Discipline Season: When the New Year Buzz Wears Off

January always starts loud. Everyone comes back fired up, goals are flying around, calendars fill up fast, and there’s this pressure to “start strong”, like you’ve only got a small window to get it right.

For a few weeks, it feels good. You’re organised, motivated, and convinced this year will be different because you’ve finally got clarity. The plan feels solid. The energy is there. Everything feels possible.

But by the end of the month, something usually changes.

This edition is about that moment. How you work when the energy drops, how you keep momentum without forcing it, and how discipline quietly replaces motivation as the thing that carries you forward.

Last year, we sat down with Jack on the podcast to unpack discipline, habits, and what separates consistent performers from those who rely on motivation. In this edition, we’ve woven in a few of his insights to add another layer of perspective to the themes we’re exploring.

If you enjoyed what Jack had to say, make sure to check him out on LinkedIn. He has done some brilliant work with recruiters over the years and has some great content to check out.

Motivation Is Not a Strategy

Motivation is helpful, but it’s unreliable.

It shows up when things are going well. When you’ve had a win. When momentum is on your side.

Recruitment doesn’t work like that all the time.

There are weeks where delivery takes over, BD feels slow, candidates disappear, and results lag behind effort. In those weeks, motivation isn’t enough. It was never meant to be.

When your plan is based on “doing the work when I feel good,” consistency falls apart the moment you hit resistance. Standards start to slip. Things get pushed back. You tell yourself you’ll pick it up next week.

One thing Jack spoke about really clearly is that motivation usually fades because it isn’t anchored to anything meaningful. When he finally changed his own habits, it wasn’t because he found some magic routine. It was because the reason for changing became bigger than the comfort of staying the same. When the purpose outweighs the pull of old behaviours, discipline stops feeling like force and starts feeling like alignment.

Discipline replaces that uncertainty. It keeps the work steady even when the week isn’t.

Goals Only Work If Your Habits Support Them

Most recruiters don’t miss their goals because they set their sights too high.

They miss them because the day-to-day behaviour underneath them isn’t strong enough.

Big goals don’t mean much if the inputs aren’t protected. BD disappears when things get busy. Planning happens reactively. The week is shaped by urgency rather than intention.

It’s not a mindset issue. It’s a structure issue.

Goals point the direction. Habits determine whether you actually get there.

Jack sees this all the time with high performers who have achieved a lot on paper. The goal gets them to a certain level, but once the excitement or significance wears off, progress stalls because there’s no system underneath it. The ambition is still there. The consistency just isn’t.

This point in the year isn’t about scrapping plans or starting again. It’s about tightening the habits that make progress easier to repeat.

Discipline Is Usually Just Good Preparation

Discipline often gets confused with willpower.

In reality, the most disciplined recruiters rely on preparation, not grit. They decide what matters before the week starts. They remove daily decisions about whether important work gets done.

They don’t negotiate with themselves every morning. BD isn’t something they’ll “try to fit in” around client calls, it’s already blocked before the week begins. Candidate follow ups aren’t floating in their head hoping to be remembered, they’re scheduled. The decision happened once, on Sunday evening or Monday morning, and the rest of the week is just execution.

It’s not about forcing yourself to make 20 more calls when you’re running on empty. It’s about having already decided that Tuesday morning is BD time before the week’s chaos arrives.

It’s not exciting, but it’s effective. And it’s why some people stay consistent all year while others swing between good weeks and bad ones.

Jack put it simply. When you know you’ve executed your plan for the day or the week, it becomes much easier to switch off without guilt. You’re not filling your evenings with “fake productivity” because you already know you’ve done what you said you would.

If January felt messy, that’s useful information. It points to the system, not the person.

The February Shift: From Fresh Start to Follow Through

February is where things get real.

The noise drops. The pressure to feel inspired fades. The people who make real progress settle into a rhythm.

So instead of asking how to get motivated again, a better question is: what does follow-through look like for me this year?

Not perfection. Not intensity. Just steady execution.

The kind where you don’t need a reset every Monday. The kind where habits carry you through average weeks as well as good ones.

One of the strongest insights Jack shared is that what gets you to one level won’t always get you to the next. Many recruiters reach a point where money or titles stop being enough, and without deeper purpose or better habits, they feel stuck. Discipline is what allows you to keep progressing once those early drivers lose their power.

That’s what discipline is really for. Not to make things harder, but to make progress easier to repeat.

1. Define what a “good week” actually means

Write down the 3–4 behaviours that, if they happen, make the week a success regardless of outcomes. Keep this realistic, not aspirational.

2. Pre-decide when those things happen

Put them into your calendar before the week starts. If it’s important, don’t rely on remembering or “finding time”.

3. Remove the daily negotiation

Decide once, then execute. The goal is to stop asking yourself each day whether you feel like doing the work.

4. Review the week, don’t restart it

At the end of the week, ask:

No judgment. Just small adjustments.

5. Add one personal commitment outside of work

Choose something that requires consistency. Fitness, learning, or a challenge. This reinforces discipline everywhere else.

6. Run this for one month

Don’t change the plan every week. Let the habits settle before you judge them.

February doesn't need a fresh start. It needs follow-through.

Pick one habit from the list above and protect it for the next four weeks. That's it. Not six new systems. Not a complete overhaul. Just one thing, done consistently, until it stops requiring effort.

The year isn't won in January. It's won in the quiet months when no one's clapping and the work still gets done.

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

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