DEF Reset is coming. This is your chance to re-engage, recalibrate, and get ready for the year ahead. But DEF Reset is not just another New Year’s challenge; it’s an opportunity to kickstart discipline with a program that has been proven to work and sustainably last.
The eight habits of DEF Reset are derived directly from Jocko Willink’s daily protocols. These are not extreme tasks or gimmicks. They are standards: simple, repeatable actions that build a foundation of discipline across every aspect of life. From physical training to mental execution, the DEF Reset gives you more control by taking ownership over outcomes.
What began as an individual challenge has become a collective movement. The challenge starts January 1st , but preparation starts now. Waiting for the perfect moment is a losing strategy. If you plan ahead, you will persevere through inevitable friction, interruptions, and fatigue.
Most people press the reset button the moment the calendar flips. But real leaders know that work begins today.
If you want change in 2026, start preparing now.
1. Understand the Plan
DEF Reset is a discipline reset. Not a New Year’s resolution. Not wishful thinking. A reset of daily standards that will carry forward long after January ends.
The plan is simple, but not easy.
You will execute eight core habits that Jocko and effective leaders follow every day:
- Wake up early
- Get After It with a workout
- Prioritize and execute your to-do list
- Eat clean fuel
- Avoid junk "sugar-coated lies”
- Stay hydrated
- Read or write for 10 minutes
- Practice gratitude
These habits look familiar because they are. They are the same things people promise themselves every January, yet abandon by February. There is no hack to make them stick. Only your daily effort.
When compounded over time, these actions produce results. This is not a trend. It is a new standard you are choosing to live by.
2. Define Your Mission and Standards
DEF Reset runs on a clear directive: Execute eight habits. Every day. For one month.
These objectives are universal and scalable, so long as you set the standards. The challenge scales to meet whatever level or obstacles you are facing. What matters most is maintaining the discipline to stay in it.
You must define what success looks like for you:
1. What time are you waking up?
Maybe you're waking up at 4:45 AM with Jocko. Or it’s an hour earlier than normal. Set your alarms and wake with – without hitting snooze.
2. What is your training plan?
You can follow Jocko Willink’s daily workouts shared via email and Jocko Fuel social channels or execute your own program. Either way, train every day.
3. What does “clean fuel” mean to you?
Prioritizing protein. Cut sugar. Maintaining a calorie deficit. Whatever is aligned with your goals, choose a plan you can execute consistently.
4. What is your hydration standard?
3 water bottles or a gallon, set a goal and enforce it.
Vague recommendations fade. Clear standards hold the line. If you cannot articulate what success looks like, you will not accomplish it.
3. Establish a Daily Protocol. Hold the Line.
Discipline thrives in routine. If you want consistency, plan guardrails to keep yourself on the path.
Map out your ideal day from wake-up to shut down. Plan meals in advance so hunger doesn’t influence your decisions. Block time for work, training, and reading, so no habit gets skipped. Set alarms and enforce them. When you create margins early, time is no longer an excuse.
For planning and execution, Echelon Front’s Execution Planner is built for this exact purpose. Designed by Jocko Willink and Jamie Cochran, it allows you to align daily actions with long-term goals, while tracking your DEF Reset habits every day.
4. Conduct an Honest Self-Assessment
Before you set your goals, you must assess your reality.
At Echelon Front, leaders are taught to conduct honest self-assessments to identify gaps and focus effort where it matters most.
Where are you falling short?
- Skipping workouts?
- Letting the to-do list slide?
- Trading sleep for scrolling?
- Pressing play on the next episode rather than picking up the book?
Don’t lie to yourself. Your ego will try to dissuade you. The excuses will creep in, disguised as justification. A softened truth could convince you are doing good enough.
But when you take an honest self-assessment, you truly understand how you can do better. In order to stop eating your words, stop sugarcoating them.
5. Stock Your Shelves. Eliminate Temptation.
People default to the level of their environment. Set yourself up for success by cleaning up before DEF Reset begins.
Remove the temptations; get rid of the candy and chips; Reduce the distractions; set a time limit on your phone and clear your inbox. Eliminate the garbage now, so your system is primed when the challenge begins. Control what you can control. You do not have to eliminate your vices but replace them with products that progress you forward.
Jocko Fuel exists to support discipline, not replace it. Molk Protein Shakes simplify nutrition. Protein cookies eliminate unnecessary compromises. Clean energy supports training output. Use tools that move you forward.
And don’t forget your book. The Need to Lead, published by Echelon Front, outlines ten essential leadership mindsets learned at TOPGUN and in Ramadi, Iraq. Pair it with the Extreme Ownership series and reinforce the most important skill you can develop this year: leadership.
6. Leverage Your Team
Discipline is easier when standards are shared. DEF Reset was built by the Jocko Fuel and Echelon Front teams to provide accountability and support. You are not doing this alone.
Through internal channels, social media, and the DEF Reset App, participants share progress, lessons learned, and setbacks. Treat updates like SITREPs. Wins and failures both contain value.
You’re not in this alone. We host this challenge to remind people we’re in this fight together.
7. Commit to Ownership. Not Excuses.
DEF Reset comes down to one factor: you.
You either commit, or you concede.
There will be days when your motivation is gone. Frustrated at work and ready to call it quits. Fatigued and sore after repeated workouts. And all you want is a slice of pizza. That is the point. If your discipline can overpower your excuses, freedom will become your future.
If you start preparing today, the momentum will push you through the challenge. The more disciplined you are now, the more powerful your Reset will be.
Preparation determines outcome. Every decision before Day One either strengthens or weakens your foundation.
Start now.
Hold the line.
Execute.