See all 31 January days, for everyone
One habit, one friend, one tap a day. The calendar shows each person's check-ins for the month, so nobody quietly drops off. 14-day free trial.
What makes a good January challenge
Most January goals fail for the same reason: they're big, vague and private. “Get fit this year” has no finish line and nobody watching. A 31-day challenge fixes both. It has a start (January 1), an end (January 31), and a yes-or-no answer every evening.
Three rules make it stick. Make it small, so the worst day of the month can't break it. Make it binary, so you can't negotiate with yourself. Make it shared, so someone notices when you go quiet. That last one has research behind it: in a 1999 weight-loss study by Wing and Jeffery, 95% of people recruited with friends completed the program, against 76% of those who joined alone.
Pick one idea below. Just one. If you want a whole year of goals, start with our guide to goals for the new year and use January to build the first habit.
January challenge ideas: movement
The classic January challenge, and the one most likely to collapse by week two when it starts too big. Pick a floor you can hit on your worst day, not a goal for your best one.
- 1A 20-minute walk every day
The easiest movement habit to keep in winter. Lunchtime walks catch the daylight.
- 210 push-ups and 10 squats every morning
Two minutes before the shower. Add two reps each week if it starts to feel easy.
- 3A 31-day workout plan
Follow a structured plan with rest days built in. Our January workout challenge has beginner and intermediate plans.
- 48,000 steps a day
More realistic than 10,000 for a desk job in January. Score yourselves by days hit, not total steps.
- 510 minutes of stretching or yoga before bed
Low effort, good for sleep, and it survives a late night out better than a workout does.
January challenge ideas: food & drink
January is the month half your friends are already cutting something. That makes these the easiest challenges to recruit a partner for.
- 6Dry January: no alcohol for 31 days
Run by the charity Alcohol Change UK since 2013. Our Dry January guide has tips and a 31-day tracker.
- 7Cook dinner at home five nights a week
Decide which five on Sunday. Cheaper and calmer than deciding at 7pm.
- 8Two liters of water a day
A marked bottle does the counting for you. Check in when it's empty.
- 9No added sugar on weekdays
Weekends free. A rule with a release valve lasts longer than a total ban.
- 10Vegetables with every lunch and dinner
An addition, not a restriction. Easier to keep than cutting something out.
January challenge ideas: mind & rest
A new year reset doesn't have to mean a new body. These are the challenges that change how January feels, which is dark and long in most of the northern hemisphere.
- 11In bed by 11pm
The habit that makes every other January goal easier. Phones charge outside the bedroom.
- 12Five minutes of meditation
Same time every day, ideally straight after something you already do, like coffee.
- 13Three lines in a journal before bed
What happened, how it felt, one thing you're grateful for. Two minutes.
- 14No phone for the first 30 minutes after waking
Buy a cheap alarm clock. That's the whole trick.
- 15Ten minutes outside before noon
Morning light in winter. Combine it with the walk if you want one check-in.
January challenge ideas: learning & focus
Good for friends who don't want a fitness challenge. Small daily doses add up fast over 31 days.
- 16Read 10 pages a day
310 pages by January 31, about one full book. Audiobooks count if you agree they do.
- 1715 minutes of a new language
Pick the app or textbook on December 31 so January 1 has no decisions in it.
- 18One chapter of Proverbs a day
Proverbs has 31 chapters, one for each day of January. A favorite with church small groups.
- 19Write 200 words a day
Journal, fiction, a newsletter draft. Short enough to do on a bad day.
- 20One hour of deep work before checking email
Best for workdays only. Agree up front that weekends are off.
January challenge ideas: money & home
January goals that pay for themselves. December spending makes these easy to start and satisfying to finish.
- 21No-spend January on one category
Takeout, clothes or online shopping. Pick one category, not all of them.
- 22Log every purchase, every day
No budget required in month one. Just writing it down changes what you buy.
- 23Declutter one item a day
31 things out of the house by February. The progress is visible, which helps.
- 24Ten-minute tidy before bed
Set a timer, stop when it rings. Mornings feel noticeably better.
- 25Message one person you've lost touch with
One text a day. By the end of January you've reconnected with 31 people.
How the January Pact works
The January Pact is a 31-day challenge from January 1 to 31, 2027. The rules fit on a sticky note: one small habit, one friend, a check-in every day. The line we keep coming back to is don't quit alone.
Dec 18 to 31
Pick your pact partner
Ask one friend, sibling or coworker. Agree on the habit and the rules before New Year's Eve.
Jan 1 to 31
Check in every day
One tap when you've done it. You both see who showed up. Nudge, cheer, keep the streak going together.
Fri Jan 8
Get past Quitter's Day
The second Friday of January is when resolutions most often stall. Plan for it, don't be surprised by it.
What Quitter's Day looks like in a pact
It's Friday night, there's a drinks invite, and you haven't done your walk. On your own, that's the evening the challenge quietly ends. In Daily Pact your friend can see you haven't checked in yet, and one tap sends you a nudge. When they check in, you get a notification too, which is often all it takes to get your shoes on.
Set a daily reminder for the time you usually slip (you can add several per challenge), and if one of you gets the January flu, use PactPause: ask your partner for a few days off, they approve it, and the paused days don't break your streak.
Week two is where most January challenges end, quietly, without anyone deciding to quit. Our Quitter's Day guide explains why and has a day-by-day plan for January 4 to 10. For the bigger picture on making resolutions last, read how to keep New Year's resolutions.
How to start a January challenge with a friend
- 1Pick one habit. From the list above, or your own. Small enough to do on the worst day of January.
- 2Pick one friend. Someone you talk to most days, who'll notice if you go quiet. Ask them before New Year.
- 3Agree the rules. What counts as done, what time the day ends, and what a missed day means (it costs you that day, nothing else).
- 4Start a pact on January 1. Create it in Daily Pact and send your friend their own invite link. If they still haven't joined by New Year's Eve, the app lets you nudge them. From then on it's one tap a day each.
Not sure who to ask? Read how to pick an accountabilibuddy. Prefer paper? Print our free habit tracker and stick it on the fridge.
What happens on February 1
31 days won't make a habit automatic. In the best-known study on habit formation, Lally and colleagues (2010, University College London) found it took a median of 66 days for a daily behavior to feel automatic, with a range of 18 to 254 days. They also found that missing a single day didn't meaningfully set people back.
So treat January as the first half. If the habit is working, keep the pact going into February with the same friend: keep the same pact running in Daily Pact and your streak keeps counting toward day 66. If it isn't, change the habit, not the partner. More on the timeline in how long it takes to form a habit, and more ideas in New Year's resolution ideas and our 30-day challenge ideas.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good January challenge?
One small daily habit you can answer yes or no to every evening: a 20-minute walk, 10 pages of reading, no alcohol, in bed by 11pm. The best January challenge is the one you can still do on a tired Tuesday in week three, done with a friend who can see whether you showed up.
Should a January challenge be 30 or 31 days?
31. January has 31 days, and running the full month gives you a clean start (January 1) and a clean finish (January 31), with no mental math about when it ends. In 2027, January 1 is a Friday and January 31 is a Sunday.
What is the January Pact?
The January Pact is Daily Pact's campaign for January 2027: pick one small habit and one friend before New Year, then both of you check in every day from January 1 to 31. December 18 to 31 is for picking your pact partner. The idea in one line: don't quit alone.
How do I stop quitting my January goals in week two?
Expect week two to be the hard part. Strava's data put the most common drop-off on the second Friday of January, which it called Quitter's Day (January 8 in 2027). Decide in advance that a missed day is just a missed day, make the habit smaller rather than skipping it, and do it with someone who will notice.
Can I do a January challenge with a group instead of one friend?
Yes. A pact can be you and one friend or a whole group: a team at work, a family, a running club or a church small group. One person can cover everyone with a Group plan, or each person starts their own 14-day free trial.
Running the January Pact with a group?
A team at work, a family, a class or a church small group can all do the same January challenge together. Daily Pact groups hold up to 1,000 people, and you can invite them all in one go.
- Invite everyone at once: one link in the group chat, several contacts at a time, a pasted email list (up to 200 at a time), or a QR code at the meeting.
- One person can cover everyone: the Group plan is $9.99/mo for up to 15 people, $24.99/mo for 50 or $49.99/mo for 200. Members never see a paywall.
- Or everyone pays for themselves: each person gets their own 14-day free trial, then $0.99/mo.
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