A Smarter Way to Start the Year – 3 Recovery Rituals Every Leader Can Do in 3 Minutes

Written by Tee McConnell, High-Performance Health Coach

Tee McConnell is a high-performance health coach, registered nurse, and founder of NuLeaf Nutrition. She helps busy professionals unlock next-level energy, mental sharpness, and physical strength.

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The start of a new year often comes with pressure from new goals, higher expectations, and a renewed push for performance. For founders and executives, January rarely feels like a reset. It feels like acceleration.

After years of working in high-pressure environments as a registered nurse, and now supporting leaders through stress, recovery, and performance, I’ve seen the same pattern repeat itself year after year, leaders attempt to optimize strategy without first stabilizing the system responsible for every decision they make.

That system is not the calendar. It’s the human nervous system.

According to the American Institute of Stress, workplace stress costs U.S. organizations an estimated $300 billion per year due to absenteeism, reduced productivity, turnover, and impaired decision-making. 

Much of this cost is driven by leaders operating in a chronically stressed, reactive state where clarity, judgment, and focus are compromised.

High performance doesn’t begin with doing more. It begins with recovering better so leaders can access clear thinking, emotional regulation, and sound judgment when it matters most.

Here are three recovery rituals that take under three minutes and help leaders start the year grounded, focused, and positioned for sustainable performance, not just short-term output.

1. The physiological reset (60 seconds)

At the beginning of a new year, many leaders operate in a heightened state of urgency before the first meeting even begins. The nervous system does not respond to resolutions or logic. It responds to physiology.

Take six slow nasal breaths:

• Inhale for four seconds

• Exhale for six seconds

This immediately shifts the body out of stress mode and restores access to executive function. Longer exhales signal safety to the nervous system, improving emotional regulation and decision quality in real time.

When leaders regulate their physiology first, their decisions become clearer, steadier, and less reactive.

2. The visual distance reboot (60 seconds)

January often means increased screen time, planning, forecasting, and reviewing performance.

For one minute:

• Look at something at least 20 feet away

• Let your gaze soften rather than focus

This simple shift moves the brain out of narrow, threat-based attention and into a broader perceptual state that supports strategic thinking and creativity.

Clarity doesn’t come from staring harder at the problem. It comes from an expanded perspective.

3. Identity-based grounding (60 seconds)

A new year invites ambition, but without grounding, ambition quickly turns into pressure.

Ask yourself one question, “What would the calm, grounded version of me do next?”

This interrupts urgency and restores intentional leadership. It shifts decision-making from reaction to choice, allowing leaders to respond with clarity rather than impulse. Leadership presence begins internally.

Why this matters at the start of the year

Burnout rarely begins with exhaustion. It begins when leaders skip recovery in the name of productivity, especially at the start of a new year. The most effective leaders don’t wait until they are depleted to reset. They build micro-recovery into the rhythm of their work. Three minutes may seem insignificant, but when practiced consistently, these rituals protect clarity, energy, and decision quality across the year ahead.

The bottom line

The new year doesn’t require more discipline. It requires better regulation. Leaders who start the year by stabilizing their nervous system don’t just perform better, they lead with presence, precision, and longevity.

Three minutes. Three rituals. A smarter way to begin the year.

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Read more from Tee McConnell

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Tee McConnell, High-Performance Health Coach

Tee McConnell is a high-performance health coach, registered nurse, and founder of NuLeaf Nutrition. She helps busy professionals elevate their competitive edge by focusing on their health, improving energy, mental clarity, and resilience through science-backed strategies. As a U.S. military veteran, Tee brings a grounded, results-driven approach that blends practical tools with powerful mindset work. Her mission is to help leaders feel strong in their bodies and unshakable in their purpose, without burning out.