“RESET” Day

We’re just barely into 2026, and I already need a “Reset” Day. Actually, I might as well come clean and say I need some days (plural) to reset. And when I say reset, I’m referring to simply getting myself organized for, focused on, and moving toward the goals I’ve set for myself . . . one month at a time.

Yep, monthly planning is all I have the bandwidth for these days, as planning too far ahead usually doesn’t work out well for me — too many changing variables in life (that I could never anticipate) end up substantially altering any planning outside of the current month I’m in.

And, let’s just say that the execution of the planning for the month of January was a bit lackluster. For a number of reasons that I won’t go into. Planning goes by the wayside from time to time. It’s the human experience unedited. There will be occasions in life when the planning for goal achievement doesn’t get put into action. And, there are reasons why that happens. Here are a few:

• The plans were too broad or ambiguous and weren’t broken down into actionable steps to be taken.
• The plans were left up in the old noggin and not documented somewhere to be reminded of.
• Life priorities take over and detain or derail even the best-laid plans.
• The habits of the plan follower hinder the ability to successfully carry out the activities detailed in the plan.
• Systems haven’t been set in place to carry out the plan.

Okay, so I said I wouldn’t go into the reason(s) that the action that needed to be taken (based on my planning for the month of January) didn’t see the light of day. But, I can tell you this much — all of the above played a part in my wanting to have a Reset Day.

So, here’s the deal: if you’ve ever felt like you pretty much get a thumbs-down on what you were to get done by when you were supposed to have gotten it done, don’t stay in that feeling. Do something about it.

RESET AND MOVE ON!

There are goals to accomplish and priorities to be met. Dust yourself off and use your reset day (or days) to do an investigation and evaluation of the problem areas of the plan, the problem areas with yourself, or the life problems (outside of your control) that impede your ability to successfully take action on the plan that gets to the desired outcome(s).

Here’s what I’ve decided to do the remainder of this week and all of next to reset for February:

• Write down (in my composition notebook) my mini goals to accomplish in detailed step-by-step action items to be taken with timelines and check boxes next to each goal so I can check the mini goal off when completed. (Checking things off when done makes me feel somewhat accomplished for the day.)
• Identify and write down (in my composition notebook) the kinds of habits that I need to take on to be successful in carrying out the action items above. Not only will I need to identify the habits, but I will need to be disciplined and consistent in carrying those actionable habits out.
• After identifying the necessary habits, I must set up the systems (structured frameworks) to make it easier to do the habits that lead to the actions detailed in the plan that lead to the desired outcome (goal(s)).
• As far as life lifing goes, I will do my best to maneuver through or around obstacles that come my way. There may not be much in life that I can control, but the one thing I can control is how I respond to obstacles that may try to detain or derail my best-laid plans. I plan on tackling them strategically and with the mindset that I can either lessen their blow or obliterate them altogether, and then keep it movin’ toward the end goal.

Feel free to use these steps if they will help you in your journey toward executing your plan. And, if you do use them, let me know how your reset went.

You’ve probably surmised the fact that you’ll be hearing something from my end on how reset week went for me personally and Degrees of Maternity professionally. February may be a shorter month, but I intend to get waaaayyyy more action in than I did for this longer month of January. Hold me to it, Accountability Partner.