The Science Behind “New Year, New Me"
join us on Saturday for planning & co-working
Welcome to January 2025!
Before I dive into the newsletter, I want to share a few exciting updates:
I’m offering a 2025 Planning Workshop and Co-Working Session this Saturday (January 4th) on Zoom from 1-3pm ET. Everyone who registers will receive a recording of the workshop, so no worries if you can’t make it live! You can learn more and sign up here.
I’m launching my podcast later this month with two episodes—a solo episode and an interview! I’ll announce the episodes via my Substack, and they’ll be available on other podcast platforms soon after that.
I send 2 newsletters a month here on Substack, but if you’d like to hear updates, offers, and free resources like planners and workbooks, I invite you to sign up for my mailing list here.
I know that we can set a goal on August 23rd or March 4th or another random day instead of waiting for January 1st—and yet I’ve always loved the concept of a new calendar year as a time to wipe the slate clean and start anew. Turns out I’m not alone!
Certain blocks of time that stand out as significant compared to our regular day-in-day-out schedules are called “temporal landmarks” and they actually can initiate motivation to start a new goal. Researchers use the term “Fresh Start Effect” to describe what occurs when folks endeavor to start new personal goals after temporal landmarks. In other words, we use temporal landmarks like important birthdays, new years, or special events to distinguish between old behaviors and new, aspirational behaviors. Truly new year, new me.
Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, I know that setting a goal doesn’t mean we automatically achieve it—even though setting a goal can feel REALLY good and release dopamine into our system, where we savor the feeling of what it will be like when we eventually complete our goal. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, either. A decision-making tool I find incredibly helpful is imagining how I’d feel after I chose option A or option B. This approach helps me to set healthy boundaries, decide to do something now or wait until later, or commit to an opportunity or responsibility.
The studies I cited above speak to ways folks can harness willpower to achieve their new goals with the increased motivation derived from a temporal landmark—but my fellow spoonies know that willpower isn’t a magic potion we can drink to make us do things. (Quick note: “Spoonie” is a term used to self-identify as someone who lives with chronic illness and who may use spoon theory to track shifts in their energy levels due to the unpredictable nature of living with chronic health conditions). Even if your energy levels are pretty consistent, it doesn’t mean that you need to aim for perfection with your goals in order to experience success.
And of course, there is no rule that says you HAVE to set New Year’s Resolutions! You can focus on resting instead of springing into action, and/or you can choose to change nothing at all. Whatever feels right is enough.
If you do choose to set goals for 2025, I encourage you to think about how you can do so compassionately. This might include trending in a direction of a goal, gamifying your approach to make it more enticing, setting up accountability via body doubling, and scheduling in times to reflect on how it’s going and shift course as needed.
I’ll close out today by sharing a phrase I’ve been returning to during my meditations when I inevitably get distracted thinking about the hustle and bustle of my life: I send myself kindness, I receive the kindness. Sending yourself the kindness—setting the goal and doing the actions to achieve it—is great; but giving yourself permission to enjoy the benefits of your shifts in action or perspective is truly the purpose of setting a goal in the first place.
I hope to see some of you at the Reflection and Planning Workshop this weekend and I’ll be back with two exciting podcast episodes later this month.
Take care,
Dr. Kate