Week 9

Welcome back to The HayZ Minute. Each week, I try to share lessons that help us move forward with more clarity, intention, and resilience. This week’s theme is something we all need from time to time: the reset button.

We’ve all had days that didn’t go as planned. A meeting spirals, a goal isn’t met, or we react in a way we later regret. The temptation is to carry that baggage forward, replaying the moment on a loop and letting one misstep shape everything that follows. But here’s the truth: every day — and often every moment — you have the ability to reset.

I learned this lesson clearly while running one of my entrepreneurial ventures, my photo booth business. It was a birthday party with more than 200 guests. The energy was high, the celebrant was excited, and everything was moving smoothly — until the printer jammed mid-event. The line backed up, frustration started to spread, and I felt that familiar sinking feeling that one mistake could derail the entire experience.

For a brief moment, my mind went straight to replaying the error: I should have checked this earlier. Why didn’t I bring a backup? But standing there stuck in “yesterday” was only going to make “today” worse. So I made a conscious choice to hit reset. I took a breath, calmly addressed the crowd, cracked a quick joke to lighten the mood, and switched the system to digital sharing. The tension broke, people laughed, and everyone smiled. What could have become the defining moment of the night quickly became a minor footnote.

Resetting isn’t about ignoring problems or pretending mistakes don’t matter. It’s about refusing to let one moment control the entire story. I see the same dynamic play out in leadership. At the VA, I’ve watched teams carry yesterday’s setbacks into today’s work. When that happens, productivity drops, tension rises, and progress stalls — not because the challenge is unsolvable, but because the weight of it never gets put down.

Over time, I’ve relied on a simple framework:

The 3Rs Reset Method

Recognize – Acknowledge what went wrong without judgment or blame.
Reframe – Ask, What’s the lesson here? Turn failure into information.
Restart – Step into the next moment as if the slate is clean.

Think of it like refreshing a screen. The old data isn’t erased, but you clear enough space for the system to run smoothly again.

Weekly Quote:
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

👉 Call to Action:
What do you need to reset right now — a conversation, a mindset, or an expectation? Share your thoughts. Your perspective might be exactly what someone else needs this week

 One reset at a time,
HayZ