In this episode, I take a few minutes to remind us all that we can make a fresh start on any day of the year. There's nothing particularly magical about January 1st!

So if your attempts at change since New Year's Day haven't been fruitful, it's never too late to try again. But rather than simply repeating the same unhelpful or overly-demanding approach again and again, I have some recommendations for how you can Reflect, Recalibrate and be Realistic about your planned changes and then leverage the 'fresh start' effect.

"Fresh starts increase your motivation to change because they give you either a real clean slate or the impression of one..." - 'How to Change' by Katy Milkman

I also explore some other simple behaviour change principles you can put into practice to make your attempts at change more likely to stick.

And remember: there's no law that says you have to make personal changes in January - or at all. Don't feel pressurised to jump on the change bandwagon if things are going well or if this time of year just doesn't work for you.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for this episode

'How to change' by Katy Milkman - https://www.katymilkman.com/book  You can sign up for our online personal development community WorkLifeSpark here: https://www.worklifespark.com/sign-up

Episode ID: 1000747100157

GUID: 9e0ba775-c843-4675-ad8a-e82d93877f28

Release Date: 29/01/2026, 05:45:00