Something about the fresh start effect and the new year
Hello, 2024
With your permission, let me talk about the beginning of the year before the fresh start effect.
2024.
Honestly, I think I froze when we entered the new year. I became blank and numb. I can’t tell why and I don’t think I was in high spirits — even now. I’m just okay.
In 2023, I planned my year in Notion and created a vision board in Canva. I did same this year too. Things are a bit more organised this year and slightly different.
For instance, for my vision board, instead of just having words like I did last year (check out my process here), I tried to have the words on one side and the images portraying the words on the other. It’s perfect!
The image below is the template I used. I changed the colour theme, pictures and moved the photo collage to the left and had my goals in their various categories at the right.
Plus, I finally transferred my weekday time blocks on Apple Reminders to my Outlook Calendar (so I can have both personal and work reminders in one place — and synced across my phone and PC).
I think I now have a process I’ll replicate every year. This means less time on planning and organising. Proud of myself.
I want to document my process and if I succeed, I’ll consider sharing it but it may take time. So you may probably get it next year or whenever it’s ready. 🤣 It could be earlier, don’t mind me.
Now, to The Fresh Start Effect.
The Fresh Start Effect
The fresh start effect is when people feel more motivated to pursue their goals at the start of a new time period, such as a new year, new month, or new week.
According to Jason Hreha The Behaviorial Scientist, this phenomenon is attributed to the psychological association of new beginnings with a clean slate, providing an opportunity to leave past failures behind and start anew.
I believe the definition speaks for itself.
What I’ll add is that it’s okay to say New Year, New Me. Or to want to be better at the start of every new year, quarter, or month. It is normal. If it’s not, why then do we even reflect and plan if we’re not looking for change or trying to be better?
I don’t remember explicitly saying new year, new me in any year. However, I’m also not against it. What I do instead is to say the new year is like a new chapter in my life. So it’s also a fresh start for me. It’s another chapter in my story. And it’s totally okay to want to do things differently and even start anew.
While I will not advice to always wait for new time periods to come before you try to be better, it’s okay to want to be better at the start of new time periods due to the fresh start effect. Additionally, you can leverage every new week, month, or quarter. So you don’t necessarily have to wait for a whole year even though that’s what’s common.
Every day is another opportunity to learn and grow. Today is one, and you can start now.
PS: If you’re still figuring out how to plan your year and create a vision board, I outlined my vision boarding process in this post on Proof of vision boarding (+ How to create a vision board you love). Check it out and let me know how it goes.
Originally published at https://dkpabitey.wixsite.com on January 11, 2024.
