Why New Year’s resolutions fail: From gyms to diet apps, enthusiasm fades fast; science explains why motivation isn’t enough
Bhaskar English
A New Year’s resolution is a behaviour-change goal linked to the start of the year. Psychologists call this the Fresh Start Effect.
A 2014 study in Management Science by Katherine Milkman, Jason Riis, and Hengchen Dai found that New Year’s Day helps people mentally separate their “old self” from a “new self.” This makes change feel possible.
Indian data shows the same pattern. Google searches from 2018 to 2024 spike every January for “weight loss,” “gym near me,” and “diet plan.”