Could a ‘fresh start’ help you achieve your wellbeing goals?

Sometimes, patience and perseverance are the most challenging part of making a change in our lives.   

We dream of finding ways to accelerate the formation of new habits so that we can fast forward to the future. 

But the truth is that well-being is a journey. And every time we take a small step in the right direction, we do something good for ourselves - even if the destination isn’t in sight yet.  

When we turn over a new page, we can’t skip chapters or fast-forward to the exciting ending. We have to stick with all the tiny steps that will move us closer to where we want to be. 

And, ideally, we’ll find fulfilment in the process. We’ll stay motivated even when we muddle through the middle of a boring chapter or veer off the path. After all, the most satisfying stories are the ones that inspire and move us and allow us to laugh at the inevitable defeats along the way. 

So when setting a resolution, remember that achieving it is just one part of the journey. You have to begin by outlining the steps between now - setting your goals - and achieving them.  

Your fulfilling conclusion begins with a new beginning; a fresh start. 

For an effective fresh start, we need to build foundations.  

Building a strong wellbeing platform gives us the resources we need to navigate the highs and lows we experience in our lives. As the world around us becomes increasingly complex, good health and wellbeing provide a stable platform for uncertain times.   

The good news is that better wellbeing is within our reach, and we can start building this foundation with tiny changes. 

Our everyday routines and habits can be powerful tools in helping us achieve goals. Things like how we recover, make social connections, and how much movement we build within our day are surprisingly effective building blocks for better wellbeing.  

In fact, research suggests that 40% of chronic diseases and premature death are the results of lifestyle choices we can modify. That’s a staggering number. [1]

But without a plan, modifying our individual behaviour can be challenging, even if we have the best intentions.  

So, where do we start? 

The ‘Fresh Start Effect’  

Did you know at certain times of the year, personal motivation for change increases? These temporal landmarks provide a unique time to affect change and mark a new beginning.  

This psychological ‘Fresh Start Effect’ increases our motivation for change and acts as a form of ‘wiping the slate clean’ or ‘turning the page.’ 

This mindset allows us to draw a line under the past, mentally leaving the last year behind and boosting our optimism for the future. 

We’re more likely to pursue life improvements at the start of a new year. There’s even an 82% increase in google searches using the word ‘diet’ on New Year’s Day.  

Other goals include our desire to move more often, reflect more, quit social media (or reduce doom scrolling) and increase our social biome/connections.  

The ‘Fresh Start Effect’ doesn’t just stop at New Year’s. 

We often see birthdays, job promotions, and anniversaries as opportunities to mark a new chapter. However, the first day of a new week, month, or season are also shown to have the same effect. 

Yes, even the beginning of a new week can spark the motivation for change!  

Did you know that ‘meat-free’ Mondays are far more effective than ‘vegan’ Thursdays? Interestingly, one-third of all meat-eaters who partake in Meat Free Monday end up going vegan or vegetarian after five years! [2]

Similarly, research documented an uptick in online goal setting in January, on Mondays, and after birthdays and holiday breaks. [3] 

Now, I know what you might be thinking; don’t most people fail to achieve their New Year’s goals? And you’re not wrong. 80% of people fail their New Year’s ambitions by the third week of January. [4] 

But try thinking about it this way; 20% of goals set in January succeed! That means that setting a New Year’s resolution provides the greatest opportunity for change.  

Today’s action is to look to the future and see if there’s an opportunity to ‘wipe your slate clean’ and start fresh.

Just as every book began as a blank page (or empty Word doc), your future is also a blank slate. You might fill your mind with ideas of what you want the next few years to look like or where the path will lead, but it all begins with writing the first sentence or taking the first step.   

It’s obvious that starting is crucial to any change you want to see, but after that? The key is to keep going, to preserve the momentum long enough for the habit to be embedded.  

Effective habit formation is so much more than just starting.  

How to turn your goals into reality - from the first steps to long-term habit creation  

A fresh start begins with turning over onto a blank page. But to tell a fantastic story, you have to keep writing; to discover what’s at the end of the path, you have to keep walking.  

Thankfully, lots of research has been done on habit formation. Experts are getting an increasingly good idea about what makes some people give up on their goals and others propel past them.  

Here are some evidence-based ideas to help you realise your aspirations. Read through the list and use the concepts that most inspire you and fit your specific goals. 

1.Imagine and create a plan. 

When creating a plan, always make sure you're creating it based on what’s best for you. When it comes to wellbeing goals, self-comparison can be detrimental to achieving them. What works for someone else might not work for you, because you are unique. 

2. Use your strengths. 

Your strengths are already part of your foundation; it’s much easier to build on what’s working already. No one becomes their personal best by focusing on their weaknesses. 

Spend some time contemplating what you’re good at. Focus on what’s going well and how you can do more of it - this will bring results. 

3. Break it down and start small 

Larger goals should be broken into smaller goals; they’re much easier to achieve and can help motivate you on your journey. So when making a plan, try to break it down into small steps you can accomplish.  

Research shows that small daily changes can lead to significant results - a 1% change made daily for 365 days leads to a 37 times improvement. 

4. Don’t rely on willpower. 

We all tend to overestimate our willpower, which is an exhaustible commodity. 

Instead, focus on lowering the barrier to change - make it easy for yourself! For example, if you want to start exercising in the morning, ensure all the equipment is laid out the night before in a visible place. 

If you want to improve your focus, keep a book or kindle in your bag. Every time you visit your favourite cafe, you have a book ready to read instead of scrolling on your phone. 

If you want to reduce your screen time (or doom scrolling), you might set a rule to keep your phone off for the first hour after you wake up. To make sticking to this goal easier, put your phone in a different room before bed. 

5. Planning gets results. 

Once you’ve taken time to plan your new goal, link it to a specific cue that will remind you to act. 

Instead of focusing on what you intend to do, focus on what will trigger you to actually do it. 

Your trigger could be a specific place, time, or action. Cue-based planning can help us be 22-62% more effective in achieving our goals.4 

Examples of cue-based planning: 

• Instead of saying, ‘I am going to floss more,’ say, ‘every night after brushing my teeth, I am going to floss.’

• Instead of saying, ‘I am going to be more present while at home,’ say ‘when I walk through the front door after a day at work, I am going to place my phone in the charging cabinet, so I am less distracted and more present for my family.’

• One of my personal goals is to drink more water, so now I leave a glass by the bathroom sink, ready for when I brush my teeth. When I pick up my morning coffee, I know I will also ask for a glass of water every time I order a latte.  

The key with cue-based plans is to remember how, when & where.  

6. Re-shape your physical environment to disrupt old habits or thoughts. 

Your environment has a significant influence on your wellbeing and your actions.  

Think about the environments you spend the most time in (your home and workspace). 

Are there any negative triggers that you can remove? And what can you change to make it a more positive space that will improve your well-being and motivate you? 

A simple example is that if you want to eat healthier foods, make sure you have a shopping list and fill the fridge with healthy foods. 

Similarly, we can change our social environment by surrounding ourselves with people who uplift us or share the same goals. We can change our digital environment by deleting phone apps that waste our time or lead to negative thoughts (such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.) 

7. Buddy up and build social commitments. 

Surround yourself with like-minded people pursuing similar goals.  

Want to be a better runner? Join others at the local ‘park run.’ For example, there are park runs at 08:00 AM every Saturday in 455 locations in Australia.  

Or if you want to be a better swimmer, join a local swim club. A wonderful community of people join the Bold & Beautiful swim in Manly for a 7:00 AM swim.  

Not only do like-minded people help us stick to our goals, but they also provide us with wonderful social connections. It’s a win-win! 

8. Track your progress and persevere. 

Change isn’t linear. Improvements are often small, and people frequently give up just when change is about to happen.  

In the early stages, changing your habits will appear to make no difference. But at a certain point, you’ll cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance. Persist with your habits for long enough to break through this plateau.5 

In the meantime, tracking habits will allow you to celebrate streaks; observing multiple days of successful action is victory in itself. 

Tracking also will enable you to acknowledge failures and fine-tune your actions to ensure longevity. 

9. Be kind to yourself. 

Things aren’t always going to plan, and that’s OK. Make sure you give yourself some flexibility to cope when things go wrong.  

In golf, this second-chance mindset is called a mulligan shot; if you fire off a really bad tee shot, you can take a second ball and try again.  

It’s easy for us to see our goals being disrupted as a reason to give up altogether. This is known as the ‘what the hell’ effect; you start with one missed jog, spiralling into a series of skipped workouts. And then you think, ‘what the hell, I’ve already failed,’ and give up exercising altogether.6 

But be kind to yourself; we’re all only human. Most of us will mess up at some point or get off track. 

But veering off doesn’t mean the path has disappeared altogether. You just have to make a few extra steps to walk back to it.  

Transforming a fresh start into a whole new chapter. 

Change is hard, whether taking the first steps or keeping the momentum until the real change happens.  

When setting new goals, give yourself time to reflect on how you will achieve them. What small steps will give you the best chance of forming new habits? What cues, environmental shifts, or social commitments will help you stick with them?  

We are more likely to succeed if we time our ‘goals for change’ when motivation is high (like on temporal landmarks) and keep taking small steps to embed our habits. 

So as we turn the page into a new year, I wish you all the best with your Fresh Start. With tiny changes and perseverance, may we all inch closer to our goals and towards an exciting and fulfilling new chapter ahead. 

References

1.We Can Do Better - Improving the Health of the American People. Steven A. Schroeder 2007

2.Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and MFM published in the journal Appetite. August 2021.

3.How to change. Katy Milkman. 2021

4.Research by Strava using 800 million users during 2019.