I used to be that guy.
December 26th would roll around and I would already have my laptop open. The family would still be in pajamas, the kids playing with new toys, and there would be leftover pie in the fridge. And there I was at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, spreadsheet glowing on the screen.
Pipeline review. Territory mapping. Q1 priorities. Goals for myself. Goals for my team. Compensation plan tweaks. New playbook ideas. A list of the deals that absolutely needed to close in January.
I told myself this was discipline. I told myself this was what separated the good leaders from the great ones. I told myself that while everyone else was relaxing, I was getting ahead.
For years, this was my identity. The guy who never really turned off. The leader who was always thinking three steps ahead. The one who showed up on January 2nd with a battle plan so detailed it could have been laminated.
I was proud of it. I wore it like a badge.
I was also completely WRONG!
The Illusion of December Planning
Here is what nobody tells you about all that holiday planning: it almost never survives contact with reality.
I remember one year I spent the entire week between Christmas and New Year building what I thought was the perfect Q1 strategy. I mapped every deal. I assigned every account. I built a hiring plan. I created enablement priorities. I even drafted the all-hands presentation I would give on day one.
By January 18th, nearly all of it was irrelevant.
The deal I was counting on to anchor the quarter got pushed to Q2 because their CFO left the company. My top performer gave notice the second week of January. Our CEO came back from the holidays with a completely new priority that reshuffled everything. A competitor dropped their price by 40% and suddenly, half my pipeline was in jeopardy.
All that planning. All that time away from my family. All those hours staring at a screen instead of being present. And for what?
A document that became a relic before the month was even over.
This was not a one-time thing. This happened year after year. The details changed but the pattern did not. I would plan meticulously over the holidays. Reality would punch me in the face in January. And I would scramble to adapt just like everyone else who did not spend their break glued to a laptop.
The planning gave me the illusion of control. But reality does not care about your illusions.
What Happens to the Leaders Who Never Stop
I have watched this pattern play out across dozens of leaders over the years. The ones who cannot disconnect. The ones who wear their workaholism like a trophy. The ones who think grinding through the holidays is what separates them from the pack.
Shit. I have lived this.
Here is what actually happens.
You burn out. Not always dramatically. Sometimes it is a slow erosion. You get a little more cynical. A little more reactive. A little less creative. The spark that made you good in the first place starts to dim because you never gave it oxygen.
Your families learn to expect less. Your partner stops asking if you will be present because they already know the answer. Your kids stop trying to include you in holiday traditions because you are always working anyway. You tell yourself you’re doing it for your family. But your family just wants you to be there.
You make worse decisions in Q1.
You model the wrong behavior for your teams. When you are working and sending Slack messages during the holidays, it sends a message. That message is that rest is for people who are not serious about winning. So the team starts doing the same thing. And now you have an entire organization that does not know how to recharge. That catches up with you. It always does (P.S. Even if you tell your team not to respond, our minds don’t work that way. You are creating an anxious environment).
I have seen these leaders flame out. I have seen them get fired for losing their edge. I have seen them succeed on paper while their health and relationships crumbled underneath them. I have seen them build revenue machines while becoming hollow versions of themselves.
This is not the path to sustained excellence. This is the path to a very particular kind of failure that looks like success until it no longer does.
What the Winners Do Differently
The best leaders I know approach the end of the year in completely different ways.
They disconnect. Really disconnect. Not the fake version where they check email every two hours and take calls in the garage so their partner does not see. The real version, where the laptop stays closed, and the phone goes in a drawer.
They trust their systems. If your business falls apart because you took a week off, you do not have a business. You have a job that owns you. The leaders who can step away have built teams and processes that function without constant intervention. That is not a luxury. That is leadership.
They invest in renewal. They read books that have nothing to do with sales. They go on hikes. They cook elaborate meals. They play board games with their kids. They do the things that fill them back up as human beings. And they come back in January with energy that the burned-out leaders cannot match.
They create space for clarity. This is the part I want to focus on, because it changed everything for me.
The Power of Letting Go
A few years ago, I tried something different. Instead of planning for work over the holidays, I focused entirely on creating space at home.
The closets that had been collecting junk for years finally got cleaned out. The garage that had become a graveyard for things we never used got organized. The kids rooms got a reset. The drawers full of random stuff got sorted.
We donated bags of things. We threw away boxes of clutter. We let go of items we had been holding onto for no real reason other than inertia.
It sounds almost embarrassingly simple. What does cleaning a closet have to do with being a better leader?
Everything, it turns out.
When your physical environment is cluttered, your mind is cluttered. When you are surrounded by stuff you do not need, you carry that weight without realizing it. When your home feels chaotic, you bring that chaos with you wherever you go.
The reverse is also true. When your environment is balanced, your thinking gets balanced. When your home feels clear, your mind settles. When you create physical space, you create mental space too.
I walked into that January differently than any year before. Not because I had a better plan. I did not have much of a plan at all. But I had clarity. I had presence. I had the mental bandwidth to actually deal with whatever showed up, rather than being locked into a playbook I had put together in December.
That Q1 ended up being one of my best. Not because I planned harder. Because I showed up clearer.
Why Clarity Beats Preparation
Here is the uncomfortable truth about business: it changes constantly. The market shifts. Competitors make moves. Customers have priorities that evolve. Your team composition changes.
The leaders who thrive in this environment are NOT the ones with the most detailed plans. They are the ones with the clearest minds.
Detailed plans create attachment. You worked hard on them. You invested time. You want them to be right. So when reality diverges from the plan, you resist. You try to force the world to match your spreadsheet instead of adapting to what is actually happening.
Clarity creates flexibility. When your mind is clear, you can see what is actually in front of you. You can respond to the situation as it is, not as you want it to be. You can make decisions based on current information instead of defending past assumptions.
The best quarterback in the world still has to read the defense and adjust at the line of scrimmage. The play that was called in the huddle is just a starting point. What matters is the ability to see clearly and respond quickly when reality unfolds differently than expected.
Your December planning is the play called in the huddle. January is the defense you actually face. Clarity is what allows you to make the adjustment.
The Practical Application
So what does this actually look like in practice?
When the holidays/weekend arrive, put the work away. Actually put it away. Close the laptop. Silence the notifications. Tell your team you will be offline and mean it.
Then focus on creating space. Not work space. Life space. Look at your home and ask what has been weighing you down. The closet stuffed with clothes you never wear. The garage full of equipment for hobbies you abandoned. The shelves lined with books you will never read again. The drawers crammed with things you forgot you had.
Let it go. Donate it. Throw it away. Create room.
This process of letting go does something to your mind. It reminds you that you do not need to hold onto everything. It teaches you that releasing what no longer serves you creates space for what does. It builds the mental muscle of non-attachment that serves you when your Q1 plan falls apart and you need to pivot.
Spend time with the people who matter. Be genuinely present with them. Not half-present while your mind wanders to pipeline. Not checking your phone under the table. Actually there.
Rest without guilt. Rest is not something you earn through productivity. Rest is the foundation that makes productivity possible. The leaders who understand this outperform the ones who do not. Not sometimes. Consistently.
Walk into the new year with a balanced home and a clear mind. Trust that this clarity will serve you better than any spreadsheet ever could.
The Real Competitive Advantage
I know what some of you are thinking. This sounds soft. It sounds like an excuse to work less.
I thought the same thing for years. I was wrong.
The hardest workers are not always the most effective. The most prepared are not always the most successful. The ones who never stop are not always the ones who win.
The leaders who sustain excellence over decades are the ones who understand that the game is long. They pace themselves. They protect their clarity. They invest in renewal because they know you cannot pour from an empty cup.
Burning through the holidays might give you a small head start in January. Showing up clear, rested, and present gives you an advantage that compounds all year long.
Preparation is overrated. Clarity is underrated.
Clean your house. Let go of what weighs you down. Create space for the new.
Walk into January balanced instead of buried.
That is the real competitive advantage. And unlike the plans you would have made, it cannot be made irrelevant by the first unexpected turn the year takes.