Teresa Pearson states, “New Year resolutions are a prime example of temporal landmarks like the fresh start effect.” Just like we use geographical landmarks to represent spatial distances in a locality, temporal landmarks are used as a part of our pathways that lead us toward our goals. Many people use occasions such as New Year, birthdays or other milestones to set ambitious goals in areas like health, finances, decluttering their environment and even professional refocus. Temporal landmarks act as catalysts for motivation and change. They allow people to change their thinking patterns and goal-setting behaviors encouraging them to become better versions of themselves. These moments provide an opportunity for starting afresh, representing a clean, new slate, referred to as the fresh start effect.
The fresh start effect triggers a psychological reset. It creates a mental shift through the process of blocking past failures and feeling optimistic, which acts as a mental separation manifesting into proactive behaviors for achieving personal goals, creating a space for improvement and transformation. Moreover, it creates a sense of urgency to take charge of a healthy and resilient lifestyle. While temporal landmarks such as the start of a new year, birthdays, and new semesters are widely chosen as major lifestyle changes, behaviors like adopting healthy and productive routines are tied to the start of a new month or week.
However, many fall prey to the resolutions due to factors like unrealistic expectations, over-optimism and so on, which might interfere with goal achievement. As we know the line between confidence and overconfidence is often fragile, the over-enthusiasm for a major life change can accelerate one’s optimism and lead to setting over-ambitious goals that might seem achievable at the beginning but can become overwhelming resulting in burnout. As individuals begin to separate their past from the future, they might also tend to procrastinate or delay their current actions anticipating that they would rather make a change after reaching the temporal landmark. For instance, a person aims to quit smoking. However, the person states that they will stop smoking after their birthday instead of stopping it right away. When a person delays action, the tendency to fall into the cycle of procrastination increases.
Additionally, since temporal landmarks tend to be given great significance for change, common temporal landmarks like the start of the new year or a new semester bring social pressure and competition for comparing progress and achievement. The pressure of living up to societal expectations or achieving goals can be a consequence of reduced motivation and dedication leading to disappointment and failure.
To overcome these challenges, burnouts, or setbacks that can lead to behavior fallout, we need to consider normalizing imperfection and sustainability, focus on progress instead of output, and utilize group dynamics. Sustainability can be achieved when one aims for small and continuous changes that can be maintained over a long period. Let's say, you want to incorporate exercise into your routine. Instead of setting an overly ambitious goal of exercising one or two hours daily, you can begin with a smaller goal of a 30-minute workout and gradually increase the duration. There might be days when other commitments interfere with your exercise routine. During those days, imperfections should not be seen as failures, but rather, as a part of the process. This allows a person to reduce the impact of social pressure to achieve perfection.
We easily give up when we don’t see any short-term results or outcomes from our efforts to change our lifestyle. We tend to forget that an outcome is the long-term destination of our efforts, while progress is the most crucial of the process. ‘All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.’ We have all come across this proverb; while having a structured routine can be beneficial for your work, rewarding yourself with a break every once in a while can add to the productivity output as it avoids burnout and keeps your motivation intact. At times, we would also need an external push or motivation which can come in the form of social support. For instance, you and your friend can collectively decide to add exercise to your routine. You collectively get a gym membership and exercise together. When one feels demotivated, the other encourages her to stay consistent and collectively celebrate progress and achievements.
Temporal landmarks go beyond individual goal setting. They are also applied in areas like policy-making, the corporate world, and marketing. Policymakers can use temporal landmarks to encourage behaviors like savings, healthy lifestyles, and taxing. For instance, setting up campaigns at the start of a new year like the ‘America Saves Week’ challenge encourages citizens to save money, reduce debt, and improve wealth. These initiatives contribute to improving societal and economic well-being.
In the corporate world, temporal landmarks are used to drive employee motivation and productivity. For instance, providing incentives or rewards at the completion of a project or goal. Workshops can be conducted to understand goal-setting as a team and at an individual level. Quarterly meetings can act as a boost to redefine and learn individual objectives within an organizational setting. From the perspective of marketing, consumer behavior plays a crucial role in the success of marketing strategies. Landmarks like seasonal changes, New Year, festivals, and trends create a sense of urgency and the need to purchase among consumers. These landmarks are cleverly used for promotions and stock clearance through strategies like sales (e.g. Black Friday sale, Republic Day sale, and so on).
Temporal landmarks are highly significant for individual and collective growth. While challenges like procrastination, delayed action, unrealistic goal settings, and societal expectations can hamper one’s motivation, strategies like sustainability, normalizing imperfection, celebrating progress over outcome, and social support can help in overcoming these challenges. In a broader context, they can be used effectively in policy making resulting in improved societal well-being, organizational levels for improving employee productivity, and marketing to influence customer behavior.
Tithi Agarwal
