This Month’s Purple Elephant: The January Overcorrection

How we overcorrect in our relationships is the same way we overcorrect at work.

Every month, I name a Purple Elephant — a pattern leaders feel but rarely talk about. This month’s Purple Elephant is one I’ve lived in my personal life AND watched unfold inside organizations everywhere:

**The January Overcorrection

Here’s the truth I’m willing to admit:

The way I overcorrect in my relationships is the exact same way I’ve overcorrected in my business.

And most leaders don’t realize it,but they do the same thing.

**Let me start in my personal life.

There have been moments — in love, in family, in friendships — where I have tried so hard to “get it right” that I completely abandoned myself in the process.

When something felt off, I didn’t slow down.I did the opposite:

I worked harder.I tried to fix everything at once.I gave more of myself than anyone asked for.I over-explained, over-apologized, over-functioned.Anything to feel secure again.

Why?

Because overcorrection feels like control.It feels like safety.It feels like doing something.

But underneath, it’s really anxiety dressed as effort.

And it never works.

When you overcorrect with people, you:

• suffocate the connection

• take responsibility for their reactions

• lose your boundaries

• operate from fear instead of truth

Now here’s where the Purple Elephant becomes impossible to ignore:

The same pattern happens in leadership.

**Because how we love is how we lead.

And how we panic is how we perform.

When leaders enter January with emotional residue from the previous year,the overcorrection looks like:

• overworking to “start strong”

• tightening control out of fear

• moving fast but communicating poorly

• trying to fix 12 months of stress in one week

• taking on responsibilities that belong to their team

• rushing decisions for the illusion of progress

This is not a leadership flaw.It’s a human behavior pattern showing up in a professional environment.

I’ll say it clearly:

Your January behavior at work is connected to your unresolved patterns in your personal life.

If you overcorrect in relationships,you WILL overcorrect in leadership.

**A personal example:

The year I tried to “save” everything at once.

The ENTIRE YEAR OF 2025 my personal life felt shaky, emotional, unpredictable.Instead of sitting with that discomfort, I poured myself into work.

I took on too much.I tightened my grip.I moved fast to avoid feeling slow.I said yes when I meant no.I pushed myself so hard that my business felt like the relationship I was trying to manage.

My clients didn’t know this.But my behavior knew it.

Overcorrection is sneaky like that.

It disguises itself as:

• ambition

• productivity

• initiative

• responsibility

• 
  

But it’s actually fear wearing professionalism like a costume.

And the cost is the same in business as it is in relationships:

disconnection, confusion, burnout, resentment, instability.

**How the January Overcorrection impacts organizations

When a leader is overcorrecting in their personal life, the organization experiences:

• inconsistent communication

• micromanagement

• heightened urgency

• emotional reactivity

• disempowered teams

• decision fatigue at the top

• a culture that mirrors the leader’s anxiety

Your team doesn’t need your perfection.They need your presence.

They don’t need your overcorrection.They need your clarity.

**Here’s what I want you to reflect on:

Think about a relationship—past or present—where you overcorrected.

Now ask yourself:

Where does this same behavior show up in my leadership?

Do you:

• step in too fast?

• over-explain?

• take on too much?

• rush decisions?

• anticipate problems before they exist?

• try to hold everyone’s emotional world together?

If you do it at home,you do it at work.

If you do it at work,you do it at home.

Same pattern.Different stage.

Same Purple Elephant.Different room.

**Calling out the January Overcorrection IS the correction.

When you name it, you stop performing.You breathe differently.You lead differently.You show up from stability, not survival.

This month’s Purple Elephant isn’t about fixing everything.It’s about noticing the moment you slip into the old pattern and choosing not to repeat it.

Because your leadership doesn’t need a January sprint.

It needs January self-awareness.

More soon,

Jenora