I’m a sucker for a good quote. I curate them like rich people and modern art.

I tuck them away in the front jacket of my notebooks, keep them on sticky notes taped to my bookshelf, and fill my photos app with screenshots of minimalist Pinterest quote pins. Okay, so maybe I’m not as refined as rich people with their modern art collections, but I’m just as obsessed. And as cringey as this already sounds, I’m also a hater of bad quotes (miss me with those fluffy quotes that are just poorly disguised fortune cookie platitudes.)

So when I saw this quote at the bottom of my Momentum homepage – in the middle of New Year’s resolution season of all times – I had to speak up. Here’s what it said:

“If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started I was desperately wishing to be where I am now.”

This quote is probably plastered on hundreds of gym walls and pinned on countless Pinterest mood boards to remind you of how far you’ve come and how you don’t want to undo all of your hard work. Okay, sure. It seems harmless, but I just can’t agree with this logic.

Unless you’re playing Spyro and turn your PS2 off without saving, quitting doesn’t automatically put you back to where you started. Do you halt your progress? Yes, absolutely. But that doesn’t minimize any progress you already made.

Thanks to technological innovations like Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Peloton, it’s easier than ever to gamify your habits. You can watch your progress with obsessive attentiveness, which is great when you’re on track. But it can feel like a huge blow when you inevitably get sick or have an unexpectedly busy day and that cycling ride streak ends. I’m here to remind you that the counter may start back at zero, but that singular digit does not define where you are now.

Whether you were previously at 300 workouts or 3, you still made progress. You still chose to show up to those workouts and, as James Clear would say, you cast your vote for the person you want to be.

I’m a person that struggles to feel like I’m achieving consistency, and I think that’s why this quote has bothered me so much. This quote invokes guilt and shame to keep you going. When I read it, the self-talk I hear in my head is, “I should keep at it because I don’t want to fail and I’m still that person that doesn’t work out consistently.” However, the self-talk that actually keeps me going says, “I am a healthy person that works out. As proof, I already have 2 workouts under my belt this month. So, I will get back on that bike because it’s what I do.” See the difference?

We need to trust in the person we’re becoming rather than believe the lie that we’ll never change.

If you’ve recently quit something (I’m talking healthy habits here or new positive goals), I need you to write down every action you’ve previously taken toward that habit. Remind yourself of all you’ve already done.

When you come to the starting line again, you’re not starting from zero. The hours you put in last time are still with you. That gained experience is still there and is proof that you are capable of living out your new habit with consistency. Let this reminder fuel your confidence and choose to believe in who you’re becoming.

And ignore these bad quotes, y’all. It’s scary out here.