Organizing A Fresh Start: Catalysts for Success
[Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on September 26, 2022. Rosh Hashanah will not be until October 2 in 2024, and changes each year, as the holiday is dependent upon a lunar calendar. The remainder of the content of this post is still accurate.]
As I go to press on this post, it’s about to be Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. (We’re going into the year 5783, though as the old joke goes, I’ll be writing 5782 on my checks for weeks.)
What I always liked about the idea of the Jewish New Year was the opportunity for a fresh start. Sure, in Western culture, we already have one (in either August or September, depending on your part of the country) with the beginning of a new school year. That always brings new clothes (and the jettisoning of old ones), new school supplies (especially brand new crayons and notebooks), and new opportunities.
Apples & Honey photo by Igal Ness on Unsplash
One of those opportunities, especially as we all got older (moving from elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school) was that we could create ourselves anew, be seen as a different kind of person.
Let’s say you’d had a reputation as a goody two-shoes; you could make yourself over as a bit of a rebel. A ne’er-do-well punk could become an athlete lettering in varsity track. An academic washout could study a trade, and a beauty school dropout could rejoin the old gang. (Any resemblance to the plot of Grease is purely coincidental.)
But if you found yourself slipping back into old habits (messy lockers, messy friendships, messy study habits), the clean slate of a new year in the guise of a millennia-old religious and cultural tradition sure could be appealing. And if the start of the school year didn’t keep you on the straight-and-narrow toward a more perfect version of you? Well, Rosh Hashanah offered another shot.
And if that didn’t work, well, the new calendar year was only another 90 days or so away.
FRESH STARTS FOR THE NEW YEAR(S)
The best known annual fresh start is January 1st; worldwide, people explore New Year’s resolutions, to various degrees of success. Indeed, because of the difficulty of maintaining adherence to wholesale changes in one’s self, I often encourage alternatives to resolution making, like having goals, themes, phrases, or words of the year, such as those I wrote about in:
Review & Renew for 2022: Resolutions, Goals, and Words of the Year
Organize Your Life: The Truth About Resolutions, Goals, Habits, and Words of the Year
That said, some people still hold to the idea of making big changes when there’s a marker on the calendar to do so. If that’s you, I recommend reading what my colleagues and I have had to say at:
Join The Resolution Revolution
New Year’s Resolutions: Professional Organizers Blog Carnival
And, of course, your annual fresh starts aren’t limited to the new calendar year, new school year, or Rosh Hashanah. Worldwide, particularly in East and Southeast Asian nations and cultures, there are numerous religious and cultural new year’s observations, and you could choose any of those to give yourself a burst of inspiration.
Because lunar calendars (similar to the ones that make the Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah bounce around the Gregorian calendar) are measured differently from what we use, these holidays don’t sync up to January first, nor do they fall on the same Gregorian calendar date each year.
These include:
- Chinese New Year — between late January and mid-February
- Lunar New Year (in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations) — between late January and mid-February
- Seollal (Korean New Year) — January or February, on the second new moon after the winter solstice
- Tết Nguyên Đán/Spring Festival/Lunar New Year/Vietnamese Lunar New Year — late January to mid-February
- Nyepi (Balinese New Year) — March
- Nowruz (Persian/Iranian New Year) — between March 19th and 22nd
- Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese New Year) — April 13th or 14th
- Puthandu (Tamil New Year) — follows the spring equinox and generally falls on April 14th
- Willkakuti (Andean and Amazonian New Year) — June 21st
- Mayan Aboriginal New Year — mid-July
- Diwali (Marwari and Gujarati New Year Day) — mid-October to mid-November
- Raʼs as-Sanah al-Hijrīyah (Islamic New Year) — early July to late August
- Australian Aboriginal Murador New Year
As you can see, there are year-round “New Year’s” observations, if you’re looking to get a bit of institutional support for your new beginnings.
The meanings behind these holidays are as varied as the cultures from which they derive. Some focus on joy and celebration, others on introspection and focused self-improvement. The point is not to suggest that you necessarily observe religious or cultural New Year’s holidays or festivals, and certainly nobody should indulge in cultural appropriation.
Rather, consider these as inspirational opportunities to forgive yourself for any backsliding, identify ways you can tweak your efforts, and give yourself a motivational pep-talk.
FRESH STARTS EVERY QUARTER
If you work in the corporate world, you’re probably used to buzzwords about splitting the year into quarters. “Let’s ramp this up in 2Q!” or “We’re looking at projections for fourth quarter.” The year is carved into four 12/13ish week quarters with new collaborative goals structured into that temporal space.
Indeed, Brian Moran’s best-selling book and website, The 12-Week Year, is focused on the idea of setting shorter-term goals quarterly instead of annually. Rather than trying to transform yourself in a binary way, from “not this” yesterday to “this” today, this program posits that there’s an advantage to carving the year up into shorter 3-month blocks vs. trying to make changes on an annual basis.
If you’ve only got 12 weeks, there’s less likelihood that you’ll get complacent — it’s like having a book report due every week instead of just one term paper at the end of the semester — and more chance that your sense of urgency (and thus, motivation) will increase.
Is your inspiration to make life changes based a little more in the earth and sky than the boardroom and stock exchange? You might be motivated to make changes according to the equinoxes (in March and September) and solstices (in June and December).
Feng shui consultant (and promoter of all things organized) Dana Claudat of The Tao of Dana has a great weekly email newsletter and videos that may help you focus on the types of changes you’d like to make and the environmental support to do so.
FRESH STARTS EVERY MONTH
Although there are cultural inclinations toward inspiring fresh starts annually, these are not the only opportunities. In the UK and parts of North America, there’s a superstition that saying “rabbit rabbit,” or “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit,” or “rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit” upon arising on the first day of the month will bring good luck. (One imagines that this is, at the very least, luckier than attaching a rabbit’s foot to a keychain…at least for the rabbits)
There’s also a tradition in many English-speaking nations, including throughout the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, for children to say “a pinch and a punch for the first of the month.”
The point isn’t necessarily to start acting like kids, but to recognize that the start of a new month, the flipping of the old paper calendar page, is worthy of notice. As they say, the days are long but the years are short. Taking notice of the passage of time is a superior way to value your time and make, if not resolutions, and least decisions regarding how you’ll use time mto serve your values.
As they say, the days are long but the years are short. Taking notice of the passage of time is a superior way to value your time and make decisions on how you'll use it. Share on XA new month, like a new year, offers an opportunity for a reset.
A FRESH START EACH DAY
Of course, you can make a fresh start every day. Every time you go to sleep at night, you are giving yourself the chance to reverse the humbling mistakes of the prior day and start anew.
And heck, you aren’t even stuck with a crummy day once it begins. As I wrote in Organize To Reverse a Bad Day, there are proven techniques for turning around a bad day (or one where you’ve failed to be your best self) and accomplishing more of what you want.
But you already knew that.
You know that each day is an opportunity to begin a new (good) habit or break an old (bad) one; intellectually, you know that you don’t need the permission of the calendar to commit to putting all appointments into your planner or hanging up your clothes or putting away your files before you leave the office.
You are absolutely aware that you don’t need to wait until a new calendar month or new fiscal quarter to stop yelling at your kids or start flossing your teeth more regularly.
But it helps, doesn’t it, to feel like you’re part of something bigger, a global effort to make positive changes? Certainly that’s why New Year’s resolutions have been effectively made (if not so effectively kept) for so long. Everyone joins together on December 31st to put that resolution energy out into the world, but by mid-January most people are struggling, all on their own, to stick with their goals.
“And So I Choose to Begin Again” Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
STEPS TO KEEP YOUR FRESH START FROM SPOILING
Appeal to all, or least most, of your senses. (I’m sure someone who knows more about essential oils or fragrances can suggest what scent might inspire creating and maintaining changes. If this is your area of expertise, please weigh in down in the comments.)
Start with signage.
The more you see a message, the more you’re likely to embrace it. If you’ve got a theme word or phrase for the year (or the month), post it where you can see it — on your fridge, the bathroom mirror, a sticky note in the center of your steering wheel, or wherever it will grab your attention.
Create inspiring images.
If you’re more visual than linguistic, create a vision board (showing the change you’d like to see in the world) as one that represents the change you wish be in the world.
If, like me, you’re not particularly adept at collage-making and vision boards, see if you can find one photo that represents what you’re trying to achieve — an organized bedroom, an office that you’ve left behind at the end of the day, a better effort at self-care — and post that where you can see it at transition points during your day.
When you’re focused, you may not be thinking about your goals, but when you transition, moving between tasks, between rooms, or between stages of your day, those images will resonate.
Sing out loud. Sing out strong.
Pick an empowering song, one that makes you feel like you can conquer anything, or create a whole playlist of them. Making a big change, or a series of small ones, may be easier if you’ve got your own personal theme song. Some that I really like (but which may include some salty language) include:
Roar by Katy Perry
Good As Hell by Lizzo
RESPECT by Aretha Franklin
Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson
It’s My Life by Bon Jovi
Confident by Demi Lovato
Fight Song by Rachel Platten
Unstoppable by Sia
And, for an amazing take on this song, check out Sri Lanken singer and cover artist Sandaru Sathsara’s version of Unstoppable. It’s not glitzy or glossy, but it’s motivating in it’s raw vocal and visual power.
For more motivation, check out these lists of songs that might hit the right note:
- 30+ Songs About New Beginnings & Change
- 18 Songs About New Beginnings and Starting Over
- 25 Empowerment Anthems
- 15 Empowering Songs to Blast Every Morning
- 55 Best Women Empowerment Songs For A Girl Power Playlist
Set the stage for success.
Whatever aspects of your life you are trying to change, whether they’re physical, temporal, psychological, or interpersonal, the world around you can offer support. Want to exercise more and know that you’ll never have the energy at the end of the day? Lay out your exercise clothes across the room and then put your alarm clock on top of the pile to make your morning work for you. (Give last month’s Do (Not) Be Alarmed: Paper Doll’s Wake-Up Advice for Productivity a peek for good measure.)
If you want to make 20 cold calls for your business, design an environment that makes it easy and motivating. Create a one-sheet with the points you want to make, and before you leave the office each day, lay it on your desk so it’s the first thing you see every morning. One of my clients used to keep a box of dominos by his desk, and each time he’d made a sales call, he’d stack a domino on his desk, just beyond reach. Seeing that small stack pile up over the course of the month would motivate him; a sort of “domino effect” akin to Jerry Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain” advice.
Be willing to start small…and keep going.
From Mark Twain, who said that, “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection” to productivity expert Brian Tracy, who advises us to “Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day,” the experts recognize that we’re not going to get where we want to be by magic or overnight success.
James Clear’s Atomic Habits tells us that starting small, super-small, on the atomic level, and making itty-bitty, teeny-weeny changes and achieving incremental improvement is the key to getting where we want to go. Our fresh start doesn’t have to be a big step, it just has to be a step that we actually take.
What are you waiting for? pic.twitter.com/QF7wRXhGwf
— Junhan Chin | Visual Designer (@junhanchin) June 27, 2022
Count on accountability.
When you want to create a fresh start and accomplish your goals, you don’t have to try to achieve things on your own. Check out two now-classic Paper Doll posts on the subject of accountability:
Count on Accountability: 5 Productivity Support Solutions
Flow and Faux (Accountability): Productivity, Focus, and Alex Trebek
Block time for success.
If we wait to feel like doing something, we’ll be waiting forever. As you’ve heard me say time and again, action precedes motivation. The way to take action, so you can get started and achieve enough success to feel motivated is to block time in your schedule. That means that you need to have a calendar, and you have to abide by what it tells you to do.
Action precedes motivation. The way to take action, so you can get started and achieve enough success to feel motivated, is to block time on your schedule. Share on XDon’t like being bossed around? Remember, you’re the one who told your calendar what to tell you! Don’t fight with the calendar; thank Past You for wanting what’s best for Current You. For some thoughts on how to block time in your schedule, start with:
Playing With Blocks: Success Strategies for Time Blocking Productivity
While you’re at it, much of the advice I offered in this summer’s 5-part series on conquering toxic productivity is helpful for making changes the right way. Work your way through the ideas at:
Toxic Productivity, Part 4: Find the Flip Side of Productivity Hacks
to develop good habits, use the Pomodoro Technique and the Pareto Principle, and focus on momentum rather than perfection.
Borrow from the wisdom of others.
Getting a fresh start means jettisoning the weight (but not the lessons) of everything that’s come before. Look through the quotes below and find one or two that resonate with you. Post your favorite on your lock screen or your computer’s desktop wallpaper to prompt you to embrace fresh starts and keep working on the transformative changes you find meaningful.
Getting a fresh start means jettisoning the weight (but not the lessons) of everything that's come before. Share on X“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” ~ C.S. Lewis
“Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.” ~ Desmond Tutu
(This includes forgiving yourself. Every moment is a chance to be a “you” that is more congruent with your values.)
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” ~ J.P. Morgan
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
~
(Is there any character more of a perfectly imperfect role model for making fresh starts than Anne (with an E) of Anne of Green Gables?)
“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” ~
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” ~ T. S. Elliot
Please let me know which of these quotes resonate with you, or if you have a quote about new beginnings that you like even better.
Are you struggling to make a fresh start on something, whether it’s related to organizing and productivity or some other area of your life? I hope you’ll give these tips a try.
L’shanah tova. Happy New Year!
Paper Doll Post:
Julie, another great one! I’m liking the idea of quarterly goals. I will work on that this week.
I was kind of thinking about how having fresh starts more often was kind of like how you have written about monthly zones in your house for organizing. Thanks for reading!
Great post, as always! September has always been a new year for me. I don’t know if it is because of school starts or the change of season. I also find that being a business owner; I do find that quarterly goals do work for me as well.
I think it’s great that you’ve identified when setting goals works best for you. A fresh start feels more “fresh” when it’s on your own timeline! Thanks for reading.
Chock full of goodness, as always Julie! Your opening line totally had me laughing. 🙂
I’m a big fan of motivational music. It definitely helps get my energy up.
Just finished Atomic Habits with my daughter and we’ve been talking about it this past weekend. It’s got lots of great ideas, many of which fit this post so well.
There is nothing magic at January 1st. Any time is the right time to start. And we can start small, and just keep showing up. A small step, sustained over time, is the win!
Awwww, thank you! And yes, any day and any motivation for a fresh start is better than none. For me, it’s always a combination of lyrics and music, together. And of all the ones I’ve read, Atomic Habits was one of the very few productivity books written by a man that didn’t seem to assume that all readers were white collar, knowledge-worker dudes with no responsibilities outside of work. Clear gets bonus points for that!
“Good as Hell” is a FABULOUS song for starting fresh! Thanks for all the useful info, Julie.
It sure is! I can sing it aloud, over and over! Thanks for reading!
Julie, your posts are long, but they are nearly always worth reading! (I say “nearly” only because sometimes the content doesn’t apply to Canadians.)
I was delighted to see your link to the New Year’s Resolution edition of the Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival, and Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” is my current theme song (“I don’t wanna live forever, I just wanna live while I’m alive.)
Happy to tweet this!
Thank you so much, Janet, and while I try to find international equivalents when possible, yes, posts like that Medicare one a few weeks ago just have no equivalent. However, I’m delighted that the rest of my material resonates. The next time I see you, we’ll have to do a rousing rendition of “It’s My Life” together!
Hi Julie! Aretha anytime does it for me. I love “Respect,” a favorite! Any time we allow space for a fresh start is significant. Because resident in that do-over, is a certain amount of letting go mixed with forward thinking. We decide that whatever we messed up or missed the mark on or hoped to do, but didn’t, we get another chance. There is hope is a fresh start.
I feel it every day when I wake up. There’s a feeling of excitement and that I have ‘x’ amount of hours to work towards something, whatever that something is. But I also believe in the power of the seasonal changes, especially as someone who lives in the northeast with four distinct seasons. Each one gives me a time to reset, rethink, regroup…like now, as the fall is upon us. And then there are the BIGGER resets like the New Year (2022 into 2023,) or as you mentioned the Jewish New Year and other cultural New Years.
The concept of a fresh start is so affirming and I love all the ways we have to lean into them. I love the TS Elliot quote which breaks down fresh starts to moments. And isn’t that the truth? Breathe in. Exhale out. Begin again.
I always love your perspective, Linda. I think a fresh start is closely aligned with the generation of hope, and hope is essential for achievement of anything. I am impressed that you manage to begin each day with such enthusiasm! Thank you for reading. R E S P E C T!!!
Great article because it gives a variety or ways to start again. It is so important to learn you can start over tomorrow or on a holiday or on a calendar year. It doesn’t matter when. If things are not going the way you want stop, think and restart. Many people think they have to keep going doing the same thing when it is not working. I really like that you stated you can restart after 12 weeks you don’t need to wait a year. Small changes lead to bigger ones. If you’re not sure how to restart try a little change.
Thanks for reading! I completely agree; we need to feel able to start anew at any and all points in time!
Happy New Year, Julie (I know I’m a couple of days late but better late than never, right?) You have beautifully captured what I tell my clients when they backslide. Instead of beating yourself up, let’s begin again from where you are now. Almost always they are in a better place – even after the backsliding into an old (bad) habit. We move forward from there.
I set my goals weekly.
There are always more things to do to move myself forward. I look at what I want to attempt to accomplish this week. What is realistic, what is a stretch. I do my best and the things that don’t get done this week are moved to next week – if they are still relevant. Sometimes they are not and I’m OK with that.
Thank you for sharing this wisdom here.
Thank you for the New Year’s wishes, Diane!
You’re so right! I like to think of backsliding as a chance to review, like dropping down to an earlier lesson in a language class so you can strengthen your skills.
Oh! I want to read The 12-Week Year. I’ve been trying to focus my business planning by quarters but haven’t been too successful. I’m sure a little more knowledge would help. Thanks for the suggestion.
I read it at the recommendation of one of the other members of my mastermind group, as she follows its precepts closely. Let me know what you think once you’ve read it.
For a few years, I prescribed to the 12 week year for my business. It worked well for me. A few start with a chance for review and goal settings that often made a big difference in the amount of projects I completed.
I need to revisit the formula.
A member of my mastermind group has stuck with the 12-Week Year and she swears by it.
I think whatever methods we choose, revisiting where we want to find ourselves is likely to get us there faster.
It seems like no matter how much I’ve read — and written — about this topic, and no matter how many times I’ve started over, I always need to remind myself what I want to be doing NOW and why I want to be doing it. Summer is not my favorite, but it’s cooling off a little here and it’s the day after Labor Day — the traditional Back-to-School when I was growing up (which I loved). Thanks for the gentle shove in the right direction, Julie. I’m all in for a fresh start!
I’m with you. School and the “real” new year start after Labor Day. This is the perfect time of year, with (gently) receding temperatures supporting our efforts to point ourselves toward something new.
I hope whatever your goals are, that they delight you! Thanks for reading!