Success Starts Early - Hit Reset

Christmas is done, and New Year's Day is fast approaching.  I hope the season has been good to each one of you who take the time to read these posts from time to time.  This is the week when so many of us pause to analyze how things have been going in our lives.  Most holidays give us an excuse to relax our discipline, and whether we succumbed to the lure of food, spending, relaxation, or any other opportunity that was presented, most of us recognize we went overboard somewhere.  No wonder the New Year's Resolution is so popular!  Hopefully, however, we don't waste time beating up ourselves over what went wrong.  Instead, this is a good a time as any to learn how to reset.

Playing video games as a kid, our console had two buttons on the front: Power and Reset.  If we figured out that we'd gotten into a really bad situation and weren't likely to win the game, sometimes we'd just stop playing and hit the Reset button.  The game would jump back to the starting point and we'd try not to make the same mistake again the next time.  There were also occasions where we got so irritated that we'd just give up on the game and hit the Power button to walk away and do something else for a while.  For someone playing video games, walking away is frequently a good choice!

In life, however, hitting the Power button is not the decision we ever want to make.  I hope that nobody reading this ever gets so frustrated that they don't think there's a better option.  The Reset button in life is the way to clear your mind, learn from your mistakes, and try again.  And it all starts back with goals, just like we've talked about ever since the beginning of this series of posts.  Take the time to honestly figure out where you are in life.  If you're heading in the right direction, celebrate!  Then write down how you'll continue staying on the right track, and maybe jot down ideas that'll help you speed up.  If you're aiming the wrong way be mature enough to admit it, identify what hasn't gone according to plan, and write down how to get it right the next time. 

And then start the next time...immediately!  Don't waste time worrying about wasted time.  It's been said you can't rewrite the beginning of your story, but the end is entirely within your control.  As 2022 begins (or whatever time it is when you read this) take a moment to evaluate if you're winning the game.  If necessary, hit Reset and make sure you hit that finish line! 


PRACTICE! 

Don't worry about pulling out old video games to learn all about that Reset button - just pull out a piece of paper and start figuring out how you're doing at chasing a particular goal.  If you're spending time on something that isn't helping you towards that goal, stop it.  Like my dad used say, "If you're in the hole, stop digging."  Then use all the tools you've learned to get back on track. 

MORE INFO

I recommend A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback by Willie Jolley.  It'll definitely help assist your mindset when you realize something isn't going right. 

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