If you believe the Hallmark Channel, December is for cocoa by the fire and joyful reflection.
But if you're an entrepreneur? That’s rarely the script you’re living.
More often, it’s this:
You're running on a cocktail of caffeine, adrenaline, and cortisol. You’re sprinting toward an imaginary finish line—December 31st—trying to squeeze out one last revenue push. All while juggling family gatherings, holiday chaos, and that gnawing feeling you didn’t do enough this year.
I know that feeling too well.
Back in 2006, I was a single dad, $600,000 in debt, and barely holding on. I wasn’t thinking about vision boards or 5-year plans—I was hoping I wouldn’t lose the house. Hoping I could find a way to put something under the tree for my son. December wasn’t a time of celebration. It was a 31-day panic attack.
I call it The December Delusion—the false belief that suffering through the final stretch somehow sets you up for success in the new year.
Why Do So Many Founders Spiral in Q4?
Turns out, there’s neuroscience behind the madness.
When you're mentally and physically fatigued—hello, holiday season—your brain’s executive functions start shutting down to conserve energy. According to Dr. Daniel Friedland's work on the stress-success cycle, when demands exceed our resources, we lose access to strategic thinking. Logic goes offline.
And who takes the wheel? Your amygdala. Your “lizard brain.”
It's one job? Survival.
That’s when the Itty Bitty Shitty Committee pipes up. You know the voices:
- "You're behind. Hustle harder."
- "Your competitor just crushed their year—why haven’t you?"
- "If you stop grinding, the whole thing will collapse."
According to the 2025 Founder Wellness Report by Neurolaunch, 53% of entrepreneurs report elevated anxiety and sleep disruption during Q4—spiking sharply in the final two weeks of December.
This is common. But that doesn’t make it healthy.
Real Talk: Strategy or Panic?
Last week, I coached a CEO—let’s call her Sarah—who was vibrating with urgency. Great year on paper. Smart team. But she wanted to launch a massive new marketing campaign the week before Christmas.
I had to stop her.
“Sarah, is this strategy? Or is this panic in a power suit?”
Silence. Then tears.
It wasn’t strategy. It was fear in disguise. Her nervous system was chasing the “safety” of busywork instead of doing the scarier, more vulnerable work of reflection.
We’ve all been there.
But here’s the hard truth:
You cannot build an extraordinary next year on a foundation of this year’s unaddressed fear.
If you don’t deal with the voice of panic now, it’s packing its bags and coming with you into January.
What to Do Instead
This is where most leaders double down. Push harder. “Finish strong.”
But the most powerful move?
Slow down. Reflect. Get honest.
Before you write your goals for 2026, do a mindset audit. Not just of your P&L, but of your patterns.
Here are three reflection questions I give my clients:
- Where did I lead from fear this year?
- Where was I the bottleneck because I didn’t trust or delegate?
- What tasks, people, or patterns drain my energy—and need to stop?
If you want a tool for this, reply to this email. I’ll send you my “Stop → Start → Shift” Year-End Inventory—a simple framework dozens of CEOs use to exit December with clarity, not chaos.
The Power of Ending Intentionally
When founders close the year from a place of honesty—without shame, without panic—three things happen:
✅Priorities sharpen
✅Energy returns
✅The next year starts with traction, not burnout
Because the goal isn’t to do more next year. It’s to become more.
Not the exhausted version of you that clawed through Q4…
…but the aligned, focused version that knows exactly what matters.
You’ve Hustled Enough This Year
The real power move?
Ending with clarity—not chaos.
And beginning 2026 as the version of you that’s already grown.
Want help getting there?
I’m here.
