Fresh start effect

Many areas have New Year's Day fireworks.

Many individuals commit to new year resolutions on New Year's Day or on New Year's Eve.

According to the behavioral scientist Jason Hreha the fresh start effect is a behavioral science finding that suggests individuals are more likely to engage in goal-directed behaviors and exhibit increased motivation towards achieving personal objectives when they perceive the beginning of a new time period. 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.^[1]

A book summary of American economist Katy Milman's book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be indicates:

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People are more likely to do something new or different at the start of new chapters or milestones. For example, in a campaign to help non-savers to save money, Milkman and her colleagues found that people were 20-30% more likely to start saving at a later milestone (e.g. after their next birthday or the start of spring), than to start saving at an arbitrary future date.

Fresh starts increase our motivation to change because we feel like we’re starting from a clean slate. Our past failures seem distant, we feel like a new person and feel more optimistic about the future. So, to begin the change process, start by looking for fresh start opportunities. These could come in the form of:

Calendar dates that mark new beginnings, e.g. a new year/week, birthdays, anniversaries;

Meaningful life events, e.g. surviving a health crisis, moving to a new country; or

Resets, e.g. starting again from a blank slate, or resetting your performance scores.

..But there’s an important caveat

While fresh starts can trigger positive change, they can also disrupt your progress if you’re already on the roll.

When Major League Baseball (or MLB) players are traded across leagues mid-season, their statistics for the season are reset, However, the statistics are not reset for trades within leagues. One of Milkman’s pdH students analyzed 40 years of MLB data, and found that below-average players tended to improve after a statistical reset, whereas above-average players tended to do worse after a reset (since they must rebuild their records from scratch).^[2]

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Similar outcomes were found in other performance studies. Resets can help underperformers to up their game, but they can also hurt people who’re already performing well. So, be careful when you use fresh starts.