A Simple Reset That Keeps You Moving Forward

Right now, a lot of women are focused on building new habits and routines.

That makes sense. January is when we tend to think about what we want to do differently.

But what most women aren’t thinking about yet is how to do that.

And that “how” comes down to building the right skills, the ones you need to actually support new habits and routines.

One of the most important skills you can have, not just in January but any time of year, is the skill of restarting.

Most women approach the new year with an unspoken goal of,

“This time, I won’t fall off track.”

But that’s not realistic.

Life is still going to life.

There will be busy weeks.

Disruptions.

Choices you’re not proud of.

Moments where things don’t go the way you planned.

If you want to finally follow through on your goals, you don’t need to be perfect or avoid missteps altogether.

What you do need is the ability to come back quickly when they happen.

Years ago, when I worked at a gym in New York City, there was a trainer who taught his clients something simple but incredibly effective.

If they finished a set and it didn’t feel great, maybe their form was sloppy or it just felt off, he’d tell them,

“Shake it off like an Etch-A-Sketch.”

If you’re old enough to remember one, you know exactly what I mean.

You draw something, then you shake it, and it clears the screen so you can start again.

He’d have them literally shake their whole body as a way to reset, so they could go into the next set without mentally dragging the last one with them.

That idea has stayed with me.

Because that’s the skill most women are missing when it comes to their goals.

Instead of treating a misstep simply as information and moving on, they judge it.

They replay it.

They let it snowball into, “What’s the point now?”

We also know from psychology that temporal landmarks, moments that mark a clear “before” and “after,” help our brains reset.

Big ones include the new year, Mondays, starting a new job, or moving to a new place.

But we can also create small temporal landmarks on purpose.

That’s where a restart plan comes in.

A restart plan isn’t about avoiding mistakes.

It’s about knowing exactly what you’ll do when one happens.

It can be simple.

It might be a sentence you say to yourself.

Something like, “This is part of the process. I’m learning.”

It might be a physical action.

Standing up. Shaking it off. Taking a breath.

It might be a short ritual.

Refilling your water bottle.

Drinking it.

Taking 30 seconds of belly breathing.

Repeating a mantra like, “I’m becoming a woman who follows through.”

What matters isn’t what you choose.

It’s that you choose it ahead of time.

This is how you build self-trust.

Not by promising you’ll never mess up.

But by knowing, “If things go sideways, I know how to restart.”

That confidence is what ends the quit-restart cycle.

So here’s something to think about this week:

If (when) you get off track,

What’s your reset?

What’s the ONE THING you’ll do to shake it off and move forward?