Before I share the first newsletter of 2026, I want to wish you a happy new year. I hope you had a lovely Christmas break and New year and you’re feeling ready to go and fired up to have a great start to the year.

Just remember, no matter what happens on your projects, you’re not responsible for everything that does happen, you can only do so much as a PM, so be kind to yourself in 2026 :)

Also, if you're thinking about training for you or your team this year, but not sure what yet, just reply to this email and I can tell you all the about the mixture of online and in person training I can offer.

ISSUE #31

​
Read online and access previous editions 👇🏼

What’s your energy like coming back after the holidays?

We often assume we’ll come back refreshed, charged, and ready to hit the ground running.

But in reality? It’s often a bit of a brain fog. You stare at your screen, trying to remember what you were doing three weeks ago, while your inbox is already filling up.

January can be a really tough month because you're trying to play catch-up on December as well as keeping the momentum needed on your projects. Plus, if you live in the UK it’s dark when you start work and dark when you finish it!

If you don't manage the start of January well, you risk losing that new year drive for improvements and get on top of things.

Starting well, also means getting back into flow, and an improved one, but also making sure you’re feeling done by February!

Here are a few tips to help reset your project effectively 👇🏼

1. Send a "Reset Update" Don’t assume everyone remembers the plan. People have switched off from work (hopefully!), and details have faded. Send a reset update to clients and the team. Keep it simple and high-level. Do this one first.

• Where we left off
• The immediate focus for this week
• The key goals for the next month

Also, don’t expect everyone to firing on all cylinders from day, be patient with progress, but at the same time, don’t let others starting slowly create new problems for your project.

2. Check your dependencies Things change over the break. Maybe a supplier didn't return when expected, or like I used to do, book all my time off for the year, so check holidays again. Check dependencies that may have changed over the break. A quick check now saves a bottleneck later in the month.

3. What could go wrong? Before you really get stuck in, take advantage of what’s often a quieter week and do some brainstorming about what could go wrong this week and month on project.

Get ahead of the problems, and I don’t mean just updating a risk log, ask the team questions, look further ahead and check-in with your client or stakeholders.

4. Protect your January plan. Naturally, we slow down in December, which often means we push problems or more work into January. Hopefully this isn’t the case if you read the final newsletter I shared in 2025 :)

If you didn’t, don't try to fix December's delayed work and January's new work all in the first week. Be realistic about what can be achieved while everyone is getting back up to speed.

Set yourself some targets to achieve for that first week, to keep procrastination at bay!

One practical takeaway you can use today: Create a first 2-week checklist before you fully dive into tasks.

Include three simple things: confirm team priorities, check if any dependencies shifted over the break, and send a reset update to your clients.

Don’t rely on memory or momentum from last year. Send a reset update, check your dependencies, check what could go wrong, and protect your team from an overwhelming start.

Small steps done now make the new year smoother and more focused

And keep it simple. .

Have a great week, Ben 💪🏼

Have you completed the AI + PM Survey yet? It will only take 2-3 minutes, and as a thank you for completing it, I'll give you a 20% discount for any future PPM Academy training you sign up for (if you want it)