Temporal Landmarks...
and Other Cosmic Things
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash
We as human beings respond to things like the beginning of a new year, or as we started yesterday a new month.
Those new beginnings are called temporal landmarks.
Temporal landmarks are dates that have a significance that separates them from our ordinary days, and which separate a past period from the present/future one.
Temporal landmarks sound like something from a time travel story; in a way, they are.
They help draw a boundary between one period in our lives and another.
Research suggests that they can help provide motivation for change giving us a fresh start.
Temporal Landmarks a chance to start again. We can mentally consign our old selves to the past; detaching our image from past mistakes and imperfections.
image by sketchplanations.com
The cartoon above touches on an interesting temporal landmark, the last year of a decade.
Adam Alter and Hal Hershfield coined the term ‘9-enders’ for people in the last year of a life decade. Those who are 29, 39, 49, 59, and so on.
When people near the arbitrary end of a decade, something stirs that often alters their behavior.
For example, while first-time marathon running participation drops off after the age of 40 it shoots back up dramatically at 49.
In fact, a runner is three times more likely to sign up for a marathon at 49 than at 50.
In my own case I ran my first at 57 though looking back I had that arbitrary marker of 60 in my mind when I decided it was time to run one.
I find birthdays to be great temporal landmarks, too. Starting a new project or aiming to have something completed by that date - regardless of the year-ender piece. It has been, and hopefully continues to be, a much more fruitful starting position for changing habits and acquiring new skills than the beginning of the calendar year.