Do all days have the same power? If you have a regular work week like me, a Monday is the same as a Wednesday is the same as a Friday—maybe with different meetings, tasks, and people. But they’re effectively the same... right?

I love reading academic research on workplace performance (yes, I read academic journals for fun). I began sharing insights from my readings with a colleague and we quickly realized that, while everyone is trained to do their specific jobs—to code, to design, to sell, to manage—few learn how to navigate the complicated social structures of the corporate workplace, or how to optimize their own performance. My colleague suggested I start sharing the “Cliff notes” of this research to a wider audience through a newsletter. And after dragging my feet, I finally put it on my calendar to do just that… on a Monday. 

It never crossed my mind to start Project [Re]Work on a Tuesday. Monday felt right. Not only did Monday feel right but, as you’re about to read, starting on a Monday mattered.

Think about goal setting. Does a specific day come to mind? On January 1st, millions of people attempt to make significant changes in their lives: to quit smoking, join a gym, to start that project. Many fail (and maybe I’ll cover that in a future article)... but January 1st has power. You can join a gym on January 2nd and I could have started Project [Re]Work on a Tuesday. A day is a day. But not to our brains!

Monday... January 1st... these are what researchers call Temporal Landmarks (Dai, Milkman, Riis, 2014). Today, you’ll learn how to harness Temporal Landmarks and the Fresh Start Effect to increase motivation, achieve goals, and create momentum in your life.

Though every day is technically the same, we all divide time into Temporal Landmarks. Many of these landmarks are common and shared: a new week, a new business quarter, a new year. Other landmarks are specific to each person: a birthday, the first day in a new city, the start of a new job.

What gives these landmarks power? When we separate a present moment in time from a past moment in time, it's as if we are creating a new self. In essence, the past version of you has partially died—along with some of its burdens, self-doubts, and hindrances that held you back. And now, you’re free to develop a new self-image and to act according to this newer, greater version of you. You can reevaluate decisions, get unstuck from bad habits, choose new paths, and make larger and more positive changes than on other “regular” days. The researchers call this the The Fresh Start Effect (Dai et al., 2014).

So how does this impact your work performance? With this knowledge, you can deliberately harness temporal landmarks (on your own or as a team) to shed negative self-beliefs, to “start fresh”, to set bigger goals, and to jump-start new trajectories of success. Here’s how…

Take Action: How To Harness Temporal Landmarks & The Fresh Start Effect

• Make every Monday a Temporal Landmark. Mondays now stand in stark contrast to every other day in the week for the purposes of setting work goals and building momentum. Rather than opening your backlogged inbox first-thing Monday morning, take 5 minutes to write down goals for the week: be a more present leader, talk with your boss about your next career move, enter into "deep work" and tackle that project or task you keep putting off.

• If you lead a team, kick off team initiatives on a shared Temporal Landmark: the first day of the week or quarter, the first day back from a holiday, the day after a major project is completed. Harness the “fresh start” that your team is already feeling to dream bigger and build momentum together.

• Identify potential Temporal Landmarks before they happen and mark them on your calendar: an employee's first day on your team, the commencement of a new company initiative, the day after your yearly review. Carve out time that day to reflect on past performance, pivot, and start new projects.

Thanks for reading. Now, go kick Monday’s ass!

Join The Conversation

Project [Re]Work wants to hear from you! Test the Fresh Start Effect this week. Share your experiences and feedback on the LinkedIn, or over email. If you learned something new today, share this article with a colleague or friend.

Definitions

Temporal Landmark: subjective experiences or days that separate a present moment in time from a past moment in time.

Fresh Start Effect: initiated by a Temporal Landmark, the Fresh Start Effect is the experience of a past version of yourself ending, and a new version of yourself beginning.

References

Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563-2582. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901 (Article Link: Here)

Thaler, R. H. (1999). Mental accounting matters. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12(3), 183-206. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0771(199909)12:3<183::aid-bdm318>3.0.co;2-f (Article Link: Here)

Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Self-Regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1(1), 115-128. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00001.x (Article Link: Here)

Loewenstein, J. (2017). Structure mapping and vocabularies for thinking. Topics in Cognitive Science, 9(3), 842-858. doi:10.1111/tops.12280 (Article Link: Here)

Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2017). The power of moments: Why certain experiences have extraordinary impact. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. (Book Link: Here)