Reaching goals with the science of the “fresh start effect”

The fresh start effect is defined as the feeling all individuals know at the beginning or end of an experience, week etc. It says that people are better at tackling their goals when they start on so-called temporal landmarks.

What is less obvious actually is the fact that not all beginnings are equally good. After a big success, you are very likely to know failure, for instance.

In order to reach your goal, learn to rely on performance metrics, in order to understand where exactly you stand in terms of performance. To allow a successful tracking of personal progress:

• Define a deadline
• Use a simple system to track your progress
• Ask for help from a trustworthy person if you cannot do it yourself.*