The office is quiet. The holiday party leftovers are in the fridge. Your family is waiting. But you’re still at your desk, bathed in the blue light of a screen, mainlining the most dangerous drug on the market: the 2026 spreadsheet.
You’re not planning. You’re running.
You’re running from the sting of the goals you didn’t hit. You’re running from the echo of the hard conversations you avoided. You’re running from the quiet, gnawing feeling that even after all the wins, the revenue, and the growth, you still don’t feel like you’ve arrived.
December, for entrepreneurs, has become the great escape. We use the frantic energy of “finishing strong” and the seductive lure of “next year’s potential” to outrun the one thing we can’t escape: the truth of the year we actually lived.
But you cannot build a powerful future on top of an un-processed past. And the attempt to do so is costing you everything.
The Integrity Gap: The Most Expensive Lie You Live
This isn’t just about feeling tired. This is about the slow-motion erosion of your soul.
It’s the 7-figure founder who hits the number his team has been bleeding for all year. They pop the champagne, he gives the speech, but he feels…nothing. The dopamine hit lasts for a single, hollow minute before his mind is already on the 8-figure goal. He’s celebrating with his people, but he’s already in a 2026 planning meeting with himself. He’s a ghost at his own victory party.
It’s the leader who posts on social media about “hustle and flow” and being a “present parent” but is secretly checking social media or emails under the table during his daughter’s holiday plan. His body is in the auditorium, but his nervous system is in his inbox. He thinks no one notices, but his team sees the hypocrisy, and his family feels the absence. The gap between the identity he’s selling and the life he’s living is a canyon of self-betrayal. And the world can only respect you as much as you respect yourself.
This integrity gap is the most exhausting deficit in your life. It requires more energy to maintain a lie than it does to build an empire.
You Are Training Your Nervous System to NEVER Arrive
This is huge. Why do we do this? Why do we chase the next thing with a desperation that borders on madness? Because “more” is a hell of a drug. It’s the perfect distraction from the emptiness of the now. The next goal, the next launch, the next hire…yeah, it’s a convenient way to avoid the terrifying stillness of asking, “Did any of this actually make me happy Did I make a meaning, or just a living?”
Here’s the brutal truth: by constantly rushing to what’s next, you are training your nervous system to never arrive. You are conditioning your body, on a cellular level, to believe that safety, satisfaction, and success are always in the future. Never here. Never now.
This is why you can’t “just rest” in January. Your body literally doesn’t know how. You’ve taught it that stillness is a threat. You’ve wired it for a state of chronic, low-grade anxiety where the only relief is the next hit of progress. You’re not just tired.
You’re bankrupting your own biology.
The Radical Act of Completion
If you truly want 2026 to be different, you have to do the one thing you’re trying to avoid: you have to stop. You have to stand still long enough to let the year catch up to you. You have to complete it.
Completion is not a passive review. It is a sacred, and often brutal, act of leadership. It’s not about judging the year; it’s about honoring the truth of it.
Here’s a simple ritual:
The Brutal Truth Audit: Get a piece of paper. Write down the wins, the losses, the “almosts,” and the “what the f*cks.” What did you say you would do? What did you actually do? Where is the gap? Don’t judge it. Just witness it. This is the raw, unfiltered data of your year.
The Funeral & The Celebration: You cannot move forward with integrity until you’ve honored what was. Grieve what didn’t happen. The failed launch, the strained partnership, the missed opportunity. Let the disappointment land. Feel it fully. Then, and only then, can you celebrate what did happen. The small acts of courage, the lessons learned, the moments you showed up when you wanted to hide. Feel the pride. You cannot have one without the other.
The Energetic Severance: This is the final, non-negotiable step. You must consciously declare the year complete. This is an energetic act. Burn the audit. Delete the old project folders from your desktop. Stand up, and say out loud, “I thank 2025 for its lessons, and I release it. It is complete.” You cannot carry the energetic weight of an unfinished year into a new one. It will poison everything you try to build.
Stop running. The future you’re so desperate to create can only be built on the foundation of a present you are willing to fully inhabit. Let the lessons integrate. Let yourself arrive.
Only then can you truly begin again. Only then can you play full out.
Life Updates!
Thanksgiving was fantastic. We had all of our kids and our cute little grand baby home. We cherish those moments, never knowing when it will happen again. We also had Bart’s Dad and Sunny’s Mom and little sis join. We ate some delicious food and played some games. Our hearts were - and are - full of gratitude.
Xander’s band teacher passed out some music three days ago… and that is when Xander found out he was first chair in the Gem State Honor Band. The next night he went to rehearsal at a different high school - the next day he did the same, and the concert was last night. It was soooooo good. It is all the top players (who auditioned) from our region. They bring in conductors from all over the U.S. Huge thanks to the band teachers who make this happen!
We are headed to Salt Lake this weekend…and there is a huge winter storm watch predicted for the next few days. Wish us luck!
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