The Performance Reset

It happens to everyone.

One day you’re firing on all cylinders. Closing deals. Crushing goals. Operating at peak performance.

Then something shifts.

Maybe it’s a slow creep—a few weeks of lower energy, scattered focus, deals that fall through. Or maybe it’s sudden—a major setback, a failed launch, a partnership that implodes.

Either way, you find yourself in a place you don’t recognize: off your game, out of rhythm, wondering what the hell happened to the person who used to run this business like a machine.

Welcome to the performance dip.

I’ve been there more times than I care to admit. And every single time, the instinct is to just push harder. Grind more. Sleep less. Force your way back to peak performance through sheer willpower.

Here’s the problem: That doesn’t work.

When you’re in a performance dip, the solution isn’t more effort. It’s a reset.

You need to step back, diagnose what’s actually broken, and systematically rebuild your operating system before you step back on the gas.

Today, I’m walking you through the exact reset protocol I use when I’ve lost my edge. This is the system that’s brought me back from burnout, bad quarters, and moments where I genuinely questioned whether I still had what it takes.

Spoiler: You still have it. You just need to recalibrate.

Let’s get into it.

First things first: You can’t fix what you don’t understand.

Most guys skip this step. They just assume they’re “off” and try to muscle through it. That’s a mistake.

Performance dips have root causes. And until you identify what’s actually wrong, you’re just throwing solutions at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Here are the four most common culprits:

Cause One: Physical Depletion

Your body is a performance machine. If you’re running it into the ground, your brain doesn’t work, your decisions get sloppy, and your energy tanks.

Signs you’re physically depleted:

If this sounds like you, the fix isn’t motivational videos. It’s rest, nutrition, and movement.

Cause Two: Mental Overload

You’re carrying too much in your head. Too many open loops. Too many decisions. Too many things that need to happen, and no clear system for making them happen.

Signs you’re mentally overloaded:

If this sounds like you, the fix is getting everything out of your head and into a system you trust.

Cause Three: Emotional Drain

Something’s eating at you. Maybe it’s a relationship that’s gone sideways. Maybe it’s fear about money. Maybe it’s regret about a decision you made.

Whatever it is, it’s taking up emotional bandwidth, and that bandwidth isn’t available for performance.

Signs you’re emotionally drained:

If this sounds like you, the fix is addressing the emotional issue head-on instead of pretending it’s not there.

Cause Four: Misalignment

You’re doing work that doesn’t matter. You’re chasing goals that don’t excite you. You’re operating in a way that’s fundamentally out of sync with what you actually care about.

This is the hardest one to spot because it’s not always obvious. You can be “successful” on paper and still be deeply misaligned.

Signs you’re misaligned:

If this sounds like you, the fix is a hard conversation with yourself about whether you’re building the right thing.

Take 20 minutes right now and write down which of these four causes resonates most. Be honest. This isn’t about looking good. It’s about getting clarity.

Once you’ve diagnosed the cause, here’s the protocol I use to get back on track.

This isn’t a month-long retreat. It’s not a sabbatical. It’s a focused, intensive 72-hour reset that interrupts the downward spiral and gets you back to baseline.

Here’s how it works.

Day One: Detach

The first 24 hours are about creating space.

You’re going to step away from work completely. No emails. No Slack. No “just checking in” on that one project.

Tell your team you’re offline. Set an autoresponder. Turn off notifications.

Then do something that has nothing to do with your business. Go for a long hike. Read a book. Spend the day with your family. Work with your hands on something tangible.

The goal here is to stop the hamster wheel and give your nervous system a chance to come down from fight-or-flight mode.

I know this feels impossible. You’ve got deals closing. You’ve got fires to put out. You’ve got people depending on you.

But here’s the truth: If you’re in a performance dip, you’re already operating at 50% capacity. Taking one day off to reset isn’t going to make things worse. It’s going to make the next 90 days better.

Day Two: Diagnose and Document

The second 24 hours are about getting clarity.

Grab a notebook (not your laptop—this needs to be analog) and answer these questions:

Don’t filter. Don’t make it pretty. Just write.

Then take a hard look at your calendar for the last 30 days. Where did your time actually go? How much of it was spent on revenue-generating activities? How much was spent on bullshit?

This exercise is brutal, but it’s necessary. You can’t change what you don’t measure.

By the end of Day Two, you should have a clear picture of what’s broken and a rough idea of what needs to change.

Day Three: Rebuild and Recommit

The third 24 hours are about implementation.

Take the insights from Day Two and build a 30-day action plan. Not a vague wish list. A real plan with clear priorities and specific actions.

Here’s my template:

Top Three Priorities for the Next 30 Days:

Things I’m Stopping:

Daily Non-Negotiables:

Then, and this is critical, you schedule a 30-day check-in with yourself. Put it in your calendar right now. Same day, same time, 30 days from today.

At that check-in, you’ll review how the month went and decide whether you need another reset or whether you’re back on track.

This isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a system. Use it whenever you feel yourself slipping.

The reset protocol gets you back to baseline. But if you want to stay there, you need to rebuild the systems that keep you operating at peak performance.

Here are the four systems I never compromise on:

System One: Morning Anchors

The first 90 minutes of your day set the tone for everything else.

If you start the day reactive—checking email, scrolling your phone, jumping into fires—you’re already behind.

Here’s my morning anchor:

This routine is non-negotiable. It’s the foundation that everything else is built on.

Find your version. Make it sacred.

System Two: Energy Management

You don’t have unlimited energy. Stop pretending you do.

You have roughly 4-6 hours of high-quality cognitive work in you per day. Maybe less if you’re running on fumes.

The goal is to protect those hours and use them for the work that actually matters.

Here’s how I do it:

Protect your peak hours like your business depends on it. Because it does.

System Three: Weekly Reviews

Most guys plan their week on Sunday night or Monday morning and then just react for the next seven days.

That’s how you end up in a performance dip.

You need a weekly review system that keeps you aligned, focused, and accountable.

Here’s mine:

Every Friday at 4:00 PM, I spend 30 minutes reviewing:

Then I build next week’s calendar based on those priorities. I block time for deep work. I say no to anything that doesn’t serve the top three.

This one habit has saved me from more bad weeks than I can count.

System Four: Accountability Structures

You can’t hold yourself accountable when you’re in a dip. You need external accountability.

Find someone who will call you on your bullshit. A coach, a mentor, a peer group, a business partner. Someone who cares enough to tell you the truth even when it’s uncomfortable.

I have a monthly call with a guy who’s built and sold two companies. Every month, I send him my numbers, my goals, and my challenges. And every month, he asks me the hard questions I don’t want to answer.

“Why didn’t you hit that revenue target?”
“What are you avoiding?”
“Is this actually the best use of your time?”

It’s uncomfortable as hell. But it keeps me honest. And honesty is what prevents dips from turning into craters.

Here’s the thing nobody talks about:

Performance dips aren’t just operational. They’re psychological.

When you’re off your game, you start questioning yourself. You wonder if you’ve lost it. You compare yourself to who you used to be and feel like a fraud.

That mental spiral is more dangerous than the dip itself.

So here’s what I need you to hear:

You haven’t lost it. You’re not broken. You’re human.

Performance is cyclical. You’re not going to be at 100% every single day. Some weeks, you’re going to be at 60%. And that’s okay.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s resilience.

Resilience means knowing how to recognize when you’re slipping. Knowing how to hit pause. Knowing how to reset. And knowing how to get back in the fight without beating yourself up in the process.

The guys who win long-term aren’t the ones who never experience dips. They’re the ones who know how to recover fast.

Be that guy.

When you master the performance reset, you unlock something most people never get:

Consistency.

Not perfection. Not constant peak performance. But the ability to stay in the game, recover quickly, and operate at a high level over years instead of months.

That’s how you build wealth. That’s how you build legacy. That’s how you become the guy who’s still standing when everyone else has burned out or quit.

The reset protocol is your insurance policy. Use it when you need it. Don’t wait until you’re completely fried.

Your business needs you at your best. And your best starts with knowing when to step back, recalibrate, and come back stronger.

Now go take care of yourself. You’ve earned it.

Ready to Build Unshakable Performance Systems?

If you want the complete framework for managing energy, building resilience, and operating at peak performance year-round, reply with RESET and I’ll send you our Peak Performance Operating System. It’s the exact playbook I use to stay sharp, focused, and relentless no matter what’s happening around me.

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Stay sharp,
Marcus Cole
Refined. Relentless. Unapologetic.