How to start fresh

Plus some personal notes and a shout-out to an 80s punk rock classic

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad you are here.

I love new beginnings – a new year, a new season, a new month, and sometimes even a new week. Decades ago, I saw a magazine ad that read “Another day, another chance to be healthy”, and that ripped-out page was pinned above my desk until its corners browned and curled. I love the feeling of possibility that lies within a fresh start.

One of the great things about academia is the abundance of opportunities to start again. People outside academia only get a few new years each year: January 1, of course, plus their birthday and any cultural new year they may celebrate. Academics get all of those, plus the start of the official academic year and each new semester/quarter. We are rich in potential new beginnings.

These new beginnings can be powerful. Each has the potential, if we wish, to serve as the start of a new stage of learning and growth. Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Jason Riis refer to this as the ‘fresh start effect’, in which “temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior”. They suggest that fresh start framing can “help people make choices that maximize their odds of achieving their aspirations.” The trick, I find, is actively choosing that framing so I can reap the benefits.

A fresh start – doesn’t that sound nice? Good, because that’s what today’s small thing to try immediately is about.

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Choose your fresh start

July 1 has special relevance for me this year, albeit not on a career level. One of our children moved into their first apartment, adopted a cat, and started their career. Our other child is close to finishing university and launching their own independent life as well. While my husband and I had been living as quasi-empty-nesters for some time now (young adults have busy lives!), accepting the reality of adult children is a significant identity shift. And it has me thinking about how I can use this transition as an opportunity for growth.

Here are my thoughts on starting fresh.

Decide what a fresh start means for you. In movies and novels, a fresh start is large and dramatic: career changes, new relationships, makeovers, moving to a new city, conquering addiction. If a big change is what you need right now, I wish you peace and strength in that journey.

For most people, though, subtle change is a sufficient fresh start. A modest change in behaviour, lifestyle, or mindset can be transformative and invigorating. It might involve approaching issues differently, adopting new behaviours, or pursuing activities beyond your usual comfort zone. A fresh start doesn’t need to involve a formal goal, but if you find goals helpful, check out my approach to goal setting in “How to set goals that aren’t completely delusional”.

Actively choose your fresh start. A fresh start requires a deliberate choice. Objective changes in one’s life (e.g., a new position, a new home) or dates on a calendar (e.g., your 40th birthday, Monday) do not necessarily mean a significant new beginning; it is possible to continue to plug along in your usual ways with your usual mindset despite your new title, location, or age. Choosing a fresh start means actively deciding to do, think, or believe something new.

Declare your fresh start for yourself. Identify the start point and what you are going to change. Some examples, to spur your thinking: “As a new full professor, I am going to prioritize mentorship of early career colleagues.” “Now that I am in my 50s, I am going to strength train two to three times per week to build muscle and bone.” “On my research leave, I am going to focus on learning new methodological approaches.” “For the summer, I will eat fresh produce as much as possible.”

Give it a good effort but allow yourself to stop. I like to think of a fresh start as an experiment: I give something new a legitimate effort to see what fits me while accepting that some things won’t. Some experiments are quickly abandoned (e.g., my idea to get up and write at 5 am every day). Some experiments become a season-of-life practice (e.g., the meal planning I did for years when my kids were young). And some experiments transform into life-changing activities (e.g., my 1991 effort to learn to run and my 2024 decision to complete executive coaching certification).

A fresh start should lead to something good and exciting. If it doesn’t, choose a new fresh start. Remember: there is an abundance of opportunities for new beginnings. Every single day is a new opportunity. And in the timeless words of 80s punk rock legend Billy Idol, “It’s a nice day to start again.”

Until next time…

It has been a minute since my last newsletter – but look at me, writing again with a fresh start! I am so glad to reconnect. I hope you have been thriving. If you have any fresh starts in your life, I would love to hear about them in the comments.

Stay well, my colleagues.

P.S. To return to my quasi-empty-nester situation, I share with you a conversation I had yesterday with my husband.

Me: “Now that we have one less human in the house, should we adopt a third cat?”

Him: “No.”

Me: “So you want to think about it for a while?”

Him: “No.”

Me: “Okay, I’ll circle back in a few days on this.”

Sadly, I suspect Bandit and Storm are with him on this topic. But check out my parents’ new rescue kitty, Soju! 😻

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