6 things I’m doing in my last workweek of the year so I can actually enjoy the holidays
We are solidly in the time of year where we’re all tempted to say “let’s circle back to this in January.” And while I’m deeply of the belief that the rest and relaxation of the holidays is sacrosanct and should be honored at all costs, I’m also an eldest daughter and if the weight of responsibility is hanging over me, I know I won’t enjoy it. So if you’re the kind of person who wants to enjoy the holidays but can’t fully relax unless everything feels handled, let’s talk about the things I’m doing to make sure I get to enjoy the holidays!
Enjoying the holidays isn’t just a matter of throwing on Love Actually and shutting your computer. What actually allows you to enjoy is giving your brain, computer and life structure that allows you to be in that ooey gooey holiday mode. These decisions and actions in the last few weeks of the year prevent you from waking up to jot things down on your notes app, checking email from Christmas eve dinner and heading back to work in January feeling like you didn’t recharge even though you had weeks off.
We’re not in here for hustle mode. This isn’t about doing more, this is about doing the high leverage things that make the biggest difference. So let’s dive in: here’s what I’m focusing on in the final working days of the year so I can enjoy the holidays without mentally spiraling about everything I’ve left unfinished.
1. Closing out key projects (not just the “absolutely necessary” ones)
When the holidays are so close you can taste them, the tendency can be to get to the finish line as quickly possible. The temptation at the end of the year is to push anything non-urgent into the vague bucket of “I’ll circle back in January.” This year, I’m being more deliberate about what actually gets carried over. Instead of asking “What technically needs to be done before year-end?” I’m asking: “What would I feel genuinely proud to have completed before I log off?”
For high-achieving eldest daughters especially, unfinished work has a way of lingering mentally. Even if no one else is waiting on it, you are holding the task in a way that doesn’t go away just because the menorah is lit.
But watch the tendency to swing too far to the other side of the spectrum: dumping every half-started idea, overdue task, and “I’ve been meaning to do this for months” project into the final week of December. I don’t have to do everything to feel proud. I have to have clarity of what’s important to me and to my work and also what would be a sort of punishment to try to all get done.
My approach looks like this:
Early in the week, I make a clear, finite list of what I will close out before the year ends.
I sanity-check it for scope and realism.
Once the list is set, I stop adding to it.
The remaining working days are spent simply moving through what I’ve already decided matters.
2. Finishing my holiday shopping now (so it’s not a mental cloud)
I am historically an “oh shit, that snuck up on me” gift buyer. Every year, I convince myself I’ll be different, and every year I wake up when the days start with a “2” and I need to have my gifts now. This year, I tried something radical: I got ahead of it.
At this point, I have one remaining purchase left to make. That’s it. And the relief is so disproportionate to the effort it took.
Between shipping cutoffs, delays, and shipping systems already stretched thin, finishing holiday shopping early isn’t just about convenience, it also takes one more worry off my list. One less thing to mentally juggle. One fewer errand looming over otherwise cozy moments.
For anyone who carries a lot of responsibility, at work, in family dynamics, or both, this matters more than we like to admit. The emotional labor of remembering, planning, coordinating, and executing gifts often falls on the same people who are already stretched thin. Eldest daughter central. At this point, it’s not necessarily the time to unwind all of this (although I did ask my sister to physically purchase one of our gifts, because baby steps), but even if I can’t take the responsibility off the list, getting it done will give me more peace during the holidays.
3. Starting my end-of-year reflection before the year actually ends
End-of-year reflection is an annual practice for me. But if I leave it until after Christmas in that quiet period between Christmas and New Years, it can begin to feel like pressure in a short period of time.
This year, I started my prep for this reflection in the early part of December and am beginning to chip away at it so that by the time we get to that cozy time of year, I can be in the fun part of finalizing goals and crafting vision boards that feels so magical.
This can look like:
spending a few minutes a couple times a week reflecting on the year that’s past
beginning to pull images that resonate for vision boards even if I’m going to refine later
closing out my practical end of year tasks (more on that in the next one!)
Reflection isn’t light work. Starting earlier gives me space to do it without making it feel like some internal homework assignment.
4. Updating my 2026 budget based on what actually happened in 2025
Budgeting isn’t for everybody. But I’ll be honest, I think 90% of us would benefit from it, which is why I’ve kept a budget spreadsheet for myself for the last 3 years. Each year, I sit down and estimate what I spend in each category month by month and make sure that the totals add up to what’s actually reasonable for me. But the key part in this being valuable is not just putting my finger in the air and guessing on what each category spend should be - it’s actually looking at my spending patterns and getting honest about where my money’s going.
I track my real time spend each month but before I close my computer for the holidays, I’m spending a couple of sessions to review my 2025 spending and using real data, not vibes, to update my 2026 budget. That includes:
evaluating what I actually spent versus what I planned to spend (this means looking at the actual reports from my credit cards and the budget spreadsheet to see if there was an area I always seemed to go over and understand what drove that)
gut-checking everything against my longer-term financial goals (in 2024 my goal was to find a new place to live so my travel budget was substantial and in 2025 I moved twice, so looking to 2026, I’m recalibrating these categories against what my priorities are this year, not just continuing as I’ve been0
deciding on my “buffer” number (surprises happen so I always have a little slush in the budget to account for the random stuff, but I keep notes monthly of what those were so now I can plan for them ahead of time this year)
This doesn’t have to be the time of year to radically change your financial life, but spending this time to get clear on how things have been going and set my plan for 2026 before I close my computer for the holidays means I’m ready to start off on the right foot, without having to spend time in the holidays staring at a spreadsheet.
5. A mini digital clearout
I’m not doing a full digital spring cleaning in the final weeks of the year. There’s already way too much going on. But if I want to feel peaceful going into the holidays, I have to address the clutter that can actually affect our brains.
So I’m doing a mini clear-out. Specifically:
cleaning up my downloads folder,
filing or deleting desktop clutter,
triaging my inbox,
and making sure loose digital to-dos live where I actually look for them.
Now’s not the time to decide to hit inbox zero (if that’s not a system you already maintain). I’m focused on just going from messy back to under control and the big fancy goals can come later.
6. Taking a social media detox (even though it’s uncomfortable)
This one won’t be for everyone.
But lately, I’ve noticed a real mental drain from my social media consumption. I like to tell myself that I’m learning something or researching content for work but lately, it’s been mostly feeling stressful or triggering problematic patterns like FOMO, comparison, and subtle insecurity.
Running a social-media-driven business means I haven’t taken a full break in a long time. So this year, I made a bigger choice than usual: I deleted the apps from my phone through the end of the year.
Not muted. Not limited. Deleted.
I’m only a day into it and I won’t pretend it’s easy. I’m reaching for my phone out of habit and realizing there’s nothing there has been… revealing. But even in the early stages, I’m excited to see what happens to my brain when that itch is gone - what creative avenues I might explore or what deeper thinking might occur.
For some people, a social media detox isn’t possible with what they do for work. But for us eldest daughter types who feel like we’re constantly “on”- mentally, emotionally, digitally- stepping away feels really powerful to actually challenge ourselves to prove that we can disconnect and the world won’t fall apart.
It’s also a powerful signal for what you believe about yourself. You can decide what you want to cook without scrolling for recipes, you can evaluate how you feel about the holidays without comparing yourself with that TikTokers family video, and you can feel bored. You can be alone with your thoughts and manage whatever comes up. At least this is what I’m telling myself and I have a hunch it’s going to be a very illuminating time!
Why we should set ourselves up for success
I know none of these things are mindblowing but that’s partially the point. We don’t need to have this glamorous vision for our holidays for them to feel good and on the flip side, if we don’t take care of some little unsexy nitty gritty, it’s going to be hard to enjoy.
If we want to rest and recharge, we have to be able to slow down. We have to close the mental tabs. The last work week or two of the year are a time that we can be strategic to set up a really nourishing holiday and the steps to get us there and none of them are revolutionary.
For eldest daughters, high achievers, and people who quietly hold things together for everyone else, peace of mind rarely comes from doing nothing. It comes from knowing that what needed to be handled has been handled thoughtfully.
I know we’re ready to close the year with intention, so it’s time to do one more final push and then pour ourselves that glass of wine or spiked cider and toast to the end of another year!
Want to go deeper into what you want for next year? This article is just the beginning. We have over 500+ journal prompts, refined over years of use for maximum insight. Time-tested by real eldest daughter, high achieving, overthinking types, we’ve got prompts for if you’re crafting a vision for your dream life, evaluating your relationship, considering a career pivot at work, or want to unearth the deeper limiting beliefs that might be holding you back from true confidence (like when you’re struggling to depend on other people and need to change)!
