The science of fresh starts

What It Covers

Behavioral scientist Katie Milkman explains evidence-based strategies for making lasting personal and organizational changes, from leveraging fresh start moments to overcoming impulsivity, procrastination, and conformity barriers through systematic behavioral design.

Key Questions Answered

• •Temptation Bundling: Pair activities you dread with guilty pleasures you crave, allowing the temptation only during the chore. Milkman only listened to audiobook novels at the gym, transforming exercise from dreaded to anticipated by changing the emotional experience.
• •Fresh Start Timing: New beginnings like Mondays, month starts, and January first provide temporary motivation boosts. Use these moments for one-time actions like retirement account setup or medical screenings, but sustained changes require additional behavioral tools beyond initial motivation.
• •Goal Gradient Effect: Break large goals into weekly or daily targets to maintain motivation. Crisis Text Line increased volunteer productivity eight percent by reframing a two hundred hour yearly commitment as four hours weekly, allowing volunteers to experience progress and completion more frequently.
• •Batch Hiring for Diversity: Organizations hiring five people simultaneously achieve greater diversity than hiring one person monthly over five months. Evaluating candidates as a set makes diversity visible as a team property, whereas individual evaluations obscure this dimension entirely.