You don't need to start the year strong — Start it slow...🫶

January Doesn’t Need to Be Loud

January has a funny way of arriving with a lot of noise. Everywhere you look, there’s pressure to reset, reinvent, and start the year at full speed. Wake earlier. Do more. Be better. But if you’re a mum with a baby, that message can feel wildly out of touch with your reality. When your days are shaped by feeds, naps, and unpredictable nights, “starting strong” can feel like an impossible expectation.

What if, instead of starting the year strong, you started it slow with slow goals?

For many mums, January doesn’t feel fresh or energising at all. It feels tired. Emotional. A little overwhelming. The holidays are over, routines are still unsettled, and your body and mind may still be recovering from pregnancy, birth, and the early months of motherhood. In this context, pushing yourself to perform at your pre-baby pace isn’t motivating — it’s exhausting.

What We Mean by Slow Goals

Slow goals aren’t about doing nothing or lowering your standards. They’re about choosing a pace that actually matches the season you’re in. They allow room for interrupted sleep, changing plans, and the emotional weight that comes with caring for a small human.

Rather than asking how much you can achieve, slow goals ask what matters most right now. They prioritise sustainability over speed and intention over volume. They fit around your baby instead of asking you to pretend your life hasn’t changed.

A slow goal might be as simple as drinking your tea while it’s still warm at least once a day, instead of reheating it three times and giving up. It might look like getting outside for a short walk, even if it’s just around the block with the pram. It could be going to bed when your body asks for it, rather than staying up to “catch up” on everything you didn’t manage during the day.

Some slow goals are emotional rather than practical. Taking one photo a week of you and your baby together, even if you don’t feel camera-ready. Noticing one thing you did well each day, instead of focusing on what didn’t get done. Allowing yourself to rest without justifying it or earning it first.

These goals might seem small, but they’re deeply intentional. They’re about caring for yourself in ways that support the long haul of motherhood.

Productivity Looks Different in Motherhood

Motherhood has a way of completely redefining productivity. Before babies, productivity may have been measured by how much you got done in a day or how efficiently you moved through your to-do list. After babies, much of your work becomes invisible.

Feeding, settling, soothing, cleaning, planning, worrying, loving — none of these tasks come with neat checkmarks, yet they take time, energy, and care. Some days, productivity is managing to leave the house. Other days, it’s unloading the dishwasher or getting through a long afternoon when everything feels heavy. And some days, productivity is simply keeping everyone safe and fed.

None of this is small. None of it is insignificant. It all counts.

Letting Go of Traditional New Year’s Resolutions

If New Year’s resolutions feel heavy this year, that’s understandable. For many mums, they can create more pressure than motivation. A gentler alternative is choosing a single word to guide your year — something that reflects how you want to feel rather than what you want to prove.

That word might remind you to soften your expectations, slow your pace, or say no more often. It becomes a quiet touchpoint you can return to on hard days, rather than another standard to live up to.

You’re Not Behind — You’re Exactly Where You’re Meant to Be

Starting the year slowly doesn’t mean you’re unmotivated or lacking ambition. It means you’re listening. It means you understand that growth doesn’t always happen loudly or visibly. Sometimes it happens quietly, in the background, while you’re doing the most important work of all.

If this January feels softer, slower, or less impressive than you expected, let that be okay. This season doesn’t need more pressure. It needs patience, compassion, and a pace that allows you to keep going.

You are not behind. You are not failing at the new year. You are becoming — slowly, steadily, and exactly as you should.