By Brendan Frazier
As the calendar turned to 2025, you likely felt a burst of motivation to set new goals for your health, money, relationships, and more.
You fully embraced the “New Year, New Me” mentality.
That feeling you experience, along with the rest of the world, is a phenomenon that psychologists call the “fresh start effect.”
The fresh start effect recognizes that there are temporal landmarks—moments in time—when we feel like we’re wiping the slate clean and starting a new chapter.
You’ll feel this around birthdays, anniversaries, job changes, and other major life transitions, as well as at the start of the week, month, or year.
(Spoiler alert: It’s why everyone says, “The diet starts on Monday!”)
These moments create separation between our current selves and our past failures, providing a mental boost where we envision a hopeful and optimistic future.
While the new year paves the way for energetic vision-setting exercises, invigorating conversations, and endless optimism, most of the resolutions born from this phenomenon have already failed within two weeks.
In fact, the second Friday in January has been officially dubbed “Quitter’s Day.”
The reason why is simple. It’s because changing behavior is hard.
Since the beginning of time, we’ve all expected knowledge and willpower to be sufficient to improve our behavior.
They never have been. And they never will be.
It’s why Derek Sivers says: “If all we needed were information, we’d all be billionaires with six packs.”
As you enter client meetings and start discussing their financial goals and the things they want to accomplish, you need to know that simply providing the plan isn’t enough.
If you want your clients to follow through and accomplish their goals, you need to know the 4 C’s that drive behavior change.
And, more importantly, you need to know how to activate them for your clients.
Here they are with ideas on how to use them:
- Control
- Confidence
- Clarity
- Connection
1) Control
This speaks to the basic human desire for autonomy and freedom. That’s why your kids will almost always do the opposite of what you tell them: They want to be in control.
It’s also why someone close to you comes up to tell you about a “great idea” they had, and it turns out you mentioned the exact same idea to them a couple of months ago.
But a couple of months ago, it wasn’t their idea.
The same thing goes for helping clients set their goals and subsequently take action.
You must let them feel like they’re in the driver’s seat. Like they have control.
It’s as simple as asking: “Based on everything we’ve discussed, what do you want to prioritize first?”
2) Confidence
To achieve a goal, you must believe your goal is fully within reach.
For example, if you want to lose weight and your fitness app says you’re supposed to eat 1,000 calories per day to make that happen, you may feel as though you have no chance.
(Some salads alone are over 1,000 calories!)
If your goal is to save $750/month, but you’re squeezed to save $300 right now, you won’t have the confidence (or funds) necessary to accomplish it.
So, anytime you’re setting a goal with a client, ask: “How confident are you in your ability to do ____.”
3) Clarity
What oftentimes appears to be a lack of action or inspiration is simply a lack of clarity.
We usually know what to do but struggle with HOW to do it.
Instead of saying, “I’m going to eat healthier,” you would say, “I’m going to eat a grilled chicken breast, broccoli, and baked sweet potato for dinner.”
With clients, they often know what to do.
They just need clarity on how to do it.
For example, they know they need to get their estate planning done.
Here’s a question to infuse clarity and foster action: “What’s the next smallest step you can take?”
Instead of “Finish estate planning”, it’s “Schedule a meeting with estate planning attorney.”
4) Connection
The most powerful force for changing behavior is a powerful “Why.” It’s the emotional driver, motivation, and energy needed to get started and stay the course.
Always connect your goal to the purpose.
The goal is WHAT you want to do. (i.e., increase life insurance, buy a beach house, retire, etc.)
But behind every WHAT lies a WHY. It’s the actual motivating purpose driving the behavior.
Your client’s goal might be to increase their life insurance coverage.
But why do they want life insurance?
Because they’ve said that providing for their kids and removing any financial burden from the surviving spouse is essential.
“Completing life insurance” won’t get anyone to turn off Netflix, get off the couch, and fill out an application.
But the thought of their kids and spouse struggling to maintain the life they built might.
When you work with clients, don’t just talk about their goals and what they want to do.
Remember that behind every WHAT is a WHY. The stronger the connection between the two, the more likely your clients will stay committed to their goals.
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