Reflecting back, it’s hard not to be sentimental about some things that you had to throw away and give up on. There is so much effort spent creating something that turns out to be not what it needs to be. This could be anything from a work flow for a job, or cooking a meal, or even just the course of a day. If you are no longer satisfied with how whatever it is has been going, the best thing to do is to throw it all away. Many times we hold onto something because we feel that we have put too much work and energy into it to throw it away. More often than not, this is an irrational thought that our inner voice uses to take the simplest route out. Throwing things away and starting from scratch takes effort and sacrifice, and is so much harder than just being satisfied with whatever you already have.
The reset action is difficult and complex, as it is a realization that what you have is not what you want or need. Not only are you throwing away the physical resources that you used to make whatever it is, but it appears that you are confirming that you have sacrificed the greatest commodity: time. Saying goodbye to something is often accompanied with a sadness and lamenting of all the memories you had with whatever it was. Admitting failure makes that voice in your head perk up and say “I told you so”, which puts you down and can make you feel like you should be doing something else. So, why would anyone want to feel this way?
Throwing away something you worked hard on can be liberating. It shows that you are not defined by the past and whatever it was that you had attempted earlier. By admitting failure and believing that you can do better the next time promotes hope and optimism. By shifting the lens of reflection from “I failed” to “I will do better”, we open ourselves up to possibilities and growth. This is the true benefit of the reset button. Long term thinkers can easily see that failure is a stepping stone to success. So, take the lessons you learned from doing whatever it was, throw away whatever thing it was that you attempted, and get to creating again. This is how we grow, not by being content with what we have, but by using the lessons we learned from the past and bringing them to the present to try and build a better future.
The reset button is not a new idea. We fall asleep and wake up, our biology turns over at an incredible rate, and we are constantly rebuilding our identity with every decision we make. So, the next time you feel like you failed, throw it away and hit the reset button to try again.