3 Strategies to Start Over
Better Than Before

What do you do when a trusted system fails you? How about a morning routine? Or a faithful piece of technology? How should you respond when you are left with no choice but to start over?

Photo Credit: tdlucas5000

Last year I upgraded the operating system on my iMac and my faithful Mac Mail application stopped working. I had been using Mac Mail to manage my daily email for 11 years, so I was a little crushed.

I worked tirelessly trying to fix the issue and I was told a new computer was my best bet — not the solution I was looking for.

Situations like these happen all the time. We find ourselves at a loss when something we need, trust, and even love dies, forcing us into a fresh start whether we like it or not.

3 Strategies to Start Over Better Than Before

I never did buy a new computer. Instead, I ended up switching to a program called Postbox and it’s just as amazing as Mac Mail ever was, maybe even better.

That’s the magic of starting over fresh. Even though it can be painful, there is an opportunity to be seized and a lesson to be learned.

Here are 3 strategies to try the next time something valuable to you no longer works and you are faced with only one viable solution, begin again better.

1. Brainstorm Where You Could Be

In an ideal world I would do everything better. I would build a better business, run a faster marathon, and eat healthier food. That’s where starting over has its perks.

When you have to start over, smile. This is your chance to identify what is ideal and possible. You get to rebuild, start fresh, and create the best solution imaginable.

Starting over always sounds like hard work, and it may be, but I can’t imagine you will regret your choice to adopt the perfect solution on the table.

2. Research Better Alternatives and Choose the Best One

Sometimes the ideal solution doesn’t exist and we are better off finding a solution that just works. That’s how I felt when I went on my hunt for a replacement to Mac Mail.

I spent hours and hours researching alternatives, hoping that one of them would be as good or better than the original. In this case, I found what I was looking for. This isn’t always how these situations turn out, but the best solution is the best solution, whether it’s ideal or not.

Let’s say you just had a baby and your old morning routine is no longer going to work. In this case, starting over is the only option because there’s no going back. Your new morning now includes a baby.

The best solution here is the routine you create to mold around the changes, positive and negative, that now exist. Think of this as working with what you have and making the most of it. After all, that’s how every problem is solved.

3. Don’t Let Yourself Fall Back into Old Patterns

I’m so guilty about this one. After I start over on anything, I typically find myself slinking back into my old ways. When I implement a new healthy diet, I somehow find myself with a handful of cookies.

When I decide I am finally going to wake up early and make it stick for good, I make it two days and then sleep in 3 hours past my alarm.

Yes, these things happen (even to productivity junkies like me).

Take advantage of the chance to start over and actually change something about yourself. Actually grow into a new, faster, sharper, smarter, and more skillful individual.

When we let old patterns follow us into new routines we wind up right where we started. Make the fresh start a true fresh start.

What in Your Life Needs a Restart Now?

You don’t have to wait for something to break before you fix it. Sometimes the best solution is to fix a problem before it’s a serious fire to be put out. Analyze your life now and identify at least one area that needs a restart.

If you started over today, what would you change? How would that area of your life be radically better?

Share what part of your life you are working on in The 5 AM Miracle Community on Facebook.

Next Week

On the blog next week I will be beginning a 6-week series called Mornings 101. If you are ready for a new and miraculous way to begin your day, stick around and see what it takes.