For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pirlois in for Rachel Feldman.
Hello and Happy New Year!
I love the first few days of a new year.
It evokes a feeling that change is possible,
that feeling in part leads some of us to set New Year's resolutions, an estimated 40% of U.S.
adults set resolutions any given year.
We promise ourselves that we'll save money,
exercise regularly, or spend more time with friends and family.
And yet, for many of us, as that feeling of newness fades, so too do our resolutions.
Some research suggests that as many as 88% of Americans give up on their resolutions within two weeks.
But it doesn't have to be that way according to Katie Milkman,
a behavioral economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
She's the author of How to Change,
the science of getting from where you are to where you want to be.
Katie says there are science-supported tools that we can use to spark positive changes in our lives.
Doing so involves not only asking high-level questions about what we want to achieve and why,
but also finding ways to make the passwords achieving those goals while fun.
Here's our conversation.
In your book, you talk about how moments like a new year,
even a move, you talk about them as fresh starts.