Lately I’ve been thinking about if starting a “new me” on January 1st is actually beneficial. Some people say that you should start right now and others would rather wait until the New Year to start. Conflicted between the two, I decided to do some research!
In 2014, a study called “The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior” was published online. The study talked about how starting goals on specific days of the year can be more beneficial than starting on a random day of the week. These days are called temporal landmarks. Now you may be thinking, what on earth is that? I know I was, but it’s actually quite simple.
Temporal landmarks are days such as New Year’s, Mondays, the beginning of a month or the day after a holiday/event (ex. birthday). Through looking at google searches of things such as starting a diet and exercising, the researchers noticed that people naturally gravitated towards these days. Why is that important?
Starting on these days makes us feel new and gives us that “fresh start effect.” We feel that our past selves are behind us as we start a new journey of becoming the person we want to be. It also works as we are able to see the person we are presently, recognize the discomfort we see in the moment and use it to push ourselves into becoming the person we want to be.
In a study with smokers, it was found that those who wrote down the misery they felt in the moment and the future that they wanted to achieve were more likely to complete their goal than those who just wrote about the happiness in their future life.
If you want to complete a goal, think and write about the misery you feel now and use it to motivate yourself. There are also a few other things that you can do to reach a goal according to psychologist Lynn Bufka. Remember that when you are in the state of starting new, it is all about making positive impacts from current mistakes. A character change doesn’t have to come right away. Goals should be taken with baby steps. You should be taking one of your unhealthy behaviors and defeating them one at a time.
Remember that slow and steady wins the race. If you start putting yourself at a realistic pace, you are more likely to follow through with your goal. This does not mean that there won’t be setbacks, though. Just remember to get back up instead of giving up, and ask for help if needed!
You don’t necessarily have to start your goals on New Year’s Day, but positive experiences can come from starting on these temporal landmarks. Don’t forget that there are other days to start throughout the year, too! If life has its way and you lose sight of your goals three months in, you don’t need to wait for January 1st to start over. You can start on a Monday or at the beginning of the next month. Cheers to a year filled with positive change in 2022!
Cites:
Gino, F. (2016, March 1). Is it the right time for a fresh start? Scientific American. Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-it-the-right-time-for-a-fresh-start/.
Dai, H., Liu, J., & Tiefenbeck, V. (2014, June 23). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science. Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901.
American Psychological Association. (2019, November 10). Making your New Year’s resolution stick. American Psychological Association. Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/topics/behavioral-health/new-year-resolutions.