The Fall Reset List That Has Nothing to Do With Pumpkin Spice

Hey Gal! Happy Monday. 

There's something about September that feels like a second January—but we're skipping the vague “get back into a routine” advice. If you're already doing a lot, the goal isn't to add more. It's to make the rest of your year run better.

Here are 6 actually-useful things to reset before fall:

1. Do a calendar audit through December.

Pull up the next four months and look at the whole picture. What are you already committed to? Where are the weeks that are absolutely insane? Where have you left yourself zero room for fun? Block off a few weekends before everyone else gets to them—and schedule the appointments, trips and plans you keep saying you'll make “eventually.”

2. Find the $100+ quietly leaving your account.

Not a dramatic budget overhaul. Pull up the last 60 days of transactions and look specifically for subscriptions, memberships, app charges, delivery fees and recurring purchases you barely notice anymore. Cancel, downgrade or renegotiate enough of them to find an extra $100 a month. Then automatically send that $100 somewhere you actually care about.

3. Make a “not doing this anymore” list.

High achievers are GREAT at adding goals. Try subtracting. Pick three things you're currently doing out of habit, guilt or because you think you should. A volunteer commitment? An unnecessarily complicated morning routine? Being the person who plans everything? Give yourself permission to retire something.

4. Fix one recurring annoyance permanently.

You know that thing that irritates you three times a week but somehow never enough to actually fix it? Your closet organization. The pile of returns. Your painfully slow laptop. That drawer you fight every morning. The appointment you've needed to make for six months. Pick one and solve it completely. Tiny friction adds up.

5. Decide what would make December 31 feel successful.

Not 17 goals. Choose three outcomes you'd genuinely be proud to finish the year with—one personal, one professional/financial and one just because you WANT it. Then ask: What would need to happen in September for that to still be possible? Start there.

6. Put something on the calendar you're ridiculously excited about.

We're very good at scheduling obligations and surprisingly bad at scheduling anticipation. Book the girls' weekend. Buy the concert tickets. Sign up for the class. Plan the fancy dinner. Grab the ticket to that TBB event you've been eyeing. Give yourself something between now and the holidays that makes you think, “I cannot freaking wait.”