Starting Small
02
Unpacking the Fresh Start Effect, our natural urge to start over during key moments like Mondays, birthdays, or breakups, and how relying on these “perfect” moments can backfire without sustainable habits. Instead of overhauling your life overnight, the article emphasizes the power of starting small, building consistency, and shifting your mindset to create real, lasting change within your space.
People often wait until they feel they are ready to act on changing their lives for the better or until an overwhelming sense of urgency purges throughout their body to fix all of their problems at once. Those things may not even be broken, just the habits surrounding them. Pursuers of a better life, whether it be for health and/or wealth, often fall for something called The Fresh Start Effect.
This phenomenon encompasses the idea that using motivation from natural sources can be a start to creating meaningful improvements in our lives. If you’ve every wondered why the gym is packed Monday morning, the grocery store parking lot is full on Sunday, or there aren’t any more planners on the shelves in February, the likelihood that it is due to the brain’s hidden rhythm, understood as the fresh start effect is high. We all tend to look for these hidden patterns or pieces of motivation to help get us to that next step. Temporal landmarks is a key term to describe points in time that motivate us to suddenly organize our lives or to create new habits. These points in time often include the start of the new year, Mondays, breakups, the first day at a new job, even birthdays can make us want to leave our “past selves” behind. The thing is, when we rely on these landmarks to insight change in their lives, this can mean quitting every nasty habit cold turkey.
For those who are very disciplined and strong-minded enough to handle that level of change at once, leaving everything behind can be a life-altering route to becomng your dream-self. For most people living a busy life, working or going to school full-time, this route can quickly lead to burnout and repeated failure to meet set goals.
With the introduction of phone addiction in recent years, a Preply survey in 2024 found that only 10% of Americans are disciplined with their screen time. The trick to growth that sticks and stepping into the skin of our truest self is by starting small. You don’t need to dream small or limit your possibilities, just celebrate the steps it takes to get there. By visualizing the path to achieve your dreams, you can begin to build trust with yourself and that the things you want are attainable. Even if you want to learn a new skill, it is important to understand and embody the concept of progress over perfection. Just because you started and aren’t seeing dramatic changes doesn’t mean it’s not real. Change takes time and dwelling over your imperfections will only delay the outcome.
Taking small steps, turning your desires into habits is a surefire way to start building a quality life for yourself. The constant pressure of being on the same level as our peers and making things happen overnight can be so paralyzing that you could end up moving backwards. Slowly moving in a positive direction will inherently build real, strong habits. Consistency is the key to establishing that trust with yourself and we all know when we plan out strict changes, the likeliness they will be followed out is slim. The unexpectedness of daily life makes this concept impossible, leading to even deeper feelings of guilt and failure. Packing your schedule full and not allowing yourself to breath can get quickly overwhelming. Small wins eventually turn into bigger action and more confidence in your strides. At the end of the day, we are all human. We are never truly prepared for change and it’s something we have to commit to for ourselves, not anyone else. Our brains respond better to changes and new experiences when it doesn’t feel threatened. What starting small does, essentially tricks your brain into feeling safe and secure. Having a clear and prepared mind is the first step in being able to take on each day. Why start the day off, overthinking everything we need to get done because we added to much to our plates? We all could use a break every now and then, but there’s no reason each day is a struggle to get through. Being prepared or setting the time aside to be prepard for each and everyday gives us that sense of confidence we need to prove to ourselves that we are capable of handling the unexpected. Finding joy in daily activities, adjusting your schedule to satisfy your needs, and taking care of yourself all will help you shift your perspective from the inside out.
