“You’re off to great places! Today’s your day!

Your mountain is waiting. So, get on your way.”

… Dr. Seuss

Labour Day weekends always conjure up vivid memories of how excited and energized I was about the upcoming “new school year.”

New beginnings. New books, new pens, and pencils and, of course, the new outfit. As we all know, what you wore on that first day was probably the most important thing you would wear all year especially if you were going to a new school. It’s all about making a good first impression.

The beginning of a new school year is what researchers refer to as temporal landmarks and in the last couple of years studies have shown that it’s actually motivating and effective to begin a new habit around such dates that have a significance that demarcates them from “ordinary” days.

It made me ponder what is it about new beginnings that make us happy and motivated to set new goals? And was it possible to recapture “those feelings” and feel them more often in life even decades later?

There are two primary categories of temporal landmarks: social – those that everyone shares, such as the start of a new year or national holidays; and personal – those unique to you --- birthdays, job changes – frankly, any date that has personal significance.

This phenomenon, known as “The Fresh Start Effect,” provides a psychological boast by helping individuals separate their past selves from their current selves, allowing them to pursue goals with renewed vigor.

According to Daniel H. Pink, in his book – When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing --Timing matters a lot. Certain dates of the year stand out from the other forgettable boring dates and they have two effects: they get us to slow down and pay attention, and they facilitate this peculiar form of accounting we do in our heads – just as businesses open up a new ledger at the end of a quarter or the beginning of a new year – we can do the same thing – we can relegate our bad selves to the past and open up a fresh ledger on our new, much more awesome selves.

Sometimes the effect occurs in anticipation of the new beginning. For example, research shows that when approaching a new decade in chronological age (e.g., 9-enders: 29, 39, 49, etc.), people are more likely to examine their lives for meaning. As a result of that reflection, they engage in meaning-seeking behaviors. For example, a recent study found among 500 first-time marathon runners, the 9-enders were over-represented by 48% compared with age groups ending in a different digit.

So, as the Labour Day Weekend approaches, and should you be hankering to make a change, here are a few useful tips from the experts to make the most of a fresh start –

• Start on a Monday – we are more likely to follow through on our goals if we begin working on our commitments on a Monday rather than a Thursday. Starting at the beginning of a month appears to carry greater significance and impact then starting at the beginning of a week.
• Set Fresh Start Reminders --- after the initial flurry of excitement there is a strong possibility your commitment will fade – set reminders for yourself to start again – this could be as simple as an alarm that goes off every Sunday night, signaling your fresh start the following day. Writer Aaron Sorkin describes how he creates his own mini–Temporal Landmarks of sorts, “I’ve got plenty of quirks. I go to an office early in the morning. Early in the morning is a really good writing time. I take anywhere between six and eight showers a day. I’m not exaggerating, I’m not a germaphobe; it’s all about a fresh start.”
• Remember, anticipation also builds a motivational drive. To be prepared to make the best of an upcoming temporal landmark make sure you plan ahead, as contemplating logistical hurdles in advance makes it easier to develop strategies for working around them.

To paraphrase T.S. Elliot, every moment could be a fresh beginning.