The shops are full of Christmas decorations, and the only thing really between now and the festive season is Black Friday — which, let’s be honest, just adds to the overwhelm (not to mention the urgency messing with our priorities!).
Whether or not you’re into Christmas, the shift in energy is real. The year is ending, and with it comes the pressure — spoken or not — to finish strong.
You might be looking at the goals you set back in January (if you can even remember them) and thinking:
- Am I anywhere near hitting them?
- Are they even still relevant?
- Have I actually checked in on these since Q1?
And let’s be honest — December is not a full working month. If you’ve got kids, they’re probably off by mid-December. Clients start winding down. Your energy dips. There’s a lot going on. You’ve probably got four to six realistic working weeks left, tops.
Here’s where time blindness — one of ADHD’s more sneaky traits — can cause chaos. You might feel like you’ve got loads of time left. You might be counting on that last-minute adrenaline surge to get everything done.
And maybe it’ll come. But is it really worth the gamble?
When you’re juggling multiple open tabs in your brain, it’s easy to overcommit, misjudge how long things will take, and end up sprinting toward burnout right as everyone else is winding down for the year.
To top it off, you’re seeing other business owners posting about their big wins, launches, and perfectly wrapped-up Q4s… and it’s hard not to compare. But you’re not playing the same game. If you’ve got ADHD, it’s like playing the same video game on Level 10 while everyone else is cruising on Level 1. You’re using more energy, more focus, and more effort — and it’s not your fault.
So What Now?
It’s time to pause, take stock, and stop trying to do everything.
This isn’t about giving up or scaling down your ambition. It’s about being honest about what’s realistic, and deciding what’s worth your energy. It’s about finishing the year well — not finishing it wiped out.
If you’ve got five or six unfinished goals, start by narrowing them down. Focus on the 1–3 things that matter most, the things that will genuinely make a difference — and let the rest go. Or park them. We’re going for progress, not perfection.
Start with a brain dump or a mind map. Get everything out of your head — messy thoughts, to-dos, ideas, half-finished projects — all of it. I like using a roll of paper and coloured pens. Once it’s all down, I scan the list and start asking:
- What’s actually important right now?
- What can realistically be done in the next few weeks?
- What can I park for later?
Once it’s out of my head, I’ve got the headspace to look at it properly, and I can run it through something like one of these:
Prioritisation Methods That Actually Work:
✅ Do / Delay / Drop
Simple and quick:
Do: High-priority, realistic, meaningful
Delay: Still important, but can wait until January
Drop: Be honest — it’s not happening this year, and that’s okay
⏱ Now / Next / Not Now
If your brain likes some sequence:
Now: What’s right in front of you
Next: Worth planning for, but not today
Not Now: Park it
🔲 High Impact / Low Effort Matrix
Draw a cross on a piece of paper and map your tasks like this:
| Low Effort | High Effort | |
| High Impact | Do these first — they make a big difference and won’t drain you | Worth it — but plan them properly and don’t overload yourself |
| Low Impact | Nice to have — only do if you’ve got capacity | Probably skip — too much energy for too little return |
Examples from my business:
- High Impact + Low Effort: Sending an end-of-year email to clients, tidying up invoicing, closing out small but strategic tasks.
- High Impact + High Effort: Reworking a service package, prepping 2026 strategy, finalising a process overhaul.
- Low Impact + Low Effort: Updating a minor web page that no one looks at.
- Low Impact + High Effort: Completely rewriting my entire website right now. (Tempting… but no.)
Whatever doesn’t need to be done right now? Park it — with intention.
Create a note, a list, a whiteboard section — whatever works for your brain. Getting it out of your head means you don’t have to hold onto it anymore. You’re not saying “never” — you’re just saying “not now.”
Once you’ve narrowed things down, sense-check them.
If you work solo, talk your list through with a colleague or fellow business owner. Body doubling is great for this — co-working with someone else helps you stay accountable, but also gives you a chance to sanity-check your priorities and timelines.
Ask yourself:
- Does this actually need doing now?
- Is the timeline realistic?
- Will this move my business forward or give me peace of mind?
Then — focus. Choose your small number of goals or tasks. The things that will genuinely move the needle. That will close the year with clarity, not chaos.
The rest? Let it go. Or park it.
And maybe most importantly — take what you’ve learned from this year and use it to shape next year differently.
If you didn’t check in on your goals often enough, how can you build in more visibility for 2026?
What tools helped you stay focused?
What made you feel like you were moving forward?
Where did things get lost?
You can’t change what’s happened already — but you can learn from it. And that’s how you finish strong: by focusing on what matters now and working smarter next time.
Because finishing strong isn’t about doing it all.
It’s about doing the right things — with enough energy left to enjoy the break.