Ask Irisel | Vol. 06: Your End-of-Quarter Reset: Rituals for a Clear Q4

September 28, 2026•8 min read

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It's the last Monday of the month, and this time it's also the last Monday of the entire quarter: Q4 officially begins in three days! So your Ask Irisel issue is here right on time, as usual.

If you've got your own question you want answered, send it to me at iriselaesteria.com/askirisel. The form takes 5 minutes, and next month it could be your question I'm answering.

Ask Irisel | Vol. 06: Your End-of-Quarter Reset: Rituals for a Clear Q4

Since this is the last week of Q3, I wanted to focus on the questions that came in around project management, quarterly planning, and the rituals that keep you in alignment as you close out the year. AKA: everything you need to walk into your final quarter of 2026.

Let's dive in.

Q1. From M: "Irisel, I just did my end of Q3 review and I'm sitting at maybe half of what I promised myself to get done this year. A huge part of me wants to sprint these last three months, but the other part of me knows that it's literally impossible for me to finish all these projects I expected myself to get done. How do I walk into Q4 knowing which projects I should prioritize? Literally everything feels like a priority, but I just know I can't expect myself to get all of it done."

M, first, take a breath with me for a second. In, hold, and out, hold.

Okay, now let's discuss.

I know everything can feel like a priority at once, but it's really not. I've talked about this before in a previous Ask Irisel, when we dug into why L kept avoiding the executive work in her business. Understanding your workflow priorities (what comes first, what comes next) is you stepping into your CEO cap, and learning how to lead yourself with integrity and power.

Remember: Just because you get a brilliant idea, doesn't mean you need to act on that brilliant idea "right now or else." (I talk about this more in The CEO Dashboard.)

That feeling of "I need to do this right now or else" comes from a place of insecurity, scarcity, and fear of failure.

So M, here's exactly what I want you to do:

1. Step 1: Do the [letting-go ritual we did last week]. [[link: The 2026 Autumn Equinox (AC //020)]] If you haven't done it yet, do it before you plan a single thing for Q4. It clears the old loops, so you're choosing your priorities from where you actually are now, and from your current vision, instead of from the list January-you wrote.
2. Step 2: Plan your quarter. My free 30-min CEO Reset is the same end-of-quarter review I run on my own business, and it walks you through closing this quarter and planning the next.
3. Step 3: Once your list is shorter, decide on 1 project to finish this quarter with.

I know, I know: "only 1 project, when I've got a dozen other brilliant genius ideas?" Stick with 1 project. Get 1 thing done. I promise you will thank me later. Remember that the end of the year is full of holidays, unexpected events, and time you need to set aside for your 2027 annual planning. So trying to schedule in "more" will just bite you in the butt.

Think about how good it will feel to have that 1 project completely done and wrapped up before the year ends (and that way you can do it well, and finish it to completion, rather than leaving it a half-open loop.)

If deciding the order is where you get stuck, my Priority Flow Framework is the exact process I use to decide what gets done first, and why.

So tell me M: out of everything you want to get done, which is the 1 that needs to get done first? And why?

Q2. From L: "Omg Iris, I loved your ritual for the equinox! I'm wondering if you have any other rituals you've created in your years online that you recommend I include in my business?"

Aww I'm so glad you enjoyed it, L!

I love adding rituals to my regular practice to help me ground into the energy I'm looking to step into. Sometimes you can "work" a lot and take forward action, but things don't "click" into place right away. That's when I use rituals to help reinforce my desires and decisions.

Some of my favourite rituals over the years:

The letting-go ritual. The one you just did with me at the equinox. I come back to this one every time I'm on the verge of becoming someone new.
The Lion's Gate ritual. My very first conscious manifestation ritual, from the very beginning of my business.
My manifestation process. The full 4 phases are in How Manifestation Actually Works.
Money manifestation. A few years back I lit 4 green candles and connected with the energy of wealth, abundance, and luxury. It was a very tumultuous period of my life when I was still figuring things out, and I was in such a place of anxiety and scarcity that I needed to really connect with the energy of wealth. If you want to hear more about this one, respond back to this email and let me know, and I'll write a full article sharing my exact steps.
The forgiveness walk. I took a bouquet of roses into the woods and released them one by one, wherever it felt like they should be released: for my mother, my father, past relationships, previous friends, past mentors, and the past versions of me. I still use this walk today (sometimes with or without flowers.)
The wealth talisman. I created one for my boyfriend's mother a few years back, and then she won the lottery at a casino! Hahah, that might be a fun story for another time ;)

For me, rituals aren't this "must do or else" type of practice, they're built as I experience life and notice what I feel I'm missing. When things are very aligned in my life, I tend to do rituals a lot less, because I'm already in the energy of what I desire.

So here's my challenge for you: create your own rituals for the things you want in your life. I might write some future articles on the details of my past rituals, but the most important part of any ritual is the intention behind it. So take inspiration from mine, and then have fun and build your own.

Q3. From K: "Iris! I did the letting-go ritual and actually burned my letting-go list. It felt incredible!!! But then two days later I caught myself thinking about one of the projects I released. Now I'm doubting if it was the \"right thing\" to decide that I should let go of that project? Like why am I getting inspiration for an idea that I told myself I'm supposed to let go of?"

First, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this ritual :) I know for myself it has always been one of my most favourite rituals, and one I regularly come back to.

As for the doubting if it was the "right thing," I want to teach you something about alignment and consciousness: when you get an idea, a thought, or a concept that comes to mind, your state will determine if that idea or thought is aligned or not.

Which is actually why rituals can be so effective for getting into alignment with where you want to be. When you create a ritual environment, you are intentional. You let go of all the mundane thoughts, and you consciously focus in 1 direction towards what you want. So the most important thing to know about whether your release was "aligned or not" is what inspired the ritual in the first place.

So let's look at your situation, K. I want you to think about the state you were in when you decided to let go of this project, and the state you were in when the doubt showed up.

When you were doubting, ask yourself:

Were you anxious? Did something trigger you?
Did you run into a note or a reminder from old you?
Did someone say something that made you think you needed to do something that maybe wasn't aligned?

Or maybe the reverse: when you set your intention during the ritual, were you coming from a place of self-frustration or irritation?

The state you're in when something occurs is your compass that determines if what you're doing is in alignment for you or not.

If the release came from a grounded, intentional state and the doubt arrived in an anxious one, then the doubt is old energy visiting, and your release still stands in full alignment. And if you're honest with yourself and the ritual itself was set from a place of frustration or scarcity, that means the ritual itself was not in alignment to begin with.

Have Questions About Your Q4?

That's the issue for this month, my dear. If something in here sparked a question of your own (about your Q4 priorities, your rituals, your alignment, or anything in between), send it over at iriselaesteria.com/askirisel. I read every single one, and next month's issue could open with yours.

Q4 starts in three days. You know your 1 project, you have your rituals, and you know how to read your own state when the doubts come knocking. That is what walking into a quarter prepared actually looks like.