Posted by I know that January’s supposed to be all about fresh starts and new beginnings, but for a lot of people, it can feel more like wading through treacle while everyone else posts their post-run selfies.
Even if you start with the best intentions, motivation can start to wobble long before the month is over. Gym visits tail off, exciting new habits start to feel like chores: barely two weeks in and that initial burst of enthusiasm is already fizzling out.
Much like August, which is a different kind of productivity black hole, January has its own unique set of challenges when it comes to motivation. The difference is that in August, it’s almost expected that things slow down; in January, the opposite is expected.
So why does motivation feel so hard to come by? If you’re struggling to keep your momentum going, you’re definitely not alone. But before you write off January (and potentially the rest of the year), it’s worth understanding why this happens and what you can actually do about it.
It’s not a willpower problem
The first thing to remember is that this isn’t a willpower issue, and it’s definitely not a personal failing. There are a few external factors at play that are worth keeping in mind, particularly if you’ve started beating yourself up for feeling less motivated than you expected.
Firstly, you’re most likely still coming down from December. Even if you enjoy it, it’s an intense month. You’ve probably just spent weeks in a completely different rhythm: late nights, rich food, a lot of socialising, and maybe even a proper break from work. January, by comparison, feels quiet and flat. That drop in stimulation can leave you feeling low on energy and enthusiasm, even if nothing is technically wrong. Combine that with the expectation of snapping straight back into full productivity mode, and it’s a shock to the system.
Cultural baggage
January also carries a lot of cultural baggage. Everywhere you look, you’re being told to optimise yourself: new habits, new body, new mindset, new career trajectory, with the implication that if you’re not charging out of the gates at full speed, you’re already behind. That kind of expectation is exhausting, and tends not to serve motivation well.
You can add the very real issue of debt to that exhaustion, both literally and figuratively! Short, dark days and cold, grey weather all take their toll when your body is still in winter mode (even if your goals are pretending it’s spring).
You’re probably still suffering with a financial hangover from December too. If you spent more than planned over the holidays, you’re probably now staring at credit card bills whilst trying to fund your ambitious new gym membership and healthy eating plan. That underlying financial stress is absolutely exhausting, even if you’re not consciously thinking about it.
Intention, not infrastructure
I’ve talked about this before, but you should remember that a lot of resolutions fail because they’re built on intention rather than infrastructure. Wanting something to change isn’t the same as having a plan to support that change, and when the novelty wears off, there’s nothing solid to fall back on, so progress stalls. Take a look at my goal-setting blog for more on this.
All this is to say, it doesn’t mean that you’re lazy, or that your goals were a bad idea. It just means that with a lot going on, just because it’s January, it doesn’t mean that motivation is going to rock up out of nowhere.
Why giving up now makes things harder later
That doesn’t mean you should just give up now though! If your motivation has dropped off, the temptation might be to write the whole thing off and tell yourself you’ll start again next month/when things feel easier/when the weather improves.
The problem with doing that though, is that every time you abandon a goal, you’re teaching yourself that they don’t really matter. It becomes easier to justify not following through on things throughout the year if you already gave up in January, right?
So by giving up now, you’re essentially setting the tone for the year, and I’m willing to bet that ends up with you just existing. It’s like treading water, you’re in constant motion, but you’re not actually getting anywhere.
What you can do about it
It’s all very well me saying all of the above, but what are the practical steps you can take to keep yourself moving in the right direction?
- Shrink the goal, not the ambition
One of the biggest mistakes people make in January is assuming that if they can’t do something properly, there’s no point doing it at all. But what if, instead of lowering your expectations of yourself, lowering the entry point to your goals instead? Keep the ambition, but shrink the daily ask.
So, if the goal was to exercise every day, commit to twice a week. If you planned to overhaul your entire business strategy, review one small piece of it: small steps aren’t insignificant, they’re sustainable.
- Build momentum before motivation
You might think motivation comes first, and action follows, but in reality, it often works the other way around. Once you’re actually in motion, it’s much easier to keep going; motivation can be derailed by a bad night’s sleep or a change in the weather, but action can be planned.
You need clarity to help you out here. Define what ‘done’ looks like in the simplest possible terms and remove decision-making wherever you can. Don’t say ‘I’ll exercise today’, say ‘I’ll do 10 minutes on the treadmill at 7am.’ If you know exactly what you’re meant to be doing, it’s much easier to start.
There’s also a lot to be said for stopping while you still have some energy left. Ending a session early, rather than running yourself into the ground, makes it far more likely you’ll come back tomorrow. Consistency beats intensity every time.
- Design January for real life, not the fantasy
January motivation often fails because it’s designed around the Instagram version of you: well-rested, endlessly disciplined, and unaffected by weather, mood or workload. Real you is going to struggle if you’re sleeping badly and have found a new TV show you want to binge.
January isn’t the time for reinvention, it’s the time for reinforcement.
Pay attention to your energy levels and match your tasks to those rhythms, rather than when you think you ‘should’ be doing something. When do you naturally feel most alert? When are you running on fumes? Big, demanding tasks need your best energy. Low-focus moments can still be useful, just for different kinds of work: sorting your inbox or meal-prepping, that type of thing.
- Build yourself some accountability
It’s much harder to give up on something when other people know about it. You don’t need to post about your goals all over social media (though if that works for you, go right ahead), but you do need some form of accountability.
Find someone who’s also working on goals and check in with each other weekly, or join a group or network related to what you’re trying to achieve. Even something as simple as tracking your habits on a visible calendar can create accountability: you won’t want to break that chain of ticks once you’ve got a streak going.
The key is to make your goals and progress visible in some way, rather than keeping them as something private that you can quietly drop when no one’s looking.
- Think about your December self
When motivation is low, it can help to zoom out. Imagine two versions of yourself in December: one version pushed through January, kept your momentum going, and built habits that stuck. You might not have achieved everything perfectly, but you made real progress on the things that mattered to you. The other version gave up in mid-January and spent the rest of the year feeling a bit rubbish about yourself and wishing you’d stuck with it.
Which version do you want to be?
January doesn’t need fireworks or a dramatic reset, it just needs momentum. Whilst it might feel heavy, slow and resistant, if you work with it rather than against it, it can give you something far more valuable than a short-lived burst of motivation: a steady, sustainable start.
January might feel like a slog, but if you’re playing the long game, it’s only 31 days. You can do it!