What I like most about Spring and Easter is the idea of rebirth and new beginnings. When I see little flowers bursting through snowy ground, I’m inspired by their resilience and ability to start over every year.

Clearly flowers don’t have that little voice in their head whispering things like, “you already tried that and it didn’t work” or “you aren’t any good at that” or “you are a failure”.

This mini-mission invites to you to shut that little voice up and start over. Think about what worked and didn’t work the first time, and use that knowledge to improve the process.

• If you started to write a book that you didn’t finish, start over or start again.
• If you started a business that didn’t work out, start a new one.
• If you started a relationship but got distracted, give it another try.
• If you started to pay down your debt, but something came up, start over.
• If you started any new great habit that didn’t stick, start over.

Starting over rarely means that you are back to square one. Sometimes you can pick up where you left off, or start fresh with a better direction or awareness of your strengths and weaknesses. We all know that doing the same thing over and over again is crazy making, so don’t do the same thing. Do the same thing better.

If starting over means admitting defeat, do that. If starting over means apologizing, do that. If starting over means, asking for help, do that too.

I started P90X today, again. I completed the 90 day exercise challenge last year and then started again early this year. After 2 days, I moved on and never went back. I could keep listening to that voice in my head that says…

• You don’t have time
• You can start tomorrow
• You won’t finish so why bother
• You have too much to do
• You aren’t strong enough

Instead, I remind myself about how much better I felt after only a week of working out everyday. I remember how my eating habits naturally improved and how my arms felt and looked after 30 days of push-ups and other weight-bearing exercise. I will think about how my yoga improved and how much better I slept instead of the fact that I quit the last time.

Accountability helps you stick with a new commitment.

What do you want to start over? Leave a comment below. Make a commitment and be accountable.

For more experiments to simplify your life, read Mini-missions for Simplicity. It’s available on the Amazon Kindle store, but you don’t need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can also be read using the Free Kindle Reader App for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android.