Why do new projects excite me then quickly drain me?

The pattern is familiar to you now: the bright burst of energy and purpose at the start, and then, within weeks, the drain — and the project becomes one more obligation on the pile. It repeats across everything you begin. That consistency is the clue. It is not this project or that one; it is the shape of how you begin. The early excitement often runs on novelty and imagined outcomes, not on the actual grind the work requires. So the fuel that starts you is not the fuel that sustains you, and when the novelty burns off there is nothing underneath to carry you through the ordinary middle — the unglamorous part where the real work actually lives. So next time you start something, spend less energy on the thrilling launch and more on the boring question of what will keep you going when the shine wears off. Build in something that renews you mid-project — a smaller milestone, a partner who is counting on you, a reason that outlasts novelty. And when the drain comes, treat it as the normal middle to push through, not a sign the thing was wrong.