.png)
The Novelty Effect: Why You Can't Stick to Anything (And Why That's Normal)
- Bre Brown
- 8 hours ago
- 7 min read
Hello my beautiful souls!
Welcome back to the Modern Manifestation blog. Feel free to listen in to today's topic in the podcast.
Today we're diving into a concept that is great to keep in mind as we plan our years—the novelty effect. Understanding this concept might just change how you approach your goals, your relationships, and honestly, your entire life. Since many of you are in goal setting and future planning mode, I felt like this was a great topic to start off 2026 with.
So grab your favorite beverage, get comfortable, and let's talk about why new things feel so incredible—and what to do when that newness wears off.
What is the Novelty Effect?
Here's something you probably already know from experience: for most of us, new things feel amazing. This is the Novelty Effect—a temporary boost in motivation, performance, and interest when we experience a new, unusual, or unexpected.
That first day at a new job, the first six months of a relationship, the first time you take a painting class—there's this rush of excitement, motivation, and possibility…. Things to come! Your brain lights up like a freakin’ Christmas tree. Think about the last time you did something new JUST for you. You probably couldn't stop thinking about it. You'd wake up excited and everything was really new and fun.
Why the Honeymoon Phase Always Ends
But then what happens? A few weeks or months later, that new job starts to feel like a routine. The new relationship settles and you feel like the passion diminishes just a little. The exciting new workout plan becomes just another thing you have to do. The magic starts to fade. You are no longer in the honeymoon phase of that thing. If you're still showing up, it's probably different now. Or maybe you've moved on entirely, seeking the next thing.
This is the novelty effect in action.
The Science Behind the Novelty Effect: Dopamine and Hedonic Adaptation
Here’s what’s happening neurologically: when we encounter something new, our brains release dopamine—that feel-good neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. It’s the hormone we experience when food tastes really good and when we scroll social media. New experiences activate our brain's reward circuitry because survival dictated that our ancestors had to be curious about new territory, new food and water sources, new tools. The ones who got a little high off exploration were the ones who lived and passed down their genes, so our brains learned to associate reward with curiosity and exploration.
But your brain is also incredibly practical and efficient at adapting. Once something becomes familiar, it stops wasting energy on creating that dopamine response. It's why that new car smell eventually just becomes your car, why the promotion you worked so hard for eventually just becomes your job, why even the most exciting manifestation can lose its sparkle once it becomes your reality. This process is called hedonic adaptation; we just adapt and get used to stuff. It works like homeostasis for our happiness levels. It's also the reason lottery winners return to their baseline level of happiness within a year or two of winning.
This isn’t a flaw of evolution, it’s a feature of our survival. Understanding the novelty effect is liberating—because when you know how your brain works, you can work with it instead of against it.
4 Ways the Novelty Effect Impacts Your Life
Let's talk about a few reasons why the novelty effect matters in your life.
1. The Novelty Effect Slows Down the Perception of Time
The GORGEOUS thing about the novelty effect is that we can use it to slow down our experience of life. Ever feel like a year FLEW by without you? Or that the last 5 years left you behind? We have a subjective perception of time, but the novelty effect can help us slow down and enjoy it. The more experiences we have that are new and exciting, the more we’re present. Matt Johnson, PhD, a Professor at Hult International Business School, said this:
“As we age, fewer experiences are truly novel, and the brain tends to compress repetitive or familiar events, making them seem shorter in retrospect.”
So if you want to be present for life, if you want time to feel like it’s slowed down, give yourself new experiences.
2. Why You Struggle with Consistency
This next one is my biggest life lesson of late—the novelty effect explains why so many of us struggle with consistency. Not because you're lazy or undisciplined, but because you keep waiting for the excitement to return. You start strong with that meditation practice, that business idea, that creative project… and then you lose steam. It’s also not because something isn’t right for you; It's because your brain stopped giving you that dopamine hit for that particular activity. The feeling was meant to be temporary, but you decide this is a sign that something isn’t meant for you. You might go searching for the next thing, person, or idea that'll give you that initial rush. Always chasing that honeymoon phase. The mistake is thinking motivation should feel the same on day one and day one hundred. It won't. It doesn’t. And that's okay.
When we understand this, we can shift what drives our actions. You build systems and habits that can carry you through the plateau phase—that critical period after novelty fades but before you see real results—even when you’re “not feeling it”.
You can build habits that don't depend on how your emotions on any given day. You work on your new website for 45 minutes at 10 AM every morning. You spend 5 minutes meditating before your daily shower. You work on the new language you’re learning for 10 minutes every day during lunch. You create a set of rules and structures for yourself, that work for YOU. Yours will be different from mine and your friends. You show up because it's Tuesday and you show up to that thing on Tuesdays, not because you're pumped about it.
3. The Novelty Effect in Relationships: When the Spark Fades
The novelty effect has massive implications for your relationships (we could use more discussion about this in today’s world). The beginning of a romantic relationship is chemically altered by dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin…. Your brain is flooded with novelty—everything about this person is new and exciting.
Then you get to know the new person. They become familiar. Your nervous system calms down. A lot of people often mistake the absence of novelty for the absence of love. They think something's wrong. The spark seems to be gone. They might start looking around for that intensity or that passion…. somewhere else. Ever have a friend that needs a new job or partner every few months?
But… deep, lasting love isn't about maintaining constant novelty. Real intimacy starts after the dopamine hits fade. When your nervous system recognizes this new person as safe and stable.
In my early 20s, I chased toxic men. I thought they offered passion and excitement… when really it was toxicity and novelty wrapped up into a drug cocktail. The highs were high, but the lows were REALLY low… Your nervous system can teach you how to recognize a safe and healthy relationship. When you feel good, calm, and content in a relationship, this is good. A relationship shouldn’t feel like a roller-coaster. Remember that the novelty effect doesn’t mean your relationship lost its spark.
Lasting relationships require that you choose to continue discovering someone even when they become familiar. It's about intentionally creating new experiences together.
Research shows that couples who regularly engage in novel activities together—trying new restaurants, traveling to new places, learning new skills—report higher relationship satisfaction. Knowing what you know now, you can HACK the novelty effect to reinvigorate your connection.
When you embrace fostering connection, trust, and physical affection in a relationship, you get something better than dopamine. You begin to experience more oxytocin. And unlike its fleeting counterpart, this beautiful chemical provides long-term emotional security, deep social bonding, and calms the nervous system. THIS is the stuff that changes you for the better from the inside out.
4. Avoiding the Trap of Perpetual Seeking
Understanding the novelty effect helps you avoid the trap of perpetual seeking. There are people who are addicted to the high of new beginnings. New course, new coach, new modality, new manifestation technique. They mistake the high of something for actual progress. I used to confuse these initial chemical cocktails happening in my brain for alignment. Thinking that when the dopamine faded, it was spirit telling me to look elsewhere. Nay, nay, little Bre… I was constantly starting something, never sustaining…. Never building.
I was experiencing this novelty effect.
Real transformation required me to stay with something long enough to actually understand it. To integrate it. To let it change me. To get past the novelty phase and into the mastery phase where the depth is.
How to Work With the Novelty Effect (4 Practical Strategies)
Now, what do you actually do with this information?
Expect the plateau. Know that the initial excitement will fade, and that doesn't mean anything has gone wrong. It means you're entering the next phase.
Inject novelty intentionally. You don't have to abandon what's working. Just introduce variations. Change your workout routine. Take a different route. Work from a different location. Approach your meditation practice from a new angle. Small changes can reactivate your brain's reward system.
Shift your focus from novelty to depth. Instead of asking "What's new?" start asking "What's deeper?" What layers of meaning can you discover in the familiar? What becomes available through repetition that novelty can't touch?
Practice gratitude for the familiar. Gratitude rewires your neural pathways to find joy in what's present, not just what's novel. Instead of creating dopamine, a practice of gratitude creates oxytocin… a longer-lasting and more sustainable feel-good hormone.
Final Thoughts: Using the Novelty Effect to Build a Better Life
The novelty effect isn't your enemy. It's not something to overcome or resist. It's simply how your incredibly sophisticated brain operates. And when you understand it, you can design a life that honors both your need for newness and your capacity for depth. And growth.
You can chase fewer shiny objects and commit more fully to what matters. You can sustain momentum past the initial excitement. You can build something real. Become someone you’re proud of.
Thank you for hanging out with me today. I will catch you in the next post!
Podcast
Check out this discussion in podcast form:
For more like this, check out our podcast on iTunes or Spotify! Now live on all major podcasting platforms.
