S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Housing first has been the preferred strategy to combat homelessness for years. How policy changes in Washington and budget shortfalls in California are adding new pressures to programs in San Diego. We hear about one man's journey navigating a local housing program to find a place to call home. Then California has a number of new laws in effect this year. We talk about a few of them , including one expanding coverage for IVF treatments. Plus , have you made any New Year's resolutions yet ? We have some tips for you on how to find ones that stick. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. Homelessness remains one of San Diego's most intractable problems. Over the past several years , the prevailing approach to solving it has focused on getting people into housing quickly and with as few hurdles as possible. It's called Housing First , and though it's shown promise for keeping people housed , that model is facing real challenges here to talk more. As Blake Nelson , he covers homelessness for the San Diego Union Tribune. Blake , welcome back to roundtable.
S2: Hey , thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you here. So your recent story on homelessness. I mean , it covers a lot of ground on policy , the data behind it , things like that. But at the center of it , you tell the story of one man's search for housing. Tell us about Dylan Harrison. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So a few weeks ago , I met Delon at a pop up resource fair in this empty lot in the lemon grove. Delon was one of several people who'd been sleeping in encampments in that part of East County and who'd been put on a list that that at least suggested that he might be able to find housing soon. So he had shown up , gotten in line in front of these plastic tables where all these government workers , different nonprofits were there to help him out. And Dylan's a local guy. He grew up , um , in East County , in the City Heights neighborhood. He went to Helix High School. He attended a trade school here. But his life has also had some real periods of instability. His earliest memory of losing a home was around six years old. He remembers police coming to his door and pulling him and his little brother out of a home that he'd been living in with his mother. His memory is obviously fuzzy , but he thinks that it may have been an abandoned unit that they were living in. He doesn't remember any electricity there and went to live with his grandmother , and more recently he's been housed on and off and on. He's been housed off and on in recent years , but more recently , he's been sleeping outside the lemon grove.
S1: And you said you met him at this resource fair. And that leads us to a local nonprofit called Brilliant Corners that you write about. How are they putting this Housing First model into action here in San Diego ? Yeah.
S2: So at the moment we were in line with Dahlan. Brilliant corners had a list of about 25 landlords who'd agreed to take in people directly off the street , landlords around the region and Brilliant Corners offers landlords a couple things. They say , eh ? We're going to we're going to have a fund here in case any of your units get damaged , and we'll help pay for the damages too. If someone you're renting two leaves , we're going to keep paying rent on that unit so that you will keep it open and available for someone else who needs it. And while within this particular program in Lemon Grove , they're not technically the property managers , they can still act as go betweens between the new tenants and the landlords. If either side has a problem , is having trouble with communicating the other with the other brilliant corners , can step in and try to negotiate any differences there. So Brilliant Corners has has this list , which can be rare in a place where there's little affordable housing in Southern California. Brilliant corners has this list that is like. All right , these spots are open now and we can get people in fast.
S1: And is that a good example of this housing first , you know , model that we're talking about here and how it's , you know , being implemented in San Diego or there are other examples you could point to. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So housing First is , is obviously trying to get folks into permanent housing as fast as possible , but I want to lean very hard on the first word of that , because housing first is not housing only. And that's where things can sometimes fall apart , is when you've got programs that call themselves Housing First , and they're really just getting people into open rooms and then and then ignoring them. Brilliant corners , with this program in Lemon Grove is partnering with a ton of other organizations , government agencies , including the nonprofit crisis House , to then provide a lot of the follow up services , case management , helping folks find jobs , any substance use treatment programs , if that's needed. So Brilliant Corners is working with a lot of these different groups on on some of the day to day three stuff.
S1: There's so many like interconnected services going on here. But , you know , back to Dylan's story. You know , you kind of watched him as he searched for housing.
S2: And if you don't want it , you know , find some other program to help you. They did what I think a lot of us have done in our lives , which is actually took folks on tours of open units around the city of San Diego , around East County , unincorporated areas , other cities , and just said , here's everything we've got. What would you like to live in and participating in those tours , riding around in those vans , going through the open units ? Uh , I was surprised how surprising it felt , because on the one hand , you know what is more normal for people in California than to search far and wide for an affordable place to live. But on the other hand , so much homeless or at least some homeless aid can sometimes feel like just to take it or leave it. And so to actually treat these people like people and to give them choices felt significant.
S1: Well , in Dylan's case. I mean , to kind of illustrate this sort of one size does not fit all. He's also incredibly tall , and I think one of the apartments , you know , you followed him to see just wouldn't work for him , right ? I mean , it was just the ceilings were too short , for example.
S2: Yeah , there's I mean , he's almost seven feet tall. Uh , huge shocker. He once played basketball. But , yeah , we were walking up a staircase at one complex in downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp , and his head just ran into the ceiling. I mean , it's an older building. And on this landing area , he could literally not stand up straight. So , you know , could he live in that complex ? Maybe. Would it be a huge pain ? Yeah.
S1: And he also kind of ran into some other challenges along this process of finding an apartment. And one kind of came over concerns over where he was staying before getting into housing.
S2:
S1:
S2: Oh yes. Even.
S1: Even. Yeah.
S2: On the second day , so they did a couple days of tours. On the second day , I'm waiting with him by his tent for for these crisis house staffers to show up , to take folks on tours. And as some security guards show up , announce that an encampment sweep is coming. Everyone needs to clear out if they don't want their stuff thrown in a dumpster. And that started this sort of frantic , 30 minute , uh , basic quest to try to figure out who had planned the sweep where these security guards were from. When a cleaning crew did come up , it didn't look like they were with the city. They started trying to explain that they were just going to pick up stuff in the parking lot anyway , delayed the whole tour , and almost completely derailed the tour of apartments , which I just thought was a. The scene is in this long narrative that I've written , and I thought it was a significant scene because , I mean , look , encampments can threaten both people living in them and people living near them , so I don't no one's arguing that homeless encampments should be here permanently. But I do think that illustrated some of the dangers of these sweeps , especially Hastily scheduled sweeps , because this just makes it harder to actually get some of these folks help. And in this case , they had the releases that were ready to be signed that almost weren't signed , because suddenly everyone was worrying that all their worldly possessions were about to be trashed.
S1: It's kind of interesting , intertwining approaches to homelessness coming into , you know , into clarity there. So , Dylan , he did find an apartment. Tell us about where he ended up and you know , more about his long term prospects of staying there. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So he signed a six month lease for a converted motel in Spring Valley. Uh , does not see this as sort of his permanent home. Um , he's with a roommate right now. It's a relatively small place. It doesn't have its own kitchen , but he's got a refrigerator , microwave. He started decorating it himself. And significantly , the program that he's in in Lemon Grove , it'll cover his rent for about six months. But then at the six month mark , the rental aid starts tapering off. So he is looking for jobs right now. Uh , right now , his main sources of income are both the county's general relief program , and also just whatever you can make from recycling cans and bottles. So he is actively searching for work at the moment , and then we'll hopefully move to a more permanent place later. But at least he now has a safe place to call home for the next several months , if not the next few years.
S1: Um , earlier you kind of touched on this , but you , you know , write about Housing first and some of the challenges facing , it's facing , you know , from the Trump administration has voiced opposition to it taking action against Housing First programs , but also from some California lawmakers.
S2: One , just because Housing First is effective for many people does not mean it is effective for everyone. There are plenty of people I have interviewed have said I needed rehab. I needed this specific program before it was okay for me to get a permanent place. And so an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the California State House not that long ago passed a bill known as AB 255 , which would allow more money , more money dedicated for homelessness services to go to sober living programs , because right now , Housing First programs , housing First funding , especially when it's going to homeless shelters , it has to go to low barrier shelters , which means no prerequisites. You can't , you know , you can't drink or use drugs in the shelter. But we're not going to be doing sobriety tests for you to get in. Uh , and but a lot of people on both sides of the aisle , even a lot of homelessness service organizations , believe we got to at least set aside some more money for these sober living programs. And right now , there's a lot of red tape around doing that. That Bill did did not ultimately become law. It was vetoed by the governor , which has left some homeless service organizations just sort of taking things into their own hands. Like Father Joe's , when it surveyed a lot of the residents of one of its downtown shelters and said , what would you guys like ? A lot of them said , we would really love a sober living space. And so Father Joe's raised through private donors , sort of private funding to convert one of those facilities into a sober living program and a detox center. So in California , the movement has been let's try to tweak housing first to give a little bit more wiggle room for some of these sober living programs. At the federal level , there's a bigger push by the Trump administration to completely overhaul how homelessness funding works. Um , to not just emphasize , not just push more treatment recovery programs , but potentially defund a lot of housing programs in the coming years , which advocates are worried about. Worried that worried that a lot of people who are currently housed and in some of those programs could become homeless again.
S1: Well , and then it comes also at a time when there's constraints from the state budget , county budget , city budget. So yeah , what does that mean for housing programs like the one Dylan relied on for housing.
S2: So that specific one , Delon is good , the program is good. The city of Lemon Grove and the regional task force and homelessness got this. It was about an $8.4 million grant from the state of California. So for the 100 something people who will get aid through this initiative , they'll be okay. Dahlan will get rental aid for six months. That'll start to taper off after that. Hopefully he'll have a job through help with crisis House staffers and whatnot. But future programs like this , I think , absolutely are at risk , both because of pushes by the federal government to reduce support for housing programs. But also , as you said , it doesn't seem like anyone's budgets are doing super great right now. And so budget cuts , deficits could absolutely reduce support for these types of initiatives in the future.
S1: So , you know , we're here at the start of a , you know , new year. How would you characterize the state of homelessness in San Diego ? So 2026 ? Yeah.
S2: So there's a story I'm working on right now where the working headline is homelessness has Changed more than you think. And sort of here's I think the key number to get into with that. So the regional task force releases these monthly reports showing how many people became homeless for the very first time. Not not repeat. This is this is for the first time , we are entering the homelessness services system. And the number of how many homeless people got housing. So obviously you want newly homeless to be a smaller number than the homeless people getting housed thing. And so if you compare those month by month numbers over 12 recent months , you can see that homelessness grew by 517 people. And you very understandably may be thinking 517 new homeless people , or a sort of growth of 517 people over the past 12 months. That doesn't sound great and it's not great. But when you compare the 12 months before that , we saw growth of 2940 people. And when you look at the 12 months before that , you saw nearly 5000 new homeless people. So a lot of different programs , including potentially this grant and Lemon Grove , appear to be significantly shrinking the rate of growth. And so if we if we stay on track , we could potentially actually start to really , seriously reduce this thing in the coming months.
S1: Well , that's some positive news to finish therewith.
S2: Yeah , I was overjoyed to see it.
S1: I've been speaking with Blake Nelson. He's the homelessness reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune. Thanks , Blake. Thanks so much for being here.
S2: Yeah , thanks for having me.
S1: Up next , California has a lot of new laws that took effect in 2026 , and we'll talk about a few of them next. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It's a new year , which means a whole new set of state laws are going into effect. They cover a range of issues , including banning plastic bags and stores , preventing the decline of cats , and making it easier for high school graduates to attend Cal State universities. Today , we'll talk about a few of the new laws related to health and technology. Joining me now are a pair of reporters from Cal Matters health reporter Kristen Wong and Carrie Johnson , who covers technology. I want to welcome you both back to roundtable. Kristen , I wanted to start with you. One new law getting a lot of attention. It expands access for in vitro fertilization , IVF for short.
S3: I'm not a doctor , but during a cycle of IVF , doctors are able to retrieve eggs from the ovaries and then they fertilize them with sperm in the lab , and then the resultant embryos can then be transferred to the uterus to help those couples who for many , many reasons , some of which are unknown. In a lot of cases , they are unable to get pregnant naturally.
S1: And , you know , these are not , you know , cheap treatments , actually.
S3: There was a 2010 survey on the cost of infertility treatment in California , um , that saw that one cycle of IVF was around $24,000. And often it takes multiple cycles for somebody to get pregnant. Um , and of course , that was in 2010. So healthcare costs have grown since then. Um , there was one woman who I spoke to about this new law who said that , um , before insurance covered it for her. She was quoted around $40,000 for a single cycle of IVF.
S1: And that brings us to this new law. I mean , how does it expand access to IVF for Californians ? Yeah.
S3: So this new law is something that a lot of people have been waiting for for a long time. And it requires large group health insurers in California. So those are employers who have at least 100 workers to begin covering fertility services. So people will no longer have to pay out of pocket. Their insurance should just cover much of these costs.
S1: And then the law also kind of redefines how the state , you know , like what it how it refers to infertility. Can you talk about what you know , how that plays a role into this law ? Yeah.
S3: One of the major changes that this law makes beyond just requiring insurance coverage is sort of redefining what infertility meant in state statute , and it eliminates a long term definition that essentially defined infertility based on heterosexual couples , which meant that same sex couples or single people were unable to receive fertility benefits if their insurer happened to already cover it before this law. Um , and so this law really sort of , as the lawmaker Senator Caroline Barr said to me , brings into the fold a lot of people who would otherwise be excluded from these benefits.
S1: Um , so who is not , you know , what can you talk more about the details of who's covered and who isn't from this law ? Yeah.
S3: So in California , about 9 million people are expected to be covered under this law. Those are people who have that again. The large group health insurance. Um , and then later this year , through sort of a separate regulatory process , um , the rest of people who have who work may work for smaller employers are expected to also receive this benefit. Um , but there are some groups who are exempted. For the moment , people who have Medi-Cal are exempted as well as feathery federally regulated plans or people who have religious employers.
S1: So now , Carrie , I want to move over to you. Moving to the world of technology probably comes as no surprise to folks that , you know , the new tech legislation we're going to be talking about is related to AI. Tell us about Senate Bill 53 and the law that took effect on Thursday. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So this law requires the makers of large AI models to test for and get some , you know , share more transparently about catastrophic risk. You know , uh , essentially , if a , an advanced AI model can assist with a cyber attack or the building of a chemical or biological weapon or , um , you know , this largely hypothetical concern of the loss of control of an AI model , If any of these things are , um , found and they should be reported to state agency. And the public can also report instances of catastrophic risk that they encounter. Um , you know , a big change that comes with this law is it requires the makers of AI models , you know , really companies that make more than $500 million or more annually , uh , have to comply , but it requires them to , uh , put transparency reports on their websites for the public to see. And , uh , to again , to send incidents reports to the Office of Emergency Services. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I want to talk more about those transparency reports. But first , you know , you mentioned this catastrophic risk. And I don't know , you tapped into some pretty potentially terrifying scenarios there. I'm just wondering if you can talk a little bit about , I don't know how , um , feasible these scenarios are or these more just kind of future proofing where AI might go in the future.
S4: You know , a lot of these large companies will tell you that they've encountered , um , loss of control incidents. But it's not my understanding that this has been validated by other scientists. Um , as an as an ongoing issue , it's an emergent concern. And , um , one that I think , uh , you know , there's there's more that needs to be studied , but it does seem like a future proofing effort. You know , I think it's important to note that , uh , this law that's made to address catastrophic risks , does not protect people against automated discrimination or the perpetuation of existing forms of oppression like racism or sexism or other social hierarchies. Um , you know , it doesn't define that as catastrophic. Um , it focuses on this narrower.
S1: This particular. Definition.
S4: Definition. Yeah.
S1: Um , so you mentioned these transparency reports. Can you , you know , delve into a bit more of what they'll entail and what we can expect from these ? Yeah.
S4: So , you know , they have to share things about like what was the intent of the models when it was created. Um , you know , I think the important thing is that it has to articulate , uh , the steps that a large AI model maker took to try and mitigate , uh , catastrophic risk. And they have to share this information on their website. And again , you know , I think , uh , the extent to which , uh , we'll find out in the future. Uh , how many reports come in ? You know , it's important to note there's a whistleblower protection here for the employees of these companies so they can share information as well. So we'll find out in the future , uh , what companies themselves or their employees report or the public about the catastrophic risk incidents ? Uh , to some degree , because there will be an anonymized report that is , um , uh , shared with the California legislature starting next year. Uh , but , yeah , that's that's the that's the general , uh , focus. And what. We.
S1: We.
S4: Go ahead. Yeah. I was really quick. You know , I was going to say , we know that there's a transparency index that was created in part by scientists like Rishi at Stanford University , which says that transparency is generally down compared to a year ago , about what we actually know about these models. And so , um , it's an important to , uh , require it by law.
S1: Kristen , I want to talk about another health related law. This one has to do with tortillas. As of this week , corn masa products like corn tortillas must obtain a specific amount of folic acid. What's the reasoning there ? Yeah.
S3: So folic acid is one of those , um , sort of nutrients that is really important for early pregnancy. And it's , uh , you know , helps prevent sort of life altering birth defects. Um , and in California , Latinas have the highest , highest rate of I guess I said that backwards. They have the lowest rate of folic acid taken in the earliest months of pregnancy. And so this new law is supposed to help close that gap and sort of prevent , um , you know , help prevent , promote infant health.
S1: Are there other foods that are fortified with folic acid ? Yes.
S3: For a really long time , since the late 90s , the United States has actually required manufacturers to fortify other grain products like pasta , rice and cereals with folic acid. But things that are made out of corn masa have been left out of that equation. And so this is sort of a gap that the California legislature was trying to fill.
S1: In the time we have left. I just wanted to take a moment to check in with each of you on your respective beats about , I don't know , just some trends that you may be following in the New Year.
S3: We , of course , ended the year with a lot of talk about the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and also cuts to the Medi-Cal or Medicaid program and sort of how California deals with those financial impacts. I think affordability is going to be really sort of number one for people in California on health care.
S1: And , Carrie , we've been talking about artificial intelligence , as I think we usually do with you in recent years. I should also mention , you know , President Trump signed an executive order last month meant to limit the power of states like California regulating AI , which we've just been talking about.
S4: We know that the executive order does not , um , uh , try and place a more , uh , stop to regulation of AI as it relates to , um , harming children. And just earlier today , Senator Steve Padilla in from San Diego , um , introduced , uh , SETI plans to introduce a law for a moratorium on companion shop bots and toys. So I think there's a lot more to be done and to see done in the way that artificial intelligence is harming children , as we know that there are some high profile instances , including a Orange County teenager who armed himself last year after speaking with ChatGPT.
S1: A lot more to kind of catch up on in the coming year. I've been speaking with Corey Johnson. He covers technology for Cal Matters and also also Kristen Huang , who's been joining us. She's a health reporter with Cal Matters. I want to thank you both and happy New Year.
S4: Happy new year.
S3: Thank you. Great to be here.
S1: Coming up , it's the time for New Year's resolutions. We take a look into the science behind them and what makes a good one. That's coming up on roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. For many of us , the start of a new year brings along with it the start of our New Year's resolutions. They're a way for us to commit to lasting positive change in our lives. But how well do they work , and what can we do better to make them stick throughout the year ? Well , Riley Arthur has been asking these and other questions about New Year's resolutions , and she joins me now. She's a web producer here at KPBS. Riley , welcome to roundtable.
S5: Thanks for having me.
S1: So what made you want to delve into resolutions and the science behind them.
S5: Well , I'm a big goal setter myself , and as the the end of the year was wrapping out , I was thinking about them in November and I thought , you know , I want to learn more about why we set goals , you know , what's going on in the brain. And so I started researching it , and this is how this project got started.
S1: And this led you to kind of reporting on this thing called the Fresh Start effect. You mentioned the start of the year , new goals. Tell us about what that is. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So a reason that New Year's resolutions have the sustained popularity that they have is something called the fresh start effect. And the fresh start effect is essentially a phenomenon where people are more apt to make big life changes or set goals at major milestones , things like birthdays or the start of a year where they can kind of demarcate time. And it's like a good time to kind of think about a fresh start. And so that's what the fresh start is all about.
S1: And what are some just general tips we should be considering when choosing our resolutions this year ? I still don't have any yet.
S5: Well , all the experts that I spoke to really spoke about having specific goals , whether they're Smart goals or really thinking about habit loops and what your triggers may be being specific. So something like , I want to lose £10 and this is a goal that I've had myself in prior years , is really not specific. It may seem like it because you have one number , but at the end of the year , how how are you going to solve that ? So it's really about , you know , maybe let's use that as an example. I want to lose £10. So therefore I need to look at my nutrition. I need to think about my diet or I'm going to join a gym. I'm going to think about , you know , what I'm going to do in this capacity. I'm going to shop differently. So it's really creating goals that have , um , measurable impact and trying to think about how you can break down the goal into sizeable chunks so you can actually achieve it.
S1: You mentioned habit loops there. And I know you , you know , went into some of the science behind these resolutions. Can you tell us more about what you learned about , you know , how habits work , how they get formed and and ultimately how we should be thinking of them ? Yeah.
S5: So a habit loop is sort of a neurological pattern where there's a cue , a routine and then a reward. So , you know , for instance , if your habit is , you know , you've come home from work and you , you know , have have a soda every day or something , you know , it would be the key would be I return from work. The routine is I drink a soda and then the reward is a dopamine hit from all that caffeine and and sugar. Right. And then it becomes a circular pattern where it's like , well , now every time I get off of my job , I drink a soda and , you know , it becomes this like habit. And those habit loops are really hard to break because it becomes part of your routine. One of the things that I learned in my research is that a lot of our bad habits that we want to break , um , in New Year's resolutions or in goal setting in general , are actually deep seated coping mechanisms. So if you're , for instance , you know , addicted to your phone and you're always doom scrolling , you're doing that because you're avoiding something else , whether it's anxiety , whether it's , you know , you're at a restaurant and the person you are eating with went to the bathroom and you don't want to look like you're alone and you just want to , you know , avoidance. Um , so what happens is if we're using it as a coping mechanism , a lot of these things are hard to break , because if you remove that one thing that was kind of providing comfort and you don't replace it with anything , you're going to just fail because your body is used to having some kind of coping mechanism. This happens a lot when you're quitting an addiction , like vaping or smoking. If you take that out but you don't , Um , think about , you know , what am I going to do to cope with with this in a different way ? You're just your body's not used to it.
S1: And you kind of , you know , on the quitting. Quitting is of really common resolution. I think a lot of us come up with. Right. Is something whether it's cutting back on something or just removing a bad habit from our lives. But you really emphasize , you know , in your reporting , you found that it's just oftentimes we put too much emphasis on on willpower. Can you talk more about that and what what you learned from it ? Yeah.
S5: Willpower and motivation are , you know , factors that are deeply affected by mood , by hormonal shifts and by sleep. So if you're relying on , you know , willpower or motivation alone , but you're you're not sleeping well , you're your body is not operating at full capacity. So you're you're not able to think clearly. For example , uh , you know , willpower and motivation are are so variable. And so what happens is people will fail and then they'll feel like a failure , and then they won't realize like that , that relapsing or slipping up or having a cheat meal , for example , these are all very , uh , regular things that happen when you're quitting a bad habit or adjusting your lifestyle. And they should be expected. They shouldn't they shouldn't necessarily be embraced. But , you know , having one mistake or a slip up shouldn't make you , you know , throw it , throw out everything and just , you know , stop. You know , think , think about , you know , recovery or think about quitting as , you know , a non-linear path. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. You say the most common resolutions are fitness related. That that rings true for me. Whether it's , you know , about exercising more , maybe losing some weight and your own reporting took you to the YMCA. Tell us about what you learned digging into fitness related resolutions.
S5: Yeah , yeah. It turns out that the majority of resolutions are are health related as. As you mentioned , fitness is really interesting because there is such an impulse to lose weight. Uh , that's a very popular and or get fit , so to speak. Again , get fit isn't very specific again. So it's you're not setting yourself up for success if that's your goal. But , uh , there is something called the January gym phenomenon. And the champion gym phenomenon is something that happens where , you know , and maybe you've experienced it or seen it yourself , where , uh , gyms , yoga studios , all these places are flooded in January because so many people have these same goals , but by , you know , the middle of the month or certainly by March , it's just a slow trickle. And so there's an actual phenomenon. And that's why you see so many , uh , specials and discounts on the on the month of January , because people are anticipating that the flood. Um , but that happens because so many people come with these lofty goals , but but aren't really able to incorporate it into your life. So if you want to become more fit , or if you're weight loss or whatever your goal is , you have to figure out a way to make time for it. And that means taking away something. So the goals that are the most successful , the resolutions are the most successful , are ones that you can figure out a way to implement into your life effectively. And for a lot of people , going to the gym every day isn't a practical long term goal. So I spoke with clinical health psychologist Jess Mick Hurley , who's an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology at Sdsu , and she spoke a little bit about the approach to fitness as a New Year's resolution.
S6: Let's say your goal is to be fit or even run a marathon , but right now , you don't even run a mile regularly. You need to start small. So start with building up your walking right. Or if you want to run , you run one mile or run ten minutes , something very small , and do that a few times a week and make that be your goal For several weeks. Start there. And once you accomplish those little goals. The cool thing about accomplishing small goals is that it gives us a boost. That's how we build our own motivation. It gives us a boost of self-confidence and a motivation to keep going.
S1: You mentioned , you know , the gyms being more crowded in January. I think a lot of us have seen that. And then there's also talking about quitting quitters day around resolutions. And that's that happens early in the month. Do most people quit their resolutions by Quitters day , which is , I think what , January 9th this year ? Yeah.
S5: So it's it's kind of wild again with the motivation and willpower. The second Friday of the year is known as Quitters Day. That is the day where so many people just quit their resolutions. They give up , they throw their hands in the air again because they weren't making specific goals , or they weren't able to incorporate it in their lifestyle. And it's so It's wild that there's so many names for all these phenomenons when it comes to resolutions , but Quitters day is the is the ninth. As you said , it's the second Friday of the year. And interestingly enough , Blue Monday is said to be the saddest day of the year. And that's the 3rd January third Monday of January. And it's said to be the saddest day of the year because the weather is colder , credit cards are due , you might be on a diet and you're miserable. Um , you know , you everyone's tired of partying from the holidays , fatigue. Everything's kind of coinciding at once. So the interesting thing is , while New Year's resolutions and and goal setting at the beginning of the year is a great time because the fresh start effect and because the momentum of so many people , you know , you almost have a community of people that are striving to be better in their lives for one way or another. January is actually not a great time to , uh , to start goal setting. It's actually pretty bad because things like Blue Monday , it's not the best time of year to do it , ironically enough.
S1: Is it better to choose one resolution to focus on for the year or or multiple ? Okay. Did you.
S5: They all said the same thing. And it is going to go against what most people do for resolutions , which I found very interesting. Every single one of them said have a small goal. So some people might say , like , I want to save $10,000 or I want to , you know , do do this major life change. Every single one of them said resolutions are not for major life changes. They are for small , specific , achievable goals because the more small , specific , achievable goals that you can come up with. You build momentum and it inspires you to continue to to strive and do better. So if you start the year with a grandiose , lofty goal that's impractical and you fail. Let's say by the ninth of the month , you're kind of setting yourself off for for a year of feeling disappointed in yourself. Where is if you have a goal that is small ? Um , you know , for instance , my resolution this year I'm going to work on my posture and I'm going to do that. I have a book about it , I'm going to read , I'm going to do some small exercises , etc. but that seems like something that if I really put my mind to , I can kind of gradually work on daily. It's not going to take anything away from my life , right ? Time wise. Um , that's a small goal , you know ? Yeah.
S1: I mean , you just you said it there. You owned it. Your resolution is to get better posture.
S5: Accountability groups can be really helpful when it comes to quitting or making major lifestyle changes , because you have and built in community. So I would say , you know , with resolutions , if if you are someone you know , it depends on your personality too. But if you're someone that really feeds off other people's energy sharing your goals , you're almost you're almost telling , you know , the general public or your friend group , your family , your goal. It actually motivates you more because then you're able to have people ask you how your success is coming along , and it almost provides a built in accountability system. Hmm.
S1: So you also looked into resolutions around money and finances. That was another common one. What were the takeaways there ? Yeah.
S5:
S7: So the takeaways.
S5: There was that so many people just don't seem to know much about their money. And I actually prior to to this role , I worked in finance for seven years. And I would say that that that was accurate in my experience as well. So , so many people are struggling with , with just basic financial literacy , meaning they just don't even know how much money they owe. They have no idea what their interest rates. And they kind of hide their head in the sand like an ostrich. And so , um , it becomes even more daunting. And when it's a daunting goal , it becomes difficult. But in terms of New Year's resolutions , so many people use the fresh start effect , use the beginning of the year to to try to make financial goals and like all resolutions and like all settings. Every expert I spoke to said , you know , while you might think , well , why even bother ? Is it worse for my mental health to fail at something than to not try at all ? It's , you know , any incremental improvement you can make towards your finance , towards your health is going to be a net positive. Um , so , you know , anything that you can do financially to get your financial house in order is really going to be advantageous.
S1: So again message here. Start small. Right.
S5: Start small. Yes.
S1:
S5: People don't know how to follow through with , with , with goals. And yet I was asking each one of them , are you setting a New Year's resolution ? And each one of them were or are ? And so I thought , wait a minute. In the same interview , you're saying relapses are almost inevitable. You know , like failure is a common theme here and yet they're doing them. So I thought about that and I thought , well , you know , you might as well try. You might as well try. As far as my approach to them , I am , I think , setting fewer goals this year , but that I think , comes with age and wisdom and and less so with the research in just , you know , trying not to have too many things to focus on in a year and really focusing on fewer things will just get me further.
S1: Well , good. You know , best of luck with your posture goals in your posture resolutions there. Riley Arthur is a web producer with KPBS. You can find her reporting on New Year's resolutions throughout the month. Riley , thanks so much for joining us and happy New Year.
S5: Happy New Year , and I hope that you're successful in whatever goals you have for the year or two.
S1: That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for joining us. You can listen to the show anytime as a podcast. And if you want to support the show , you can always leave us a review there as well. KPBS roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays and again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Happy new year. Have a great weekend.
