Are You Ready for a Fresh Start? (Update)

Dec 30, 2025

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Behavioral scientists have been exploring whether a psychological reset can lead to lasting change. In this update of a 2021 episode, we survey evidence from the London Underground, Major League Baseball, and New Year’s resolutions to look at accidental fresh starts, forced fresh starts, fresh starts that backfire — and the ones that succeed.

SOURCES:
- Katy Milkman, professor at the Wharton School.
- Andy Byford, former commissioner of Transport for London.
- Ferdinand Rauch, economist at the University of St. Gallen.
- Hengchen Dai, professor at U.C.L.A.’s Anderson School of Management.
- Bob Tewksbury, former big-league pitcher.

RESOURCES:
- “A Large-Scale Experiment on New Year’s Resolutions: Approach-Oriented Goals are More Successful than Avoidance-Oriented Goals,” by Martin Oscarsson, Per Carlbring, Gerhard Andersson, and Alexander Rozental (PLOS ONE, 2020).
- “A Double-Edged Sword: How and Why Resetting Performance Metrics Affects Motivation and Performance,” by Hengchen Dai (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2018).
- “The Benefits of Forced Experimentation: Striking Evidence from the London Underground Network,” by Shaun Larcom, Ferdinand Rauch, and Tim Willems (2017).
- “Framing the Future: The Risks of Pre-Commitment Nudges and Potential of Fresh Start Messaging,” by John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Shlomo Benartzi (NBER, 2016).
- “The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior,” by Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Jason Riis (Management Science, 2014).
- “Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling,” by Katherine L. Milkman, Julia A. Minson, and Kevin G. M. Volpp (Management Science, 2013).
- “The Resolution Solution: Longitudinal Examination of New Year’s Change Attempts,” by John C. Norcross and Dominic J.Vangarelli (Journal of Substance Abuse, 1989).

EXTRAS:
- How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, by Katy Milkman (2021).

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