Is there any validity to 'New Year, New Me?'

It turns out there is, it's called the fresh start effect, coined by Hengchen Dai, Katy Milkman, and Jason Riis.

‘People exhibit a higher likelihood of engaging in aspirational behaviors following temporal landmarks such as the initiation of new calendar cycles, holidays, and birthdays.’

The researchers looked into the phenomenon further and discovered that it’s not just events on everyone’s calendar. We’re also more likely to engage in aspirational behavior at other temporal landmarks like changing jobs, graduating, moving, and so on…

So, yes, there is in fact something to all of the ‘new ___, new me’ phrases.

Do you struggle with working out consistency?

Establishing your workout routine on Sunday nights might help — each week you’re a new person!

Starting a new job?

Consider who you want to be in this new chapter of life: someone who packs their lunch? someone who prioritizes their sleep? someone who has a great work-life balance?

Armed with this knowledge, it may be time to think about New Years Resolutions, or even a Sunday resolution.

If you aspire to intentionally spend your free time, check out our memberships.

OptiTime determines users' aspirations on a small scale - in terms of activities and hours per week. We pride ourselves on understanding and emphasizing our customers’ preferences. If you’re not sure what you love, or how your priorities rank against each other — take our free quiz, we can figure it out.

In addition to helping our members set goals, we leverage the fresh start effect. OptiTime members get a blank slate and fresh goals at the start of every week.

Papers (if you're nerdy like me and into reading research):

Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563–2582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901

Dai H, Milkman KL, Riis J. Put Your Imperfections Behind You: Temporal Landmarks Spur Goal Initiation When They Signal New Beginnings. Psychol Sci. 2015 Dec;26(12):1927-36. doi: 10.1177/0956797615605818. Epub 2015 Nov 5. PMID: 26546079; PMCID: PMC4839284.