It happens every year. I´ve never fully understood why but it clearly is a collective phenomena that never ever – not a single one time – has failed to appear. At least not during my almost 50 years of walking the face of this planet.
The infamous New Year’s Resolution.
Personally, I never really believed in the hype and I still don´t, even after doing some research for this blog post.
I always felt like if I want to make changes then I should start NOW and not on a specific date in the future, much less the 1st of January. It always seemed weird to me that each January people flock to the gym and spend a huge amount of money on new diets etc. Only to go back to their old habits by March of the same year. Please forgive the hint of cynicism.
But is there something to the Fresh Start Effect of a New Year’s Resolution after all?
The fresh start effect was coined back in 2014 but it still emerges every year around New Year. It seems to be a basic psychological concept that – according to behavioral scientists – holds true for any fresh start someone wants to take in any area of their life.
I´m somewhat stubborn so the concept behind the fresh start effect theory does not entirely convince me, however, after researching it a bit, I recognize that the so-called ´fresh start effect´ can or could have an impact on motivation and gearing up to achieve a goal.
The psychology of goal setting and achievement is a topic for another article.
Today, I wanted to take the opportunity of the start of 2025 plus the energy of the New Moon of December 31st, to write down some of my thoughts. As always, don´t take my word for it. Use this as an inspiration to form your own opinion!
The Fresh Start Effect according to behavior analysts/psychologists
This study by Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, Jason Riis The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 explores the hypothesis that people will exhibit an increased tendency to pursue their aspirations following temporal landmarks, i.e. deadlines or January 1rst – New Year’s Resolutions
There are many pros and cons to this hypothesis and more research is needed to explore and explain the fresh start effect phenomena further.
With this article, I´m not trying to recite what others have hypothesized and researched, here I want to explore my own thoughts and experiences as a coach and human being – and of course sprinkle it with a little Magick!
You don’t need to read lengthy and complicated research papers to know that the New Year’s Resolution is a real thing. People do it – every year.
Statistics show that this phenomenon is not gender or race specific, it’s a human behavior that is more prominent in young adults than older adults.
Shanay Gracia from Pew Research Center states that
Nearly half (49%) of adults ages 18 to 29 say they made at least one resolution this year, by far the largest share of any age group.
About a third (31%) of those ages 30 to 49 say they made a resolution, while only about a fifth (21%) of adults 50 and older have done so.
There are only modest differences in who makes resolutions by race or ethnicity, gender or partisanship.
These numbers make it official that around the New Year, we tend to set new goals and make the promise to ourselves to do better in whatever area we feel the need for improvement.
This is really a good thing, however, I´m sticking to my opinion that any day is as good a day as the 1st of January to make changes. As I said, I´m not easily convinced.
But – and this is a big BUT – it’s undeniable that setting a deadline or so-called landmark helps hugely with motivation. At least the motivation to start which is extremely important.
Setting a specific date acts like a landmark, maybe it also gives us time to psychologically prepare for the effort we are about to put into our lives. Studies – like the above-mentioned one – have shown that people who set landmarks for fresh starts are more likely to succeed which is interesting to me.
This practice helps reset the mind and set distance between yourself and past failures to achieve a goal. You feel like you can start again with a clean slate and a brand new opportunity to do better this time. This hope and belief in yourself acts as a catalyst to start again and be optimistic about the outcome. In other words, it’s the motivation you may need to start reaching a goal be that health, finance, relationship or otherwise related.
So go ahead and set yourself a date and promise yourself that you will start making the changes you´ve been wanting to make. Definitely let me know about your experience!
Now let me sprinkle some Magick on top of the fresh start cake
The New Moon is generally a great energy to work your Magick regarding new beginnings or starting something new like a project or healthier habits. The fact that 2025 started with that energy is a good omen for this year. So gear up and give it all you´ve got. The universe is on your side!
Capricorn reminds us that we need to be determined and committed to our goals and climb one mountain at the time. This New Moon encourages you to pick one thing, the thing that is most important to you and think about what you need to release in order to have that fresh start into the new lunar cycle which also happens to be the new year.
To help you with that, I´m offering special short-and-sweet Tarot card readings
…for just mx$100 (around 5 US$). This will be a 5 card reading to give you guidance and advice about what what you need to release, how to do this, and which energy you should nurture in order to have a fresh start this lunar cycle.
If you want to get yours, this offer is valid until Friday, the 10th of January, shoot me a WhatsApp at +529992765213 for more information.
magickalconnections 
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