I was maybe 12 years old, sitting cross-legged on the carpet in front of our old TV, Nintendo 64 controller in my hands.

Mario Kart wasn’t going my way. I’d crashed into the same wall three times. My character was in last place, and the finish line felt impossible.

So I did what any rational kid would do.

I hit reset.

Fresh race. Clean slate. All the cars back at the starting line, engines revving with possibility.

It felt like magic every time. That moment when the screen went black, then blazed back to life with the opening music—pure potential. zero baggage from the previous attempt.

I probably hit that reset button hundreds of times across different games.

Super Smash Brothers wasn’t going well? Reset.

Getting crushed in NFL Street? Reset.

As a kid, I understood something profound: The reset button wasn’t giving up. It was giving myself another shot to get it right.

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we convinced ourselves that resets only come once a year.

We wait for January 1st like it’s the only day the universe allows fresh starts. We burden ourselves with months of misaligned priorities, abandoned goals, and half-finished projects—then unrealistically expect one magical date to wipe the slate clean.

But here’s what we forgot: You don’t need January’s permission to hit reset.

That Nintendo 64 wisdom still applies. When your current approach isn’t working, when you’ve gotten off track, when life has gotten too complicated—you can choose to start fresh.

Not because you failed. Because you’re smart enough to recognize when it’s time for a new game.

What if instead of one annual reset, you gave yourself four chances to get it right?

Quarterly resets are the sweet spot. Long enough for real progress to compound. Short enough to maintain that fresh-start energy that makes January feel so electric.

Think about it: Three months is enough time to build a habit, launch a project, or transform how you approach your biggest priority. But it’s short enough that you’re not carrying around baggage for an entire year when things go sideways.

Then you clear the slate and start fresh.

Every successful person I know has mastered this: They don’t wait for perfect timing to start over.

They understand that progress isn’t linear. Sometimes you need to step back, reassess, and begin again with better information.

Your 12-year-old self knew this instinctively.

When Mario Kart wasn’t working, you didn’t spend months analyzing why.

You hit reset and tried again.

That wisdom is still available to you.

You don’t have to wait until January to become who you want to be.

You don’t need a new year, a new job, or a new city. You just need the courage to hit reset on what’s not working and the clarity to focus on what could work better.

The question isn’t whether you need a fresh start. The question is: What are you waiting for?

Your reset button is ready when you are.