TACOMA, Wash. — Denise Oakhurst, 47, began her fall reset at 6:40 this morning, several hours before autumn officially arrived. She did not want to be late to it.

This is her fourth reset of the year. The first began January 1. It lasted until mid-February, when a head cold interrupted her morning pages. Her second began on her birthday in April. A third was scheduled for the Monday after Labor Day but was postponed, she said, “to let the kids settle.”

“This one is different,” Oakhurst said from her kitchen table. A new planner lay open beside her to a page titled Intentions.

She said the same thing in April. She was sincere then, too.

Supplies for a Fall Reset

The fall reset required a trip to Target on Sunday. Oakhurst bought a linen-covered planner, pastel highlighters, and a glass water bottle with hourly markings down the side. She also bought a candle called Hearth. The total came to $86.14, which she describes as “an investment in systems.”

The planner has room for monthly goals, weekly goals, and a daily column labeled Top Three. Oakhurst has filled in the monthly goals through December. Today’s column is still blank. She is waiting for the right pen.

Her previous planners live in a drawer in the hall closet. There are six. Each one is complete through the third week of whatever month it began. Together, they form a detailed record of several excellent Januaries.

The Science of Starting Over

Oakhurst knows she is not alone. She has read about the research. Researchers at Wharton found that people become more motivated to pursue goals after landmark dates such as a birthday, a new semester, or even next Monday. They named it the fresh start effect.

“So it’s science,” Oakhurst said.

She found the research reassuring. She read the summary twice and the full paper not at all, which she considers a kind of efficiency.

As she sees it, the calendar offers plenty of starting lines. There are Mondays, first-of-the-months, birthdays, and the day after a long weekend. There is also the equinox, which arrives once a year and asks nothing of anyone.

“Autumn is basically January for people who hate January,” she said.

Week One

Her husband, Rob, has watched all four resets from the same recliner. He supports them the way a man supports weather.

“She’s got the candle going,” he said. “That’s usually a good sign.” He declined to say what the usual bad sign is.

Her plan for the week includes a 5:30 alarm, a daily walk, and a meal plan. There is also a drawer-by-drawer declutter and a return to Spanish on her phone. The Spanish app has been waiting since March. It still sends reminders, though they have grown gentler, the way a patient friend’s messages do.

By noon on day one, Oakhurst had lit the candle and filled the water bottle to the 10 a.m. line. She had written three intentions. She had not yet walked.

The walk, she explained, works better after lunch in autumn. This is new information, discovered today.

What the Reset Is For

Asked what she hoped to get out of it, Oakhurst took a moment. She mentioned energy, then organization, then “just feeling like I have a handle on things.” She did not name a single task.

The reset, it seems, is not about the drawers.

She plans to begin again, if needed, on November 1. It is already marked in the planner. That page, too, is decorated.

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A note from the editor

Denise will probably be back in November, and there is no shame in that. Most of us are not short on beginnings. What we lack is a plan for the Tuesday after the beginning, when the candle is out and nothing feels new anymore. If you are starting over this week, start small and start plain. The planner will keep. So will you.

— Margot Hale, Editor