How to Break the New Year Burnout Cycle

We've all seen it before. January rolls around and you make a bold declaration of intent, but it never really works. Maybe you start strong, but then fizzle out after a few days, weeks, or months. Maybe you never actually get started at all. Soon enough, the year is over and you feel nothing has changed. Why do we get stuck in this cycle, and how do we get out?

The answers to these questions can be complicated and may require some honest reflection. To give you a starting point, let's take a look at two of the most commonly cited “obstacles”.

“I just don’t have time.”

What we perceive as a ‘lack of time’ is frequently an issue of priority. It isn’t that we truly don’t have the time, it’s that we’re unwilling to hand that time over, or expect to be able to squeeze more activities into the same number of hours. You’ll need to accept that you’re going to need to make a little sacrifice somewhere. Determine where your goal fits on your list of priorities, identify where you might be willing to make room, and then sincerely commit.

Be honest with how much time you can realistically give. Saying you’re going to commit to an hour of movement five days a week for the next 365 days when this is clearly going to have an immediately detrimental impact on some other area of your life isn’t a recipe for success. Work with what you have, even if it’s less than you’d like. Set firm boundaries around the time you do end up committing. Make it non-negotiable. Identify what the most probable disruptions will be and create contingency plans. Allow yourself room to adjust as needed, but try to not drop the routine entirely.

“I do well for a while, but then burn out.”

Be very, very clear with yourself about why you want to make the intended change and hold onto that for dear life. It’s very important that you know exactly why you’re doing this. You’ll need that clarity when your resolve rattles.

Figure out what gets you jazzed and reach for it when motivation is low. If you’re easily influenced by music, consider creating a playlist. This is also where discipline comes in; you may need to give yourself some tough love. There’s a difference between ‘I’m exhausted and need rest’, and ‘I really don’t feel like doing this today’. Be honest with yourself about which one you’re experiencing. If you fall off your routine, or are unable to meet your own standards, don’t beat yourself up and throw the entire thing out. Just accept that it happened and pick up again when you can.

If it’s an issue of time or intensity, try shifting these to something more manageable. If you feel shadowed by your objective, break the goal down into smaller steps. If you're having a hard time seeing the results of your work, find a way to track your progress. If it’s an issue of accountability, see if you can find someone to join you on your quest so that you can support each other and check in, even if you live hundreds of miles apart and have unrelated goals. If it’s an issue of enjoyment, look for ways to make what you’re doing more fun or interesting. Change the environment, add elements of creativity, make use of apps or programs that let you gamify your process, or consider alternative approaches such as joining a class that lets you forget you're “working”.