It is oddly satisfying reaching this point of the year. I could set my clock by what reveals itself—not just Christmas and New Year’s, but something else entirely.

For years, I did the standard ritual: reflect on what happened, plan what’s next, strategize how to steer it. Classic year-end leadership behavior. And it accomplished precisely nothing useful.

So I stopped trying.

That’s when it got interesting. You know when it snows and you step outside—the world goes quiet, sound softens, snow cracks under your feet? You’re not doing anything. It just happens.

A few years back, the week before Christmas, I went with my natural flow instead of forcing the planning ritual. That’s when I felt it—the spark of creative energy that had been missing all year. Not because I manufactured it. Because I finally stopped fighting it.

Since then, I’ve deliberately taken time off around Christmas. Not to disconnect or reflect, but to just be. Last year I rebuilt my entire homelab with my son—bits and pieces all over the table, pure figure-it-out mode. This year, I’ve been working on a secret project I’ll tell you about soon.

Then it hit me: I’ve been doing this consistently for 3-4 years. Same time, same pattern, same result. The creative work that matters most happens when I stop trying to force it on someone else’s schedule.

Now here’s the question: How do you turn an annual “accident” into sustainable design?

Because here’s what I’ve learned—haste makes waste, but so does fighting your own wiring.

Sustainable doesn’t mean same rhythm forever. To me it means developing the skill of noticing when your energy shifts and adapting without guilt.

Right now I can’t run. Capsulitis in my right foot. I could force through it and break something worse. Or I can intentionally redirect and adapt, spend my energy on something more productive and be back up running in no time—which is exactly what I do.

That’s my pattern: Intention (knowing what matters), Adaptation (shifting when my path changes), Self-awareness (recognizing the signals before I break).

I try to pay attention to the signals and design my life around it as opposed to forcing rules and habits that will break me—that’s my system.

What are you forcing that could be redirected? What pattern are you ignoring because it doesn’t fit your calendar?