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What we found in our research is that
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when there is what we perceive as a
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chapter break in our life story, we
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really actually see our lives as if
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we're characters in a novel with these
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chapters. And whenever there is a
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chapter break and we enter a new era
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that feels like a new beginning to us,
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we're more motivated to pursue our
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goals. We feel disconnected from our
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past self. We can say, "That was the old
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me. This is the new me. The new me will
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be different." And those chapter breaks
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arise at predictable moments on the
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calendar as well as at times when we
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make uh meaningful change like a move to
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a new job or becoming a parent. New
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Year's is the biggest of the dates that
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signals a fresh start and a new
00:00:36
beginning but it actually happens every
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Monday at the start of a new month. It
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happens when we celebrate birthdays. So
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these come up a lot and the psychology
00:00:44
behind them is around this thing we do.
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It's called mental accounting in the
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words of Nobel laurate Richard Thaylor
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where we don't perceive time and other
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resources as fungeable across boundaries
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but instead we bracket them and so fresh
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starts arise a lot but New Year's is a
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really big one and we should seize
