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January is done! And if you’re reading this with a small sense of relief, you’re definitely not alone.
Now that we’re through it, January didn’t quite feel how I imagined it, and it rarely does. We start the year with good intentions, fresh notebooks, and a quiet confidence that this is our year!
Then reality arrives.
The switch back on is slower than expected. The inbox is fuller than we’d like, and the energy we promised ourselves we’d bring into the new year shows up inconsistently, at best. Add to that the inevitable backlog of things we parked in December with a hopeful “I’ll deal with that in January”, don’t judge me when we both know you said the exact same thing. It’s no wonder the month can feel heavy.
I think the start of a new year asks a lot of us. We’re expected to reflect, reset, re-energise, and perform, all at the same time.
So rather than writing this as another piece on how to survive January, I wanted to try something a little different and ask the question…
What has January taught me that I can take into the rest of 2026?
January (I’m even tired of typing it out now) brings with it the concept of Blue Monday, often labelled the most depressing day of the year; an idea that was first popularised in 2005, based on a “formula” that attempted to link low mood with factors such as weather, post Christmas debt, motivation levels and unmet New Year’s resolutions.
The “science” behind the formula itself has been widely challenged by psychologists and mental health organisations. But the fact that the idea stuck tells us something important.
Research in behavioural science consistently shows that motivation drops when there is a gap between expectation and reality, often referred to as the intention action gap. Think about the annual resolutions we talk about that often fly out of the window. “I’ll exercise more” “I’m quitting smoking” “It’s time to eat healthier” “I’m focussing on getting a better nights sleep”.
Then we encounter one little mishap, a cheeky snack, one missed session at the gym, and our actions don’t align with what we’d planned for ourselves. So the intention gap occurs and our motivation slumps! We beat ourselves up for failing to reach our intention with a perfect scorecard. Layer on top of that; all of the expected “newness” of January and the gap(s) are magnified! We start the year (or end the last one) with high expectations of ourselves, and when progress feels slow or energy is low, self criticism quickly fills the space.
The Mental Health Foundation has also highlighted how winter months can affect mood due to reduced daylight, disrupted routines, and social isolation. Add in the financial pressures many of us feel after Christmas and a cultural narrative that January should be about reinvention, and you have the perfect landscape for self critical thinking and generally a shitty time.
So Blue Monday may be more myth than medical fact, but the feelings people associate with it are very real. January has a way of exposing fatigue, misalignment, and unrealistic expectations we carry into the year. All of this to say, January can really feel like the longest Monday with the worst hangover.
If any of this is ringing true for you, at any time, in any way, remember that you’re not alone in it. Reach out to Mind, check out our Mental Health Hub, talk to someone you trust and ask for help.
And finally keep in mind that whilst these feelings might be commonplace for some of us, or rare for others. Take them seriously always.
Year after year I notice the same pattern in capable, thoughtful people. They question themselves early on, not because they’re off track, but because they're tired of measuring themselves with the wrong ruler. And with all the hype around 'new year, new me,' that exhaustion has a habit of turning into self-doubt.
Looking back on this January, here are a few lessons I’m trying to carry into 2026 and beyond.
People don’t fail because of a lack of ambition; we struggle because we rely on intention within environments that make follow through difficult.
James Clear makes this point clearly in Atomic Habits. Lasting behaviour change does not come from setting better intentions, but from designing behaviours that fit into existing routines. One of the most effective tools he describes is habit stacking, linking a new behaviour to something you already do consistently.
This aligns closely with behavioural research on implementation intentions, which shows that people are far more likely to act when they pre-decide when and where a behaviour will happen.
Together, these ideas point to the same truth: behaviour sticks when it is attached to something that already exists.
But what does it actually look like in practice?
Instead of saying, “I’ll focus more on strategic thinking this year,” attach the behaviour to a stable habit.
“After my first meeting of the day, I’ll spend 20 minutes on strategic thinking before opening Slack or email.”
You remove decision making at the point of action. The behaviour becomes part of your rhythm, not another task to remember, you literally create an environment that allows and enables you to follow through.
Most of us manage time obsessively and energy accidentally.
But research in performance psychology consistently shows that decision quality, creativity, and emotional regulation decline sharply when cognitive energy is depleted, which just so happens to be when we push on and continue working anyway.
Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr's work with senior leaders demonstrated that performance is driven by cycles of energy expenditure and renewal, not endurance! The problem is that energy depletion is often invisible until performance drops.
So how do we overcome the invisible? Make it visible, make it known, and do something about it intentionally.
For one week, track your energy instead of tasks. At three points in the day, note your energy level and emotional state. You’ll be surprised how quickly patterns begin to emerge.
Then make one deliberate change.
Move your most cognitively demanding work into a high energy window, or redesign one recurring meeting that constantly drains you.
You stop treating fatigue as a personal failing and start treating energy as a performance variable you can manage.
Accountability is one of the most misunderstood tools in leadership development, and probably one of the most underutilised ones in our lives.
Because most of us hold ourselves accountable in ways that work against our natural tendencies.
Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies research illustrates how people respond very differently to expectations. Some of us are motivated internally - “I tell myself I’ll do this, and so I will”. Others externally - “I promised them I’d do this, so I will”. Some people resist expectations altogether!
When the accountability doesn’t match the individual, follow through collapses.
So get to know what drives your commitment to action. Identify your dominant tendency, and design accountability around what works for you.
Stop fighting your wiring and start working with it. Accountability should be supportive, not restrictive.
If January felt slow, heavy, or uncomfortable, that doesn’t mean it was wasted. It may have given you exactly the information you need to approach the rest of the year differently.
As we move into the rest of 2026, the real opportunity is to stop treating reflection, rest, and recalibration as once a year activities. Pause regularly to take stock of how you’re doing, or feeling, and what’s needed next. It’s not a January indulgence, it’s a year round essential to sustainable development.
And that matters more than any resolution I could have made on January 1st
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