Imagine a conversation with a friend at a New Year’s Eve social event where you are asked, “How would you rate the last 12 months?” What criteria would you use to frame your answer?
For most people the answer would be more feeling-based than evidence-based and our feelings would be weighted by the last few months of the year. Psychologists refer to this as recency bias. We have a natural tendency to over-value events and experiences that happened recently because we rely on short-term memory to make sense of the world in real time.
The Fresh Start effect is a label used to explain why we naturally feel a burst of motivation for self-improvement at the start of a New Year. But before you make plans for the next year it makes sense to reflect on the previous one. Experience isn’t the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.
This month’s vlog introduces a simple but practical framework that will help you evaluate the previous year, overcome recency bias and prepare yourself to take advantage of the Fresh Start effect as you develop your personal growth goals for the New Year.
The vlog includes information about how to access our FREE How to do a Year End Reflection Worksheet.
