation​
​Clarify who or what you are doing this for before you begin. Use your purpose as a source of strength; it’s essential for the persistence that difficult goals require.

3) Adopt a One-Word Theme​
​Choose a single word like “build” or “learn” to act as your compass. Psychologists call this a self-cue, a simple trigger that aligns your daily actions with the larger commitment your Misogi demands.

4) Intentionally Schedule Joy
​A year of intense focus requires deliberate recovery. Schedule one joyful activity per week. This acts as a balancing cue, making the pursuit of a difficult goal sustainable.

5) Let Your Effort Change Your Limits​
​The accomplishment is secondary to the transformation it creates. Finishing a challenge that once seemed impossible expands your perception of what you can achieve, which is the true purpose of the effort.