Who doesn’t love a fresh start?
New clients are often frustrated by their overindulgences and habit of skipping too many training sessions. Getting back on the wagon feels like a big mountain to climb.
The good news is that researchers have investigated a phenomenon that motivates people to change and improve. It’s called the fresh start effect.
A clean slate starts in the brain.
More specifically, it starts in the way we categorize memories.
We don’t treat time as continuous or linear. Instead, we use reference points to structure our experiences, called temporal landmarks. These landmarks help us “demarcate the passage of time.”
Meaningful events like decade birthdays (i.e. turning 30), job changes, and the New Year are categorized as episodes, or chapters, on the timeline of our lives.
Have you ever said “Pre-COVID” or “after COVID”? That’s a temporal landmark where you use the pandemic as a timeline reference point.
Even the first of the month and Mondays can signify new chapters. Google searches surrounding topics like dieting, saving money, and exercising increase during these dates because of the impression of a clean slate.
These reference points can be a strong catalyst for change.
Although aspirations for self-improvement can occur at any time, the idea of a “new beginning” is powerful. This is why hiring a nutrition coach feels promising. It signals a new beginning.
Katy Milkman, a behavior scientist, says, “These moments help us overcome a common obstacle to goal initiation: the sense that we’ve failed before and will fail again.”
A fresh start psychologically distances us from our past selves, the version of us prone to quitting.
Conversely, we label our present self as an improved, superior version, which can positively impact future decision-making. Because fresh starts can change our mindset around our ability to exert self-control, we are motivated to maintain this new and improved self-image.
Wherever you look, there are opportunities for a fresh start. Looking down at your Garmin at the start of your day at zero steps means you get to start anew. Each morning, we have the opportunity to fill an empty food log with delicious and nutritious choices. A new training block doesn’t carry the weight of the missed training sessions from the previous month.
Starting with a clean slate, where previous failures don’t have to impact who you’ll be today, gives you a motivating do-over.
Taking advantage of a clean slate the right way.
We’d be remiss not to mention some pitfalls that can get in the way of fresh starts. We see this with New Years’ resolutions. This doesn’t mean that resolutions are a bad idea; there are just some things we can do to improve our likelihood of success.
1. Improve your tolerance to failure.
Failure, mistakes, and slip-ups are part of the change process. They’re expected and normal.
Reframing these lapses as opportunities to learn and do better next time will make goal achievement more likely than if you sat in defeat and judgment.
It’s not the absence of failure that you need. It’s a tolerance for it.
2. Take stock of your motivations for change.
Your motivation behind wanting to change reveals whether the journey you embark on is sustainable.
Iindividuals who want to change because of pressure (spouse, friends, even doctors) or to attain a specific image are off to a bad start, according to motivation expert Edward Deci,. These examples lack personal endorsement, which is a necessary component for sustained motivation.
For change to stick, the underlying motivation must be inherently genuine and valuable to the person. We achieve meaningful, lasting progress when the act of changing itself is rewarding.
3. Social support changes the game.
The “lone wolf” gym bros are the exception to the rule.
Camaraderie and social support are paramount, and not because it keeps you accountable through pressure.
Surrounding ourselves with examples of what could be (like working with an experienced coach who has overcome similar obstacles you currently struggle with) can change the game. Informing people closest to you about your efforts can help shape their behaviors to minimize obstacles in your path.
Social support can double as a commitment device (a behavioral economics term) to provide constraints or voluntarily imposed boundaries to help you keep your long-term goals front and center.
Social relationships are highly influential on our behavior and outcomes.
TLDR
Fresh starts are a legitimate mechanism that can facilitate change. We categorize memories and events as chapters or episodes. We view Monday, the first of the month, or the start of Autumn as a new chapter. This allows us to overcome a common obstacle: we’ve failed before, and we’ll fail again. A fresh start enables us to distance ourselves from the past version of us that is prone to giving up. We get a clean slate.
To make the most of a clean slate, we should learn:
• to accept that mistakes are part of the change process
• that our motivations play a significant role in whether or not we are successful
• our social support influences our thoughts, feelings, and behavior
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