January is not the right time for making resolutions.

All it’s got going for it is the New Year, and I’m not denying that the start of a new one would seem the ideal time to begin afresh and make changes in your life.

But January is not the time to do it. It is freezing cold, we are debt-laden and bloated after Christmas, and our brains are still enveloped in that post-Christmas fog, which for many of us doesn’t lift until round about Easter.

No-one feels motivated to do anything in January. On cold, grey mornings, it is enough of a challenge to get out of bed.

So for people to be making pledges to leap up and run marathons at dawn is a bit of a joke.

More than a third of New Year resolutions don’t make it past January, and more than three-quarters are abandoned soon after. This is usually put down to a lack of commitment, but that isn’t it at all. It is because we make these promises in the most miserable, depressing, de-motivating of months.

Were the date to make resolutions set in May or June, when we wake up to the warmth of the sun’s rays and the joys of the dawn chorus, it would be a different matter entirely.

People would get up at 5am, stick on their running shoes and head off with a spring in their step. They may even manage a session in the gym and a swim before breakfast.

Because in spring and summer, you don’t feel compelled to lie in bed all morning avoiding that cold walk to the bathroom. You want to get up and get out.

Light mornings mean you can enjoy that 6am jog without fear of breaking your neck on slippery pavements or being mugged on a pitch-black corner.

Spring and summer months fill us with energy in a way that January does not.

Typical resolutions are easier to keep in warmer months. Those wishing to lose weight can enjoy crispy summer salads – unlikely to be served at the dinner table in January, when hearty stew and dumplings, followed by a calorie-laden pudding are the norm.

And those who want to get out more and do a spot of walking will feel far more inclined in spring and summer when there are more daylight hours.

After the stress of Christmas, we are exhausted and barely fit to tackle a shopping list, let alone a list of life goals.

And why do we feel we have to make all these demands upon ourselves at once?

One at a time is surely better. So that’s why I’m not making any New Year resolutions. Not because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered. Oh, no.