This month so far has been one of organizing, getting back into my routines, and starting to plant seeds for what I want to bloom this year.
I have taken it slow and steady because I have learned that “haste makes waste” anytime I’ve tried to do too much too soon at the beginning of any new year. It hasn’t always been this way. There were many years where I bought into ALL THE JANUARY 1st THINGS! Resolutions and goal setting, and all the better habits, all at once. My vision board was feverishly thrown together, and my extensive and exhausting morning routine was activated.
The problem was, and still is, that all of that feels frenzied and frenetic and (for me anyway) has never been sustainable. It always felt like I was trying to make up for lost time, usually made me feel bad about myself when I couldn’t keep it up, and ultimately just set me up for failure.
Until I discovered another way. A better way to harness this new year fresh start energy, with less frenzy, more ease, and exponentially better and longer-lasting results.
My Year of 21 Days
I started my New Year’s Day 2013 on a yoga mat in a yoga studio on the Upper East Side in New York City. I wasn’t a yogi at the time; I was just craving something that felt slow and intentional. And at the end of class, the instructor gave us a single invitation: to set our intention for the year.
And in that slow and intentional space it became so clear to me, this was the year for being Best Me! A whole year of making decisions and setting goals, and building habits that would get me to Best Steph.
It became a year of asking the same questions over and over again. Does this make me feel like Best Me? What can I do to feel like Best Me? What would best me do? Anything that got me closer to Best Me: proceed enthusiastically. Anything that got me further away from Best Me: adjust expeditiously.
And the year that unfolded was pure magic. Over the course of the year, and supported by Best Me habits, my whole life upleveled: I bought a condo, I ran my fastest marathon, I met one of my besties, I advanced at work, I secured a spot on the board of my building, I could go on and on. What started as a Manifest-OH! created momentum where the only natural result was: best Steph!
Manifest-OH!: What It Is
A traditional manifesto is just a public declaration of one’s core beliefs. People can have them, companies can have them, they can be in the form of a book, a mission statement, or even a slogan. Carpe Diem is the manifesto from the movie Dead Poet’s Society. The Four Agreements is a manifesto by author Don Miguel Ruiz. And Nike’s co-founder Phil Knight penned 10 leadership principles that are referred to as the Nike Manifesto.
A manifest-OH!, which is my take, is a personal power statement with an emphasis on two things:
aligning your inner and outer world (“manifest”)
with a sense of delight (OH!).
And writing it at the beginning of the year gives you a clear and delightful operating system for your year. Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel? What is most important to you in this moment? Now make it a manifest-OH!
That first year, little-miss-BEST ME, my manifest-OH! looked something like this:
I am becoming the BEST version of ME
I choose habits that make me stronger, smarter, healthier, and more financially responsible.
I give myself a whole year for BEST ME to show up, playing with one new habit a month.
It delighted me, and it became my operating system. From habits, to routines, to everyday decisions. When in doubt I only had to ask the question: does this get me closer to or further away from best me.
I give you that personal example because it’s my own. And I have one for nearly every year since then. It starts with a power statement framed around how I want to feel and then gets built out based on what it means to me. It’s highly personal, super effective, and imo the best way to kick off the start of the new year.
Manifest-OH!: How To Write Yours
I wrote my 2026 Manifest-OH! last weekend and invited besties & new friends to join me (you can catch the replay here). Here is the step-by-step for writing yours:
Get Ready: Find a cozy spot, pour your favorite bevvy, grab a journal and your favorite pen.
Get Centered: Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, concentrating on the space between your eyebrows. You want to be able to access your own inner wisdom and knowing for writing yours; this helps access that.
Rate Your Current State: From 1-10 (10 being amazing!), rate the following 4 categories of your life as they stand right now: Health, Relationships, Career, Finances. Circle the one you rated the lowest.
Answer this: How Do You Want to Feel?: For the category you rated the lowest, how would you feel if you increased that rating 2-4 points in the next year? How would that make you feel? How do you want to feel in this particular area? Use this guide for inspo and write down as many words as you want. The words you choose should resonate for you, delight you, and spark enthusiasm.
Narrow It Down: Is there a theme to the feeling words you chose? An overarching word that feels the most emotional, exciting, and perfectly suited for you? What is the theme of the words you selected? See if you can narrow it down to a single word.
Define It: Now define what that word means to you. This is where you can use some of the other words you selected. I also like to look up the definition of the word for inspo. You really want to make this your own; it should mean something personal.
Now Make it a Manifest-OH!: The first line of your manifest-OH! should start with I am, I have, I live, or I do, and then fill in the blank with your THEME word. The rest is what that looks like, feels like, sounds like to you. See if you can break your definition into bullets. Use this guide for inspo and to get your creative juices flowing.
Your Manifest-OH! Attracts SynchrOHnicities
The secret magic of a manifest-OH! is that it attracts synchronicities. Those unexpected little delights that feel like coincidences beyond your control. When synchronicities show up, it is a signal of your inner state aligning with an outer event, and it is a sign that your Manifest-OH! is manifest-ING! To attract more synchronicities, let your Manifest-OH! take up space in you life.
Here are some ways to do that:
Set an Alarm on Your Smartphone: open the clock on your phone, click “add a new alarm” and choose a time when you know you will be awake (11:11 or 2:22 is fun!) and repeat it every day. In the “label” section add your manifest-OH! It could be as simple as “I am Best Me” or my favorite “Now be 10% more of your best self”…insert your word of choice, naturally.
Make A Question of the Day: “What is one thing I can do today to feel more ___” make that your question of the day.
Make It Visible: Make your Manifest-OH! your screensaver, make it a note on your phone, post it somewhere you can see it on the regular.
Give Your Manifest-OH! Momentum
It starts with a Manifest-OH! and to give it momentum you need aligned action. That’s where habits come in.
That first year of Best Me I decided to commit to one habit each month to build my momentum. My habits ran the gamut:
healthier habits (yoga, running, spinning)
richer habits (not taking taxis, keeping a cash budget, no shopping)
smarter habits (not being late, learning a new skill, reading a new book)
hotter habits (meditating, morning pages).
Some I loved and they became my identity: this is who I am now. Some I decided were not for me after all, which was also cool because I didn’t have to waste my time or energy with them once I realized they weren’t for me.
Twelve months of slow and steady and sustainable habits changed everything for me. Three years before the book Atomic Habits would conceptualize the idea that small changes leading to big results, I lived it and still live it. This is where I tell the stories of habit experiments and the lessons learned.
This is part of a series on January things, sharing how I am starting 2026 to set myself up for success for the next 365 days. Hint: it’s slow but intentional.