back to square one
starting over from the beginning · having to restart after a setback
What's the situation?
Imagine your team has worked tirelessly on a project for months, only for the client to suddenly change their mind about the core concept. 😱 All that effort? Poof! Now you have to go `back to square one` and redesign everything. This expression perfectly captures that 'start-over' feeling after a major setback.