Engaging with evolution NOT resolution

How can you engage people in the idea of a fresh start — and prevent relapse?

It's January and resolutions are all around us. It's a worldwide case study of the Fresh Start Effect, where new beginnings of dates and such serve to motivate humans to a significant degree.

Here's how I approach it:

1. Remember that while some people are more motivated, some aren't

Not everyone gets the same kick from a fresh start. Don't push a fresh start down someone's throat who isn't into it.

2. Make a fresh start more powerful by calling it an EVOLUTION, not a resolution

People are more likely to continue something where they've already made progress. By framing something not as a NEW behaviour, but an evolution of an EXISTING behaviour, you access that sense of progress, while enshrining it with extra motivation from the fresh start effect.

This also helps motivate those who don't like fresh starts — you're not making it all about the new, but about the softer concept of evolution.

3. An evolution also guards against relapse

The issue with resolutions is that once we fail at them, we often give them up, because we've lost our "clean sheet".

However, when you frame it as an evolution, you tap into the knowledge that you're already invested in this behaviour from the past — and that has likely included times of failure. You adjust the expectation: I've failed before, and I've failed again, but that's ok, because this is an evolution.

4. Reduce the evolution into a pithy phrase

This isn't for everyone, but turning a new behaviour into a short, memorable phrase — which can be repeated — helps make things stick.

5. Version the evolution — 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, and so on

Once you call it an evolution, you can version it. Do a push for two months, then say: "Right, we're moving onto version 3." This provides a new fresh start within the evolution framework.