"Next year will be different." 🎾
The Fresh Start Effect...
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"The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new." - Socrates
Hi,
How was your last week?
“Next year will be different.”
You’ve probably said it to yourself, maybe to your partner, maybe to a friend.
You vowed that next year you’ll finally say no more, focus on true priorities, and always protect your health, your family time, and your joy.
So, like many of us do every December, you write a list: “My New Year’s resolutions.”
You’ll walk 10,000 steps a day, read 24 books, go to the gym three time a week, decline most meetings, actually eat lunch (and eat better), reach inbox zero, meditate, journal, sleep more, be calmer, more focused, more disciplined, more work-life balance.
You Google habits of effective people. You listen to a few more podcasts about the one habit that will make or break you. You add numbers to everything so if feels serious, measurable, SMART.
You’re energized and ready. “This is it. Next year will be different.”
Fast forward to December 2026… And you’re writing a new list.
Why share this?
Because chances are, you did the same last year. There’s a name for this pattern. Psychologists call it the Fresh Start Effect.
At the beginning of a new year, our brain craves a reset, a new chapter, a blank page. The same effect happens around your birthday, after a holiday, or even right before Monday.
Fresh start gives us hope, optimism, and momentum to initiate change.
How ironic that we fear change and desire it at the same time…
But the problem is neither the fear nor the desire, but how we try to change.
the why
Go big or go home.
All or nothing.
Do or die.
These slogans became popular in the 90s and they still influence how we approach change today. We aim BIG.
But research shows this is exactly why change doesn’t happen. Big, drastic goals feel motiving at first, but quickly become overwhelming, scary, and unattainable.
They feel so far, so out of reach that we don’t start or quit too early and return to the status quo.
You wouldn’t pick up a tennis racket and aim to win Wimbledon this year, right?
Roger Federer picked up a racket at the age of 8. He won his first Wimbledon at 21 - five years after stepping on those courts for the first time and years of smaller wins, losses, and practice.
You don’t win Wimbledon by trying to win it on day one.
Good Busy and your work-life balance work the same way. Your odds of making the change you want to happen are way higher when you start small. Sometimes, even really small.
If you want next year to truly be different, play and win one point at a time. Don’t aim to win Wimbledon.
the how
But why don’t we play one point at a time?
Because we’ve become obsessed with metrics: steps, calories, books, hours, KPIs. We trust numbers more than our own experience. And yet, your balance, fulfillment at work, and everyday joy is not measured in numbers.
In my corporate career in client relationship management, I lived in reports and dashboards. And I learned that numbers are just the skeleton. You must add context, expertise, current reality. Without that meat on the bones, they’re misleading.
According to my phone, I barely moved during the first week of September. If I trusted that data alone, I should panic.
But here’s what my phone didn’t capture:
On Monday, a swim before lunch and yoga in the evening
On Tuesday, swim before lunch
On Wednesday, a long walk without my phone
On Thursday, swim and yoga
On Friday, swim + playing “catch me” with my niece and nephew
On Saturday, frisbee at the beach, swimming, paddling
On Sunday, swim + walk
A completely different picture, isn’t it?
I don’t know how many kilometers I swam or walked, or my heart-rate. But I know how I felt that week: energized, positive, joyful.
Those are data points too. Your emotions, your feelings, your intuition are reliable data because your body, mind and soul are honest. They will always tell you the truth if you listen.
Not everyone has time, enjoys or needs 10,000 steps a day - and that’s okay. If you hate it, forcing it might do more harm than good.
Your balance is a living system. Experiment, feel, learn. Keep what works, toss what doesn’t.
your play of the week
In 2026, play one point at a time 🎾
Write one resolution to start next year. Just one.
Something that brings you more balance, fulfillment, and joy. Give yourself time to experiment with it, feel it, learn from it. Keep it if it works, toss if it doesn’t.
That’s how next year will actually be different.
And if you want support, I show you how to build a sustainable work-life balance in The Good Busy Reset - in a small group cohort that feels almost personal.
Because the alternative is another long list of resolutions and another disappointing December next year wondering why nothing really changed.
I’m helping 50,000+ leaders master Good Busy.
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I know productivity - not illustrations. Stickman figures by Zdenek Sasek.
See you next Monday,
Kate
Founder, TheGoodBusy.com
PS: If you want to free up 8+ hours a week from unnecessary work and finally see your calendar reflect the work-life balance your want in 2026…
Join The Good Busy Reset cohort.
Save 20% with code RESET20 + Get a bonus 30-min 1:1 session (only until Dec 31, 2025)
PPS: Not sure yet? Get a taste of the tools and mindset shifts that make your balance possible in my free workshop.