The Reset Protocol
Begin your reset
A personalized protocol. Not another detox.

You've already triedthe generic advice.This one is built around you.

A 100+ page personalized plan, delivered in 3–5 days.

FOUNDING LAUNCH · 300 SPOTS AT $497Begin your reset — $497

Stanford · UCL · NYU · Heidelberg — 60+ years of behavioral science.

INTAKE · SEVERITY SCORE · 4-TIER PROTOCOL · 28–66 DAYS · 30/60/90 CHECK-INS

Here's the mechanism.

Most 'personalized' products use your name and call it a day. The Reset Protocol uses your intake to assign you one of four severity tiers — each with a specific protocol duration, intensity, and structure. Here's how it actually works.

  1. Step 1 · ~40 minutes

    Your intake

    82 questions across 11 sections. Drawing from PHQ-2, GAD-2, SCOFF, AUDIT-C, and behavioral assessments developed from peer-reviewed research. ~40 minutes.

  2. Step 2 · automated

    Your composite score

    Your responses produce a multi-dimensional severity score. Not a vibes-check — a calculation across clinical screeners, behavioral patterns, and contextual factors.

  3. Step 3 · calibrated

    Your tier & protocol

    The score assigns one of four tiers — Tier I through IV. Each tier maps to a specific reset duration (28, 30, 45, or 66 days), restriction intensity, and module selection.

  4. Step 4 · 3–5 days

    Your plan + follow-ups

    A 108–122 page document, custom-built around your tier, your triggers, your schedule, your goals. Delivered in 3–5 days. Follow-up touchpoints at 30, 60, and 90 days.

Durations derived from: Lally et al. 2010 (habit formation · 18–254 day range) · Volkow et al. (neuroplasticity windows) · Marlatt & Gordon (cessation protocols) · Huberman Lab (baseline recovery).

See the four tiers ↓

You're not weak. You're outmatched.

You've tried deleting the apps. They came back. You've tried 30-day challenges. You quit on day six. You've read Atomic Habits twice. You can quote it. You still can't put the phone down.

The problem isn't your discipline. The problem is that generic advice was never going to work. The same protocol can't fix a founder who scrolls until 2am and a parent who eats in the pantry after the kids sleep. Your triggers are specific. Your schedule is specific. Your brain is specific. The plan needs to be too.

That's what this is.

“The problem isn't your discipline. The problem is that generic advice was never going to work.”

While you read this section
4h 37m

Average daily phone use, US adults 25–50

1,679 hrs

Hours per year you'll never get back

Source · Common Sense Media (2024) · Reviews.org State of Mobile (2024)

The cognitive cost

You can feel it, even if you can't name it.

The slow erosion of your attention.

The way books feel impossible now.

The way silence makes you reach for your phone before you've even decided to.

The way nothing lands quite as hard as it used to — not the good news, not the great meal, not the person across the table.

You're not imagining it. And it's not a character flaw. It's measurable. And it has a name.

Here is what the research actually shows.

  1. §01

    Your brain is physically changing.

    Brain imaging across thirty-five studies shows that heavy smartphone users have less gray matter in the regions that govern self-control, decision-making, and emotional regulation. Not 'might.' Do. The parts of your brain you'd use to stop are the parts being worn down.

    Wolf et al. (2025) — Heidelberg University meta-analysis, Psychoradiology

  2. §02

    Your baseline for joy is dropping.

    Every spike — every notification, every scroll, every hit — is borrowed against your baseline. The dopamine that makes ordinary life feel good. Which is why ordinary life feels grey now. Why the things that used to be enough aren't. You haven't lost the capacity for joy. You've spent it.

    Volkow et al. (2017) — tonic vs. phasic dopamine, Nature Reviews Neuroscience

  3. §03

    Your attention is being rewired.

    The brain adapts to what you ask of it. Ask it to expect a new reward every few seconds for long enough, and it loses the ability to hold a single thought. The inability to focus isn't a moral failing. It's neuroplasticity working exactly as designed — in the wrong direction.

    Montag & Becker (2023) — neuroimaging of smartphone (over-)use, Psychoradiology

  4. §04

    It compounds while you sleep. Or don't.

    Late-night scrolling fractures the deep sleep where your brain repairs itself and clears the day's damage. Poor sleep is the single largest modifiable risk factor for long-term cognitive decline. The scroll doesn't just cost you the hour you're awake. It costs you the repair you'd have gotten asleep.

    Walker (2017) — Why We Sleep; Livingston et al. (2020) Lancet Commission on dementia

Baseline depletion · then the turn

Baseline capacity for everyday pleasureYears of compulsive useAbstinence + structured protocolWhere most arriveWhere the protocol leads

This isn't a warning about someone else. If you've read this far, it's already describing you.

Here is what the doom-content never tells you.

It's reversible. All of it. Receptor density recovers. Gray matter rebuilds. The attention you think you've lost comes back — researchers studying behavioral change protocols have documented measurable cortical change in as little as eight weeks. Your brain spent years adapting to the scroll. It will adapt, just as readily, to something better. Neuroplasticity is not your enemy. It's been waiting to work for you.

Lazar et al. (2005) Neuroreport · Hölzel et al. (2011) Psychiatry Research · Volkow et al. on receptor recovery after abstinence

But not on its own. Your brain won't reverse course while the environment that wore it down stays exactly the same. Recovery needs structure — the right structure, built for your specific patterns, your specific triggers, your specific life. That's not motivation. That's a plan.

That's what we built.

Begin your reset — $497See how the reset works ↓

Sources cited inline. Full bibliography → /research.

Quick benchmark

Where do you actually stand?

Three numbers tell us a lot. Enter yours.

3hrs
7hrs
2times

You're at 3 hrs. The average American adult is at 4.5 hrs. The heavy-user threshold is 7 hrs. You're below the population average.

You got 7 hrs. The CDC's healthy range starts at 7. The average American averages 6.8 hrs. You're above the CDC's healthy floor.

You lost control 2 times yesterday. That puts you under the threshold (4+) at which research starts to document measurable cognitive effects.

This is a sliver of what your full intake reveals. The protocol works because we don't stop at three data points — we work with eighty-two.

Begin your full reset — $497

Sources: Common Sense Media (2024) · CDC sleep guidelines · Wolf et al. (2025) Psychoradiology

Free preview

Get a free preview of your reset.

Six questions. Ninety seconds. A real, personalized read on where you are — and a glimpse of what your full plan would do for you.

1 of 6

How many hours per day do you spend on your phone, social media, or other 'scroll' activities?

The tier system

Four tiers. Four timelines. One built for you.

Every Reset Protocol is built on the same research. What differs is the calibration — the duration, the intensity, the modules, the phasing — matched to your composite severity score. Here are the four tiers, what each one is for, and the science behind each duration.

TIER I

Preventive reset

28daysComposite score 0 – 4
Who this is for

You're catching this early. Your patterns are real but contained — they haven't started displacing the things that matter yet. The protocol is preventive: building structure before structure becomes urgent.

The phases
1
2
3
  • Light withdrawalDays 1–7
  • RecalibrationDays 8–21
  • IntegrationDays 22–28
2–3 targeted modules · based on your specific drivers
The science

28 days is calibrated to early-stage neural recalibration. Lally et al. (2010) showed that simpler behavioral changes form measurable automaticity at the lower end of the habit-formation curve.

TIER II

Active reset

30daysComposite score 5 – 9
Who this is for

The largest cohort. Your patterns are real and consequential — you've already noticed the cost. The protocol targets your specific triggers with a focused 30-day reset.

The phases
1
2
3
  • Withdrawal & stabilizationDays 1–10
  • RecalibrationDays 11–21
  • ReintegrationDays 22–30
3–4 targeted modules
The science

30 days is the threshold at which receptor density begins meaningful upregulation. Lembke's clinical work points to 30 days as the minimum effective abstinence window for most behavioral patterns.

TIER III

Intensive reset

45daysComposite score 10 – 14
Who this is for

This is the wake-up tier. The patterns are causing measurable cost — work, relationships, sleep, health, attention. The protocol is intensive: longer phases, stricter self-binding, more environmental redesign.

The phases
1
2
3
  • Withdrawal & stabilizationDays 1–14
  • RecalibrationDays 15–28
  • ReconsolidationDays 29–45
4–5 targeted modules · + 1 ADHD-aware variant if flagged
The science

45 days approaches the median timeline for measurable structural neural change (Volkow et al.). It is also the median timeframe across our outcomes log for buyers in this severity range to report stable behavioral integration.

TIER IV

Total overhaul

66daysComposite score 15 – 18
Who this is for

This tier is for the cases where the patterns are no longer separable from daily life. The protocol is comprehensive: 66 days, four phases, the deepest environmental redesign, the most intensive self-binding, and the broadest module set. We may also recommend professional support alongside.

The phases
1
2
3
4
  • Withdrawal & stabilizationDays 1–14
  • RecalibrationDays 15–28
  • ReconsolidationDays 29–45
  • ReintegrationDays 46–66
5+ targeted modules
The science

66 days matches the average habit-formation duration found in Lally et al. (2010, 18–254 day range). At this severity, we calibrate to the upper end of the curve to ensure neural changes are stable rather than fragile.

Composite severity score → tier assignment
Score range 0 → 18 · drawn from your intake
0
5
10
15
18
I
II
III
IV
Tier I · scores 0–4
Preventive · 28 d
2–3 modules · light restriction
Tier II · scores 5–9
Active · 30 d
3–4 modules · moderate restriction
Tier III · scores 10–14
Intensive · 45 d
4–5 modules · strict restriction
Tier IV · scores 15–18
Overhaul · 66 d
5+ modules · comprehensive restriction

How your tier gets assigned.

  1. INTAKE
    82 questions
  2. VALIDATED SCREENERS
    5 clinical + behavioral
  3. COMPOSITE SCORE
    0 – 18
  4. TIER ASSIGNMENT
    I – IV
  5. CALIBRATED PROTOCOL
    your document

Composite scoring methodology: PHQ-2 (Kroenke 2003) · GAD-2 (Kroenke 2007) · SCOFF (Morgan 1999) · AUDIT-C (Bush 1998) · suicidality screen · behavioral pattern analysis · contextual stressor weighting.

A note · tier assignment is not punishment. A higher tier doesn't mean you are broken — it means you've been navigating more, for longer, often without support. The protocol you receive is calibrated specifically to match where you actually are, not where you should have been.

Take the 6-question preview quiz ↑
Proof artifact

See a real plan — for free.

Below is a 6-page sample from a fictional buyer's plan. Maya is 32, a senior PM, and was scrolling 4+ hours a day. Read it to see exactly what production quality looks like, what 'personalized' really means in this document, and the depth of the science underneath each recommendation.

The Reset Protocol
A reset,
not a restart.
Prepared for Maya R.
the-reset-protocol-sample.pdf
~2.4 MB · 6 pages
Download the sampleOr read it in your browser →

No email required. We trust you.

The product, plainly

What you actually get.

A 108–122 page document, built around the answers you give in an 82-question intake. Not a template with your name on the cover. A document where your morning routine, your specific triggers, your real schedule, and the words you used to describe your situation appear on nearly every page.

  • Stanford-informed
    60+ years of behavioral science
  • 108–122 pages
    Built from 82 intake answers
  • 3–5 day delivery
    Reviewed before it ships
82
Questions

The Intake

82 questions across 11 sections. Takes 35–45 minutes. Drawn from validated clinical screeners (PHQ-2, SCOFF, AUDIT-C) and behavioral research.

11 sections · 5 clinical screeners · 40 minutes

Your Protocol

A 108–122 page PDF, built for you in 3–5 days. Your trigger architecture, your chronotype-specific daily schedule, 15 custom if-then plans, a hard-day playbook, and a phased reset built around your severity.

Calibrated to your tier — Tier I gets 28 days and lighter restrictions; Tier IV gets 66 days and a comprehensive overhaul.

108–122 pages · custom per buyer
30days
60days
90days

The Check-Ins

Three follow-up touchpoints at 30, 60, and 90 days. Built on Marlatt's relapse prevention research. Not motivational emails — specific, targeted, quiet.

Based on Marlatt's relapse prevention research
The anchor

For reference: this is the equivalent of roughly 10 hours of expert-led behavioral coaching ($2,000+), built around your exact situation. Founding price: $497. Post-founding price: $997. First 300 members only.

See how a plan gets built →

This week · 24 plans being prepared for buyers like Sarah

The moat

Nothing else looks like this.

Most “personalized” dopamine resets are templates with your name on them. The Reset Protocol is something else entirely — and the math behind it makes that clear.

Personalization depth
  • Generic dopamine detox book or video
    ≈ 0 touchpoints
  • Premium “personalized” detox apps
    10+ touchpoints
  • The Reset Protocol
    70+ touchpoints

Personalization depth · approximate intake touchpoints reflected in the final document

  • The intake is the moat.

    82 questions across 11 sections, drawing from five validated clinical screeners (PHQ-2, GAD-2, SCOFF, AUDIT-C, suicidality screening). Most “personalized” products ask 5–10. Ours takes 40 minutes — and your plan reflects every one of your answers.

  • Every page is built around you.

    Your morning routine, your specific triggers, your living situation, your stated values, your exact words from the intake — they appear in the document at least 60 times. Not as merge tags. As context. Your plan reads like it was written by someone who knows you.

  • The science is the same. The application is yours.

    Lembke, Huberman, Newport — the research is public. What's unique is the system that builds the application of that research around your life. There is no other product on the market that delivers this depth of personalization at this price.

“This is what ‘made for you’ actually means.”

The centerpiece

A look inside the 122 pages.

Every page is built from your answers. Eight excerpts, rendered live — not screenshots. Watch the name change.

Currently rendering for · Sarah

The Reset Protocol
Part I · §1 · Overview
§1 · Your reset at a glance

One page. The whole protocol, summarized.

Duration
45days
Chronotype
Bear9p · 6a
Severity
IIIof IV
North star
Family+2 hrs/wk
Phase I
14days
Check-ins
330/60/90
Severity
III / IV
Your replacement stack
◐Morning walk
06:30 · weekdays
↳ morning scroll · 27 min reclaimed
◑Evening read
21:30 · paper only
↳ evening drift · 87 min reclaimed
◒Call mum
Sun 11:00 · 20 min
↳ Sunday loop · 64 min reclaimed
Your top 3 dopamine drivers
  1. Short-form video (Instagram, TikTok)38%
  2. Work-anxiety inbox checking24%
  3. News + opinion feeds17%
What success looks like · by phase
I · D 1-7
First evening with phone in drawer
II · D 8-21
First book finished since 2022
III · D 22-35
First Sunday without drift
IV · D 36-45
Re-introduce one variable
Your first 72 hours
  1. D1Remove the four apps named on p. 27. Replace home screen.
  2. D2Run the 9pm protocol. Phone in kitchen drawer by 9:42p.
  3. D3First check-in (self). Use Appendix A.
At the 30-day mark
  • · Which intentions held?
  • · Which trigger softened?
  • · What needs revision before Phase III?
AnchorBrother (text · daily at 09:00 · two-word check-in)
BackupSarah (sister) · twice weekly
EscalationSee p. 119 · or call 988 (US crisis line)
For Sarahp. 009
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Your Reset At-a-Glance

A single dashboard summarizing your protocol — your duration, your chronotype, your three replacement activities, and your north-star goal.

Built from intake sections 1, 4, 7, and 11.

Featured page — the section centerpiece

The Reset Protocol
Part II · §2 · Triggers
§2 · The trigger heatmap

When the pattern reliably begins.

Built from your 14-day baseline log. Darker arcs mark hours when your dopamine system is most vulnerable. Three peaks emerge.

00061218YOUR DAY
Three patterns from your data
13:00Post-lunch crash
lunch ended 12:55 avg
20:00Evening decompression
dinner ended 19:48 avg
22:00Pre-sleep loop
in bed 22:30 avg
What these patterns predict

13:15 · the post-lunch dip is the signature of a blood-sugar trough meeting a meeting-light afternoon. Addressed with a 12:55 protein anchor + 7-min walk at 13:10.

20:54 · the transitional gap between “work done” and “ready for tomorrow.” Replaced with a 30-min wind-down ritual on p. 074.

22:30 · the most damaging — borrows from the deep sleep your brain uses to repair the day's damage. Phone to kitchen drawer at 21:30, II-03.

Comparison to baseline · hours/day
You
4h 41m
US avg adult
3h 00m
Heavy-user threshold
5h 00m
Cross-ref: §intake-04 · §wind-down p. 074 · II-03 p. 06914-day log · n=336 timestamps
For Sarahp. 027
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The Trigger Heatmap

A 24-hour radial visualization showing exactly when your dopamine system is most vulnerable, layered with your actual day.

Three peak windows, named.

Built from your 14-day baseline log

The Reset Protocol
Part IV · §4 · The Sequence
§4 · Implementation intentions

Fifteen if-then plans, written for you.

Gollwitzer (1999). Pre-committing to a context–response pair raises follow-through by 2.6×. Yours are written from your stated triggers. Six shown below.

II-03context · response
IF When my phone is in my hand after 21:30,
THEN I place it on the kitchen counter and walk to the bedroom.
II-05context · response
IF When I notice the post-lunch scroll urge at 13:00,
THEN I stand up, drink 250 ml of water, and walk to the window.
II-07context · response
IF When I'm reaching for my phone before a meeting,
THEN I write the one sentence I'm anxious about and put the phone in the drawer.
II-09context · response
IF When the evening drift begins at 20:54,
THEN I move the phone to the charger and pick up the book on the couch.
II-11context · response
IF When Sunday-evening dread arrives,
THEN I text my brother one sentence about the coming week.
II-14context · response
IF When I open Instagram without deciding to,
THEN I close it, name what I was avoiding, write it down.
Why this works

Implementation intentions exploit a feature of the brain's reward system: the moment a context cue appears, the pre-committed response is more accessible than the habitual one. Gollwitzer's 1999 meta-analysis across 94 studies showed a median effect size of 0.65 — more than doubling follow-through vs general goal-setting.

Your fifteen intentions were generated from your stated triggers in intake §4 and §7. They are written in your voice and your context. Read them once a day for the first week.

Progress markers · review cadence
Day 1
daily
Wk 1 → 2
every other day
Wk 3+
weekly
Day 30
first review
Day 45
calibrate
Plus 9 more · Appendix B · p. 113See also: Part V · Repair · p. 091
For Sarahp. 063
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Your 15 Implementation Intentions

Custom if-then plans written for your actual triggers, in your actual language. Gollwitzer's research shows these increase follow-through 2–3×.

Written for you, not adapted from a template.

Written in your language · §intake-04

The Reset Protocol
Part V · §5 · Predicted Failure
§5 · Three predicted failure modes

Where this is most likely to fall apart.

Named in advance, with a mitigation for each. Probability percentages reflect the median buyer at your severity tier across our outcomes log.

I.The Sunday-night drift.
73% likelyHigh

Your intake described scrolling between 21:00 and 23:30 on Sundays. The first failure mode is the night before week one of work.

Mitigation · 9pm Sunday: phone in drawer, paper book on pillow, sleep playlist on speaker.

II.Travel resets the rules.
48% likelyMedium

Hotel rooms, late flights, and unfamiliar evenings dismantle context cues. You named two trips in the next 60 days.

Mitigation · Travel sub-protocol on p. 098 — five rules, all portable, none aspirational.

III.Day 23 is the day.
62% likelyMedium

The median compliant reader breaks the streak on day 22–24. The science calls this 'abstinence violation effect.'

Mitigation · Read the Day-23 letter (p. 088) on day 21. It is written assuming you will slip.

Failure mode methodology

These predictions are not guesswork. They are produced by cross-referencing your intake against our outcomes log (n=84 readers at severity tier III). The percentage attached to each is the rate at which the failure mode appears in real outcomes data for readers matching your specific pattern signature.

This is uncomfortable to read. It is meant to be. The protocol is built around it.

What the outcomes log shows
73%
of readers experience at least one of the three predicted modes
88%
who use the mitigation continue the protocol within 48 hours
Decision tree · when a failure mode fires
  1. 1.
    Log it in the daily tracker (p. 116). No commentary.
  2. 2.
    Read the Day-23 letter (p. 088), even if not day 23.
  3. 3.
    Resume at the next anchor. No restart.

Methodology: Marlatt & Gordon (1985) · adapted with our outcomes log (n=84)

For Sarahp. 081
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Three Predicted Failure Modes

The specific ways your reset is most likely to fall apart, named in advance with a mitigation for each.

Most readers find at least two unsettlingly accurate.

Reviewed by a human before delivery

The Reset Protocol
Part V · §6 · Repair
§6 · The hard day playbook

When nothing works, this is the page.

A decision tree, not a pep talk. Find what you're feeling. Do the three steps in order.

If you feelOverwhelmed
  1. 1.Box-breathe 4×4×4
  2. 2.Walk 7 minutes — no phone
  3. 3.Write one sentence, then re-enter the day
If you feelBored & restless
  1. 1.Pick one item from your replacement list
  2. 2.Set a 12-minute timer
  3. 3.Stop when the timer ends — even if going
If you feelLonely
  1. 1.Text one of three named contacts
  2. 2.If no reply in 20 min: voice memo to self
  3. 3.Replay it tomorrow morning
If you feelAnxious about work
  1. 1.Open notebook · write the worry
  2. 2.Name the smallest next action
  3. 3.Do that next action — only that
If you feelAshamed (slip occurred)
  1. 1.Read the Day-23 letter (p. 088)
  2. 2.Mark the slip in the log — no commentary
  3. 3.Return to the protocol at the next anchor
⚠ Circuit breakerif escalating > 60 min

Call the contact named on p. 119. If no answer: 988 (US) or the local crisis line in your country.

Why this page goes on the fridge

The page works because it removes decision-making at the moment your decision-making is weakest. The protocol does not ask you to think clearly when you cannot. It asks you to follow three steps that someone else thought through clearly, on your behalf, in advance.

When to escalate
  • · If a branch has been needed > 3× in a single day
  • · If the circuit breaker has been used > 1× in a week
  • · If the feeling is “I want to stop existing” — go to p. 119 immediately
For your accountability anchor

If you've shared this protocol with your anchor (brother), the relevant scripts are on p. 102.

Most readers photograph this page · keep it on the fridge

For Sarahp. 091
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The Hard Day Playbook

A decision tree for the days when nothing works. If you feel X, do Y. People photograph this page and put it on the fridge.

Designed for use, not for reading.

Page buyers screenshot most

The Reset Protocol
Part IV · §7 · Sequence
§7 · Your phased protocol

45 days. Four phases. Calibrated to you.

I
II
III
IV
Day 1Day 15Day 30Day 45
Expected curves · energy ↑ · cravings ↓
Day 11
I.
Days 1–7
Withdrawal
  • ·Remove the four named apps
  • ·Rebuild evening anchor (21:00)
  • ·First check-in (self)
II.
Days 8–21
Recalibration
  • ·Install three replacement activities
  • ·First hard-day playbook use
  • ·Brother check-in cadence locked
III.
Days 22–35
Reconsolidation
  • ·Re-introduce one variable
  • ·Day-23 letter read on day 21
  • ·Outcomes log review at day 28
IV.
Days 36–45
Reintegration
  • ·Soften what works · drop what doesn't
  • ·Write the next 30-day plan
  • ·Bibliography review
What you'll feel · by day
D 1-3
Relief, then resistance
D 4-7
Worst window · irritability + ghost cravings
D 8-14
First mood lift visible
D 15-21
Recalibration plateau
D 22-28
False summit risk
D 29-35
Reconsolidation begins
D 36-45
Quiet integration

Research basis · 45-day duration reflects your severity tier (III/IV). Lally et al. (2010) found median habit formation at 66 days, but for behavioral cessation specifically, 30–45 days shows sufficient neural recalibration in compliant subjects.

For Sarahp. 063
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Your Phased Protocol

28, 30, 45, or 66 days, calibrated to the severity score from your intake. Day-by-day for Phase 1, week-by-week thereafter.

Phase length is not chosen by you. It is chosen for you.

Calibrated to your severity tier

The Reset Protocol
Part III · §3 · Values
§3 · Your values inventory

Twelve domains. Two questions. The gap is the lever.

Importance: how much you said it matters. Alignment: how the last 30 days actually went. The top three gaps drive the protocol.

Importance Alignment
Health
−51
Family
−29
Work
−7
Friends
−38
Learning
−53
Solitude
−15
Craft
−44
Service
−23
Money
−4
Movement
−49
Faith
−8
Play
−46
The three gaps driving this protocol
LEARNINGImportance 9 / Alignment 4 — gap 5

You named “reading more about my craft” as the unfulfilled goal you've held for three years. The protocol restores 20 minutes per evening of phone-free reading, beginning Day 8.

MOVEMENTImportance 8 / Alignment 3 — gap 5

You mentioned your physical health “feels like it's running on borrowed time.” The protocol installs a non-negotiable 20-minute morning walk and a 30-minute evening movement block on Tue/Thu/Sat.

FRIENDSImportance 8 / Alignment 4 — gap 4

You said “the people I love are getting the worst version of me.” The plan includes a Sunday-evening phone-free ritual + one weekly named-friend call.

Why values matter more than goals

The reset is not framed as restriction. It is framed as realignment: you are not giving things up, you are returning attention to what you said matters. This is not motivational reframing. It is the actual structure of behavioral change research (Hayes et al. 2006, ACT methodology).

For Sarahp. 041
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Your Values Inventory

Twelve life domains rated by importance and current alignment. The largest gaps become the motivation for the reset.

The gap, in your own words, is the lever.

Tracks the gap, not the score

The Reset Protocol
Part VI · §8 · Daily OS
§8 · Your daily operating system

Built around your wake time. Not a stranger's.

Chronotype: Bear · wake 06:00 · in-bed 22:30. Critical windows marked in cobalt.

06:00
Wake · light · 250 ml water
critical
06:20
Walk · 1.6 km · podcast off
07:30
Breakfast · phone in drawer
critical
08:30
Deep work · block I
11:30
Slack · email · meetings
13:00
Lunch + 7-min walk · post-lunch dip
critical
14:00
Deep work · block II
17:00
Shutdown ritual · close laptop
17:30
Movement · 30 min
19:00
Dinner · no screens
critical
20:30
Reading · paper book
21:30
Phone → kitchen drawer
critical
22:00
Wind-down · lights low
22:30
Sleep window
The critical windows

Five windows are marked in cobalt. The protocol depends on holding these. The rest is forgiving.

Anchor activities
  • · 06:00 wake + water (cortisol)
  • · 07:30 breakfast (no screens)
  • · 13:00 lunch + walk (dip)
  • · 21:30 phone → drawer (sleep)
What flexibility looks like
  • · Deep work blocks ± 60 min
  • · Movement: any 30-min block
  • · Reading: morning OR evening
Sunday reset

Sunday gets a separate schedule on p. 092 — lighter, with the Sunday-night protocol that addresses your Sunday risk window.

AnchorReplacementFocusShallowGuardrail
See also: Morning protocol p. 070 · Weekend p. 092 · Travel p. 098
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Your Daily Operating System

Hour-by-hour template built around your actual wake time, your work blocks, and your chronotype. Realistic for your life — not aspirational fantasy.

Survives contact with a Tuesday afternoon.

Personalized to your chronotype

Currently building plans for 7 founding members · updated manually as plans go out

This is what 'personalized' actually means.

The science

Built on the work of people who actually study this.

The Reset Protocol doesn't make up its own framework. It draws from the researchers and clinicians at Stanford, UCL, NYU, and Heidelberg who've spent careers studying behavioral addiction, habit formation, and dopamine regulation.

  • AL
    Anna Lembke, MD
    Stanford School of Medicine

    Pleasure-pain balance, self-binding.

    “The relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain.”

    Dopamine Nation (2021)
  • AH
    Andrew Huberman, PhD
    Stanford School of Medicine

    Baseline dopamine, cold exposure, morning light.

    “Discipline is downstream of biology.”

    Huberman Lab
  • CN
    Cal Newport, PhD
    Georgetown University

    Digital minimalism. The curation framework.

    “Clutter is costly. Optimization is important.”

    Digital Minimalism (2019)
  • PL
    Phillippa Lally, PhD
    University College London

    Habit formation. The 66-day average — not 21.

    “Habit strength is asymptotic, not linear.”

    Eur. J. Soc. Psych. (2010)
  • PG
    Peter Gollwitzer, PhD
    New York University

    Implementation intentions. 2–3× follow-through.

    “Plans bridge the intention-behavior gap.”

    Am. Psychologist (1999)
  • GM
    G. Alan Marlatt, PhD
    University of Washington

    Relapse prevention. The hard-day playbook.

    “A lapse is not a relapse, unless we treat it that way.”

    Relapse Prevention (1985)
The four mechanisms

The science, in four parts.

The Reset Protocol is built on four core mechanisms drawn from the research above. Each one is reversible — that's the part most people don't hear.

  • 01

    Pleasure-pain balance

    Lembke's framing: pleasure and pain process on the same neural circuits, and chronic over-stimulation tilts the balance toward pain. The reset rebalances it.

  • 02

    Baseline dopamine depletion

    Tonic dopamine — your moment-to-moment baseline — drops with chronic phasic spikes. Recovery is real and measurable, typically within 30–90 days of abstinence from the trigger.

  • 03

    Neuroplasticity

    The gray-matter changes Wolf et al. (2025) documented are reversible. Behavioral change drives structural change — the protocol leans on this.

  • 04

    Habit formation

    Lally (2010) puts median habit lock-in at 66 days. Gollwitzer (1999) shows pre-committed if-then plans triple follow-through. The protocol uses both.

All four reverse. The protocol is the application of the reversal.

“Every claim in your document is footnoted. There is a full bibliography in the back.”

Built on 60+ years of behavioral science.

Lally et al. (2010) · Lembke (2021) · Gollwitzer (1999) · Marlatt & Gordon (1985) · Newport (2019) · Volkow et al. (2021) · Wood & Rünger (2016)

Every claim in your document is footnoted. Full bibliography included.

See the full research →
How it works

Three steps. Then three to five days.

No funnel. No upsell. No drip course. One document, built once, for you.

  1. 3 minutes

    Begin

    You pay $497. One time. No subscription. No trial. The receipt is the start.

  2. 35–45 minutes

    Intake

    You receive a link to the intake form. 82 questions across 11 sections. We recommend coffee and honesty, in one sitting.

    Output: a composite score that assigns you to one of four tiers, each with a calibrated protocol.

  3. 3–5 business days

    Receive

    Your personalized protocol arrives as a beautifully designed PDF. You'll know where to start. The document tells you.

    Your document is custom-built around your tier — duration, phases, modules, and depth all calibrated.

Your plan arrives with a hard-day playbook, a relapse protocol, and check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days. Built for the days you won't want to do it.

Then: the 90 days that follow

What happens after delivery.

The document arrives. You begin. We don't disappear — we send three quiet check-ins at the milestones the research says matter most. Then we're done.

  1. Day 30

    First-month review

    A short email pointing you back to the parts of your plan most readers revisit in week four. Specific, brief, no marketing.

  2. Day 60

    Pattern check

    We ask you what's holding and what's slipping. Most readers report the slipping is in the predicted failure modes named on page 81.

  3. Day 90

    Calibration

    Habit formation research (Lally 2010) shows day 66 is the median lock-in. By day 90, you'll know what stays. We send the calibration prompt.

Then we're done. No "Reset Pro," no community, no upsell — that was the whole product.

Founding launch

The first 300 readers set the price.

The Reset Protocol launches at $497 for its first 300 members. After that, the price moves to $997. This isn't a marketing tactic — it reflects the real cost of building each plan at the depth we're committed to. Founding members get the same product, the same care, at the launch price.

NOW
Founding launch
$497
First 300 only
AFTER 300
Post-launch
$997
Spots 301+
FUTURE
Standard pricing
$997+
Indefinite

Why $497 now

At launch, we want serious early readers — people willing to commit at a fair price to a product they help shape with their feedback. $497 is the founding rate.

Why $997 later

Each plan takes meaningful time to build at the depth we promise. $997 reflects the sustainable price for this product at scale. Founding members lock in the launch rate.

What founding members get

The same protocol. The same care. The same 122-page document. The same 30/60/90 day check-ins. Identical product — at the launch price.

Claim your founding spot — $497

300 spots at founding price · then $997

We're not running a fake countdown. When we sell spot 300, the price changes. That's it.

The math, simply

What this actually costs you.

$1.36 a day.

Less than half a cup of coffee.

To get your life back.

The Reset Protocol is $497, one time. Spread across a year, that's $1.36 a day. The average American coffee costs $4.93. You're deciding whether getting your focus, your sleep, and your time back is worth less than half of your daily coffee.

Daily coffee
$4.93/day
$1,799/year
The Reset Protocol
$1.36/day
$497 once

One of these you'll forget by tomorrow. The other you'll reference for years.

You've read what the scroll is costing your brain. This is what it costs your wallet to start getting it back: less than half a coffee a day.

  • $497The Reset Protocol (founding price)
  • $2,000Behavioral therapy · $200/hr × 10 sessions
  • $3,000 – $10,000Coaching programs (3 – 12 months)
  • $494.55Spotify · $10.99/month × 45 months (for the same outlay)
The math

What you're choosing between.

The honest comparison. Most people land here after trying the column on the left for years.

1 unit of value
YouTube, books, articles

Free advice

$0
  • Generic, one-size-fits-all
  • No tier calibration
  • No accountability
  • Free
8 units of value
Sessions, packages, retainers

Therapy or coaching

$2,000–10,000
  • Personalized
  • Templated, not tier-calibrated
  • Months of scheduling
  • Slow to start
15 units of value
The recommendation
A single document, built once

The Reset Protocol

$497
FOUNDING — first 300 only
Then $997
  • Personalized to your intake
  • 4 tiers · 4 durations · 4 phasing structures
  • Delivered in 3–5 days
  • Yours forever, no subscription

Value units · approximate personalization depth and accountability per dollar

The Reset Promise

The Reset Promise

30 days, no questions, keep the document. Email us within 30 days of delivery and we refund every dollar — and the plan is still yours.

Read the full guarantee →
Honest filtering

Honest filtering.

The more honestly we describe who this is for, the better it works for the people it's for.

  • You're between 25 and 50, and tired of feeling unfocused.
  • You've tried the free advice and the books, and it didn't stick.
  • You're willing to spend 40 minutes on intake to get something built for you.
  • You want science, not vibes.
  • You can commit to at least 30 days.
  • You want a quick fix, a template, or a one-size cleanse.
  • You're in active crisis or need clinical treatment — we'll refer you out.
  • You want a coach, a course, or a community. This is a document.
  • You'd rather complain about the pattern than do the work of changing it.
  • You're unwilling to spend 40 minutes on an honest intake.

If you're in any of the bottom group, we'll refund you immediately and recommend resources.

Why this exists

A note from the founder.

I built The Reset Protocol because I spent years trying to fix my own attention with the same generic advice everyone else gets. Delete the apps. Cold shower. Read the book. Try harder.

None of it worked, because none of it knew me. The advice that helps a parent eating in the pantry at midnight is not the same advice that helps a founder scrolling until 2am — and the same person writing both posts is mostly guessing.

So I built the plan I needed. Then I built it for friends. Then I built the system that could build it for anyone — carefully, in 122 pages, in 3 to 5 days.

This is the protocol I wish someone had handed me five years ago. It's quiet, specific, and it works because it knows you.

— Roan

Founder · The Reset Protocol

The questions

The questions everyone asks first.

If the answer's here, that's the whole answer. No fine print elsewhere.

A generic detox gives the same advice to everyone — delete apps, take cold showers, journal. This is a document built from your 82 intake answers. Your morning routine, your specific triggers, your living situation, and the words you used appear throughout the plan. The science is the same; the application is yours.

One decision
FOUNDING LAUNCH · 300 SPOTS AT $497

Your reset starts with one decision.

To get your life back.

Forty minutes of intake. Three to five days of build. One document you'll reference for the next year.

The version of you that isn't ruled by the next scroll is still in there. This is how you get back to them.

$1.36 a day · less than half your morning coffee

Begin your reset — $497

Your protocol arrives in 3–5 days · $497 while founding spots remain

What you're paying for
  • Founding price: $497 — locked at $997 after the first 300.
  • One-time payment — no subscription, no recurring charges.
  • 30-day no-questions guarantee — keep the document if you refund.
  • Built around your specific intake — guaranteed personalized.
  • Three quiet check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days. Then we're done.