Ready...Set...It's Starting Day

Consider this an engraved invitation

Welcome to August, 2023! I DO love a shiny new month, don’t you?

I think I like the first day of the month because it’s the only day of the month I know what day it is. But there’s another reason.

The first of the month is a great day to START. It’s the closest thing we get to an engraved invitation to start making something, start a change or to restart something we’ve had on “pause.”

Don’t take my word for it. There’s science.

The smart people who study people have figured out that some days pack their own starting mojo. High on the list: THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH!

Here’s the study, if you want the nitty gritty: The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior by Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Jason Riis. But, you’ve got stuff to start, how about a 2-minute summary? Click here to hear Daniel Pink, guru of lots of things, to tell you about the 86 days this year that up the chances you can change your behavior and start new stuff.

Pink says these days are “temporal landmarks” that do two things: 1) make us slow down and 2) help us open a fresh new blank page, creating the perfect environment for start.

I’ve pared his 86 days down to several favorites – all days that make good starting gates.

• The first day of the month.
• Mondays.
• Your birthday.
• The first day of school or the first day of a semester.
• The first day of a new job.
• The day after graduation.
• The first day back from vacation.
• Anniversaries…of the day you started your job, the day you got married, the day you
became a citizen, the day you adopted your dog or cat, the day you graduated.

Just so you don’t think I’m all talk and no walk, here’s what I’m starting today:

• My August list. Okay, this is a bit of a copout. The first day of the month is the day of the to-do list, which some people find as fun as collecting puppies.

• A Restart. I always look for something that I’ve paused or lost interest in and give it another starting moment. The first of the month, or even a Monday, can make anything a new shiny object. This month I’m going to dust off an article I was working on to submit to the The New Yorker. This one is a stretch. Thoughts and prayers appreciated.

• A month-long silly art project: This month it’s Words Rock! I’m going to paint rocks I pull from the river on vacation in Montana and write one word on them. When I get home to Kansas City, I’ll put them in my landscaping for the neighbor kids to find.

So maybe one thing you can start today is popping some of your “temporal landmarks” into your calendar. Sounds kinda fun, right?

But remember this: as we build our starting skills, stARTists don’t need designated dates – we can make any place a starting place!