Make Change Happen

You can use behavioral science to usher in a fresh start

It's true-spring can feel like a new beginning after a long winter. It makes me want to tell you about the “fresh start effect”principle in behavioral science.

Here's the skinny:

Being deliberate about how and when we want to change matters. Research has revealed that selecting a new time-based milestone can optimize follow-through. Take that, cognitive dissonance!?

No more panic button when spring takes a while to spring. You can pick a concrete time and call a redo to move closer to your desired aspirations. No more fits and starts. Or grandiose plans that are just plain impossible.

I spent the bulk of 2024 writing about this very topic, especially devoted to those of us who some solid coaxing to ease up so we can conserve energy for what's truly important.

Sometimes the quickest way to clear out perfectionism and self-criticism is to laugh. So who better than the ineffable Maria Bamford to help us do just that? Check out her hilarity here.

My editor Haven who has been with me for my last two projects remarked she’d not seen a book loaded with so many helpful strategies. She’s judicious about her compliments—so I felt like that contestant on American Idol who made Simon Cowell gush.?

Sometimes I wonder if this might just be the last book written by an actual human not named Gemini or Claude. Maybe it will be an official selection for the Museum of Humans who Used Their Own Brain one day. Now that would be something.

So now here I am knocking on your door with my big fuzzy mittens as March comes in, inviting you to reserve your copy—which will come to your door on the first day of spring.

Picture yourself as you welcome in the equinox, the bearer of a guide to help you leverage the fresh start effect. Look at you holding your very own copy of Clean Slate: How to Make Change Happen—ready for some solid cognitive, emotional, and behavioral exfoliation (no it doesn't come with a container of shea butter, but maybe I should look into that).

And of course, I will be beaming too—because I wrote this with full fervor knowing how exciting and scary change can be, and wanting to inspire you to go for it and pass it on to anyone ready for their fresh start, too sans the impossible expectations and meanness to self.

Here’s to an awesome spring 2025 and fresh starts!?

In solidarity,

Kris