Holiday Hustle or Rest? Why Strategic Rest is Your Competitive Advantage

Every December, successful CEOs face an impossible choice: grind through the holidays to "end the year strong," or actually rest and risk falling behind.

But what if that's a false choice entirely?

What if the most productive thing you could do this December is rest strategically? What if rest isn't the opposite of ambition but the fuel that makes sustainable success possible?

After years of buying into hustle culture—and nearly burning out in the process—I've learned something that transformed my business and my life: Strategic rest is not a luxury. It's a competitive advantage.

The Hustle Culture Lie That's Destroying CEOs

Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room: hustle culture lied to us.

We were sold a story that success requires constant grinding. That if you're not working, you're falling behind. That rest is for people who aren't serious about their goals. That exhaustion is a badge of honor proving your commitment.

And those of us building businesses? We bought it. Hard.

We wear our lack of sleep like a trophy. We brag about being "so busy." We check emails on Christmas morning and take calls during family dinners, convincing ourselves this is what it takes.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: That's not CEO energy. That's survival mode disguised as ambition.

The December Trap

December amplifies this problem exponentially.

You're facing end-of-year deadlines, revenue goals you're trying to hit, and clients wanting everything completed before the holidays. Your team is taking time off, which means you're covering their work too.

And if you're someone who handles emotional labor in your family or relationships, you're also managing holiday planning—the gifts, meals, travel arrangements, and ensuring everyone else has a magical season.

The result? You run on fumes, telling yourself you'll rest in January, you'll reset in the new year, you just have to survive December.

Sound familiar?

What Actually Happens When You Don't Rest

Let's be brutally honest about the cost of skipping rest:

Your decision-making deteriorates. Exhausted leaders make impulsive choices. You say yes to things you should decline. You miss red flags. You create problems that require fixing later.

Your creativity disappears. Those breakthrough ideas that hit during walks or showers? They don't happen when your brain is fried. Innovation requires mental space. Breakthroughs require rest.

Your relationships suffer. Your team senses when you're burned out. Your clients notice when you're going through the motions. Your family definitely knows when you're physically present but mentally still at work.

Your health declines. Chronic stress, poor sleep, stress eating, skipped workouts, declining mental health—these aren't just personal issues. They're business issues because they affect your capacity to lead.

Your business suffers. A burned-out CEO makes burned-out decisions. An exhausted leader creates an exhausted culture. A business running on fumes eventually runs out of gas.

Reframing Rest as Strategy

We need to completely reframe how we think about rest.

Rest is not something you do when all the work is finished. The work is never finished—you're a CEO. There will always be another email, another project, another fire to extinguish.

Rest is not a reward you earn through productivity. Rest is what makes productivity possible in the first place.

Rest is not weakness. Rest is strategy.

When you rest strategically, you're not falling behind competitors who are grinding through December. You're creating conditions for better work, clearer thinking, and sustainable growth that they'll burn out trying to maintain.

What Strategic Rest Actually Looks Like

If rest is strategic, what does that mean practically? Because you can't just shut down your business for a month.

Strategic rest means being intentional about how, when, and why you rest. It means treating rest like any important business decision—with planning, boundaries, and commitment.

Micro-Rest Throughout Your Day

Strategic rest starts small with micro-moments throughout your day.

It's the five minutes between meetings where you close your eyes instead of checking your phone. It's the actual lunch break where you eat sitting down, not scarfing food while typing emails. It's the walk around the block before starting your afternoon tasks. It's closing your laptop at a reasonable hour instead of working until you physically collapse.

This sounds basic, but how many CEOs actually do it? We've normalized pushing through from wake-up to crash, then wonder why we're perpetually exhausted.

Build these moments into your routine like non-negotiable meetings. Five minutes of actual rest throughout your day delivers more value than an hour of distracted, exhausted work.

Weekly Rest Rituals

Zoom out to weekly rest. Do you have at least one day where you're not in CEO mode?

Not a day where you answer emails from the couch instead of your desk. A real day off where work doesn't touch you.

For many successful CEOs, this is Sunday. No laptop. No work communication. No "quick check-ins." That day belongs to family, personal recharge, and activities unrelated to business.

Implementing this isn't easy. You'll need to train your team and clients that you're unavailable. But the world won't end. In fact, your business runs better when you show up Monday actually rested.

You also need weekly rituals marking the transition out of work mode. Maybe it's a Friday workout ending your work week. Maybe it's a Saturday morning coffee routine just for you. Maybe it's a weekly date night where work talk is prohibited.

Regular, recurring rest that you protect as fiercely as your most important client meetings is non-negotiable.

Strategic Time Off in December

For December specifically, you need actual time off. Not "working light" time off. Not "I'll just check email once daily" time off. Real, disconnected, out-of-office-on time off.

Here's how to make this possible:

First, decide when. Block the days you're taking off on your calendar. Not "I'll see how things go"—actual blocked time. Many CEOs protect the week between Christmas and New Year as sacred.

Second, prepare your team. Ensure they know the plan. Who covers what? What can wait? What qualifies as an actual emergency requiring contact?

Be realistic about emergencies. A full inbox isn't an emergency. A client wanting a quick answer isn't an emergency. Real emergencies are rare. Define what qualifies, and make sure everything else waits.

Third, communicate to clients. Email them your holiday schedule. Set your out-of-office message. Update your voicemail. Communicate clearly and in advance so nobody's surprised.

Clients respect this. They'd rather know when you're unavailable than wonder why responses take three days.

Fourth, actually disconnect. Turn off notifications. Remove email from your phone, or at least disable notifications. You cannot truly rest while getting pinged every twenty minutes.

Redefining Productivity to Include Rest

Part of why we struggle with rest is our definition of productivity.

We've been taught that productivity means constant output—more content, more sales, more meetings, more everything.

But what if we redefined productivity?

What if productivity isn't about hours worked, but quality of work during those hours?

What if productivity includes time spent thinking, strategizing, and planning—even while walking or sitting in your backyard?

What if productivity includes rest, because rest makes everything else you do better?

When successful CEOs shift their mindset around this, their businesses don't fall apart. They grow. Because they start making better decisions. They notice opportunities they were too burned out to see before. They become more creative. They enjoy the work again, which makes them better at it.

Productivity isn't about grinding. It's about being effective. And you cannot be effective when you're exhausted.

The Myth of "Ending Strong"

Let's address "ending the year strong."

This usually means pushing yourself harder in Q4 than all year, trying to hit arbitrary goals, sacrificing wellbeing to get there.

But ending strong doesn't require ending exhausted.

What if ending strong meant ending with clarity about what worked this year and what didn't? What if it meant setting yourself up for sustainable success next year instead of starting January already burned out?

What if ending strong meant ensuring your team feels valued and rested? What if it meant celebrating what you accomplished instead of immediately jumping to the next goal?

You can have a successful Q4 without destroying yourself. In fact, you'll probably have a more successful Q4 if you're rested, focused, and strategic instead of scattered, exhausted, and resentful.

Your Practical Game Plan for December

Let's get tactical. You have actual deadlines and responsibilities. How do you make restful December work?

Week 1: Audit and Plan

First week of December, audit everything on your plate. What actually must get done before year-end? What's urgent? What's important? What's neither but you're doing it from habit?

Create three lists:

Must-do: Time-sensitive and critical items. Client deliverables with hard deadlines. Payroll. Legal or financial items required before December 31.

Should-do: Important but could technically slide into January if needed. Internal projects. Planning. Things that would be nice to finish but won't be catastrophic if they don't.

Can-drop: Things that honestly don't matter. Busy work. Things you agreed to months ago that no longer make sense. Perfectionist tweaking that's not moving the needle.

Be ruthless with that third list. Drop it. Defer it to Q1. Delete it entirely.

Week 2: Delegate and Communicate

Second week, delegate everything possible. If you have a team, trust them. Give them ownership. Empower them to make decisions without you.

Without a team? What can you outsource? Can you hire a VA for the month for admin tasks? Can automation tools take things off your plate?

Also communicate your boundaries now. Email clients about your holiday schedule. Update your calendar showing when you're off. Tell your team when you'll be unavailable.

Earlier communication means less stress later.

Week 3: Finish Strong (Strategically)

Third week, complete your must-do list. Focus on what actually matters. Ignore everything else. This isn't the time for new projects or new opportunities.

Start transitioning into rest mode. Wrap up what you can. Delegate what you can't. Accept that some things won't get done, and that's okay.

Week 4 (and 5): Rest

Fourth week and ideally the fifth week too, rest. Actually rest.

Sleep in. Spend time with people you love. Do things unrelated to work. Let your brain reset.

If you feel that itch to be productive, redirect it into reflection. Journal about the year. Think about what you want next year to look like. But do it from rest, not anxiety.

Permission to Rest

If you need someone to give you permission to rest, here it is:

You have permission to rest.

You have permission to take days off without guilt. You have permission to not be constantly available. You have permission to enjoy the holidays instead of working through them. You have permission to start January rested instead of needing a vacation from your vacation.

You are not lazy. You are not uncommitted. You are not "not serious enough" about your business.

You are a human being running a business, and human beings need rest to function. Full stop.

The Competitive Advantage of Strategic Rest

Here's what separates sustainable CEO success from burnout:

The CEOs who last—who build businesses that fulfill them rather than drain them—have figured out that rest isn't optional. It's essential. It's strategic. It's productive.

They know that rest isn't the opposite of ambition. Rest fuels ambition.

So this December, don't try to prove how tough you are by grinding through the holidays. Set yourself up for sustainable, successful growth by resting strategically.

Block the time. Set the boundaries. Disconnect. Trust your team. Trust yourself. Trust that taking time off will make you better at everything you do.

When you return in January, you'll be clearer, sharper, more creative, and more energized than everyone who bragged about working through the holidays.

That's big CEO energy. Not the grind. The strategy. The sustainability. The wisdom to know that you are your business's most valuable asset, and assets need maintenance.

Ready to dive deeper? Listen to the full episode of That Big CEO Energy podcast where we break down exactly how to implement strategic rest in your business without dropping the ball. [Link to episode]

What boundaries will you set this December? Share in the comments or connect with us on Instagram @_kalandco