Why Most January Goals Fail by February (And How to Beat the Odds)
Written by Stacy McAlpine, CEO of Journey Fuel
If you're feeling that something needs to shift and want 2026 to finally be the year when you make it happen, here's what you need to know.
After more than twenty years of leading transformations for some of the largest organizations in the world, and years helping individuals create personal breakthroughs—whether I'm working with 250,000 employees or one person:
There are three conditions that determine whether change feels uphill and exhausting or natural and sustainable: timing, strategy, and the right resources. When those elements work together, the path forward becomes clear and achievable—and success stops feeling like an uphill battle.
The Three Keys to Successful Change
1. Proper Timing
Before any change can happen, it is critical that you have the capacity to think clearly, plan well, and focus long enough to make meaningful decisions. Which is why timing is so important.
Why January 1st Start Dates Can Backfire
January 1st has long been renowned as the day to start new things—lose the weight, make the change, stop the habit, start the habit, whatever the thing is you've been carrying.
While having a traditional day to reset is a powerful motivator, the problem is, most people aren't actually ready to start anything new on January 1st.
Study after study shows that:
Only 9% of people sustain their resolutions long-term
23% quit in the first week
43% quit by the end of January
90% give up by mid-February
These statistics make perfect sense when you look at the factors working against you at that time of year.
The Three Forces Working Against You
Both experience and science have shown that this time of year:
Decision Fatigue Is at Its Peak. After 365 days of constant decisions, your brain defaults to familiar patterns. You're running on mental fumes precisely when you're trying to establish new behaviors.
You're in Hibernation Season. For many people, winter functions as the body's conservation mode. Shorter days, reduced light exposure, and natural circadian rhythms all signal: slow down. You're swimming upstream against millions of years of evolutionary programming.
Capacity for Change Is at Its Lowest. Real change requires cognitive, emotional, and operational bandwidth. In organizational change management, we never advise launching major initiatives when systems are maxed out. Yet that's exactly what you're doing to yourself on January 1st—demanding transformation when you're depleted.
It's not that change is impossible under these conditions—but it is certainly a much harder and risky path.
The Best Time to Start Change for the New Year
The third week of January hits a unique point when your brain, biology, and general bandwidth finally align, and high achievers become primed for the pattern recognition and breakthrough thinking that creates lasting change.
By late January:
You've rested from holiday depletion
Life starts to get back into a groove with capacity to think more clearly, plan well, and focus long enough to make meaningful decisions
Fresh-start psychology is still active
As a result, you are able to make change more strategically with less pressure, building momentum as your energy naturally strengthens. And you can actually enjoy—and even look forward to—the process.
2. Effective Strategy
Strategy isn't extra work. Strategy reduces the work.
It removes friction, clarifies your choices, and makes forward movement feel natural instead of forced.
Most people skip this step. They jump straight to action—setting goals, making plans, and trying to power through with willpower alone. But without a clear strategy, the odds of making it to the finish line drop dramatically. And even if you do get there, the path is much bumpier than it needs to be.
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
— Abraham Lincoln
In this context, "sharpening the axe" means getting crystal clear on:
What you are aiming for by when
The path you will follow to get it
Resources you need to get there
Diving in to change without taking the time to ensure you are set up for success is like swinging a dull axe—working harder, pushing more, trying to power through.
To build an effective strategy, you need the right resources.
3. The Right Resources
Even the strongest timing and best strategy fall apart without the structure, support, and tools that allow them to hold. In organizational transformation, this is the element that determines whether a plan succeeds or collapses under real-world pressure.
Leading organizations paid millions to bring in my teams to use proven change management methods to set them up for success (versus winging it and hoping everything works out).
And it's not just organizations. In the coaching world, consulting world, athletics, and leadership development, the fact of the matter is:
You can't read the label from inside the jar.
It takes an outside viewer to see what you can't see yourself—someone trained in helping you gain awareness you didn't have before. Who can spot patterns they're too close to notice.
It's like reading your own term paper 93 times, then after you turn it in, there's a typo on the first page.
The right resources help you:
See the patterns that you can't from the inside
Clarify what truly matters most
Navigate resistance without losing momentum
Stay aligned with your strategy instead of drifting back into old habits
Refine your plan as your clarity grows
As an example, a successful business owner and client of mine was constantly overwhelmed by competing priorities. She assumed she needed better time management. What she actually needed was clarity on what mattered most. Once we uncovered the root issue and aligned her choices with her values, her schedule opened up and she created the space she’d been trying to carve out for years.
Another example is a client who came to me after she had “tried everything” to lose those last 10 pounds and still couldn’t make progress. Within three days, we identified the real issue underneath—something completely different from what she expected. Once we uncovered the real root cause—a pattern she had been too close to notice—she got in motion naturally.
As is consistently the case for my clients, whether an organization or an individual, it isn't the goal itself that creates the challenge. It's getting to the root of the challenge that makes the difference, which is why the insights of an experienced outsider become so powerful.
And, last but not least, it takes accountability.
The best plan means nothing if you don't follow through. And flying solo without someone to keep you on track is significantly more challenging.
How to Make This Happen for You
To be able to enjoy this season with presence, your subconscious just needs relief knowing that your success is in motion and it’s ok to just be in the moment.
So that:
Your brain gets to rest ("It's handled. I have a plan coming.")
You get to be present and enjoy what’s left of 2025
You head into the new year knowing this time is different
To do that, follow these simple steps now and then the rest takes care of itself.
How to Set Up These Conditions for Success Before the Year Ends
Instead of forcing action with willpower, set yourself up for sustainable momentum that will get you from where you are to where you want to be, easier, faster, and with more enjoyment along the way.
Lock in exactly when you will build out your strategy. Do not try to create the strategy now, simply decide when you will do it and protect that time.
Whether it is a coach, a program, or a structured process, line up the guidance that ensures you have the perspective, guidance and resources you need to build a strategy that will work for you.
Enjoy this season fully, knowing your success path is set.
You are not delaying. You are preparing.
You get the psychological momentum of a new year, so you feel like you are moving forward right away, without forcing big decisions during the foggiest part of winter.
- You can actually enjoy the rest of the year, the celebrations, the connections, the meaning, without that quiet pressure of "I should be doing something."
- You show up rested and naturally primed for insight when it is time.
- You build momentum as your energy naturally strengthens.
If You Want Help Creating These Conditions for Yourself
For all the reasons above, I'm leading a small group through a 2.5-day virtual strategic intensive designed for people who are smart, successful professionals who have one area in their lives that they care about that they just can't get traction in.
Scheduled for January 23-25, 2026 when you can harness both fresh-start psychology AND seasonal biology to create breakthroughs that actually stick.
Applying Fortune 500 change management methodology, by the end of those 2.5 days, participants will have mapped out the timing, strategy, and resources they need to get from where they are to where you want to be.
Lit up and ready to roll into the year with confidence, excitement, and joy.
You can click the link below if you want to learn more about it to see if it is a good fit for you.
Learn More About the IntensiveIn the words of Jim Rohn:
"You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight."
— Jim Rohn
If you want a new result, take one step today that will set up your conditions for success. I wish you your best year yet in 2026!
About Stacy McAlpine
Stacy, the Founder and CEO of Journey Fuel, brings more than 20 years in strategic consulting and organizational change management at top-tier firms (PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young), where she led multi-million-dollar transformation initiatives for some of the largest organizations in the world—including Google and the United States government.
She knows exactly what successfully creates change—and what gets in the way of it—and can see patterns and root causes you can't see on your own.
She recognized that the tools and techniques used to help large organizations make change were the missing ingredient in personal development—that the advice is valuable but the implementation support was lacking.
That's when she built a system for individuals that blends strategic planning, change management, and modernized personal development to finally deliver the clarity, direction, and activation support needed to make lasting change—bringing a caliber of expertise at a personalized level, with the clarity, structure, heart, and precision most coaches simply cannot provide.
Stacy has helped thousands of high-achievers finally get from where they are to where they want to be—and enjoy the ride along the way!
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