Why A New Year Goal Is Good

Setting a new year goal can give you a psychological boost to improve yourself and help you set aims and targets while also helping you declutter and let go of the past

- By LARISSA FERNAND

The year 2025 is upon us. Maybe you are cynical and don't believe that you need the start of a year to change, or at least adjust, certain behavioural patterns. Believe it or not, it actually works.

The start of a year is practically associated with a new time period, and psychologically associated with a new beginning. It is a call for reflection-the desire to leave the past behind, and the promise of a fresh start, with a clean slate.

In psychology, it is known as the Fresh Start Effect that people feel when they are faced with a landmark. Landmark could be a geographical change. We move to a new apartment or city or country.

Landmark could be a change in the environment, too. We shift jobs. We switch careers. We get married. We get divorced.

Landmark could also be time based. As I mentioned above, the start of a calendar year; 2025 as of now. It could be the start of a year from your birthday, the start of a month, the start of a decade, or even the start of the financial year (April 1). You get the point? It could be anything that resonates with you. It basically distinguishes the passage of time and creates a new "mental accounting" period.

A new journey begins with renewed optimism and motivation.

It helps you to psychologically put the past behind you, and motivates you to aspire for a more organised or disciplined future. Leverage this psychological hack of a landmark to work on yourself and your finances.

The Fresh Start Effect also helps you to take a step back and gain perspective. You look at where you profited over the year gone by, and where you slipped up, and try to figure out what it is that you want to achieve in the coming 12 months.

Make The Fresh Start Relevant

Way back in 2018, Morningstar Chicago came up with a research that revealed a gap between the goals investors initially think they wantand the goals that are truly relevant and important to them.