You Don’t Need to ‘Finish Strong’: Why Women Are Choosing Softer Success in December
By Danielle Thompson, Founder of Goldspun SupportEvery December, ambitious women are hit with the same words:
“Finish strong.”
“Push through.”
“Make these last week’s count.”
And we know that it’s meant to be motivational but for many women, me included, it isn’t. It’s another layer of pressure at the end of an already full year, decisions, deadlines, family logistics, emotional labour, and trying to hold everything together while smiling through it.
And here’s the truth we rarely hear:
You don’t need to finish strong. You just need to finish in a way that protects your energy rather than drains it.
This isn’t lowering the bar, it’s redefining success on your terms.
Why this message is exhausting women
The need to push to “end the year big” has become a cultural expectation, especially in the online business world. But for many female founders this idea doesn’t feel empowering, it just feels heavy.
Most of the women I know are already running at capacity, having been “strong” all year. They’ve carried everything: teams, families, clients, housework, admin, finances, and emotional responsibilities that no-one sees.
And this pressure to finish strong doesn’t take any of that into account but reinforces the idea that productivity is the measure of our worth, even in December.
Ongoing success requires something very different: permission to slow down.
Strength isn’t a sprint. It’s self-awareness.
The message online is that strength looks like pushing, hustling and squeezing in “one more thing” before the year ends.
But true strength in December looks much softer:
✔ Closing your laptop at five without guilt
Because rest is not a reward, it’s a requirement for clarity.
✔ Finishing the essentials, not reinventing your business
December isn’t the month for fresh projects. It’s the month for gentle completion.
✔ Protecting your time and boundaries
Saying no to last-minute opportunities that drain you is a power move.
✔ Allowing the season to slow you down
Nature rests. Animals rest. We’re built to soften at this time of year too.
We need to change the narrative, so that strong doesn’t always look like more and instead, looks like less, done with intention.
A softer December strategy (That’s still smart business)
Finishing in a softer way does not mean losing momentum, it means choosing the smallest actions that create the biggest sense of control going into January.
This is what I would suggest:
1. Do a 60-minute clarity sweep
No big analysis. No pressure to overhaul.
Just look at what’s working, what isn’t, and what can wait.
Awareness alone is grounding.
2. Choose one “future you” gift
Something tiny that your January self will thank you for.
A template.
A cleaned-up calendar.
A refreshed onboarding doc.
A clearer week-one plan.
Not a project, a kindness.
3. Adopt the “Good Enough December” mindset
Ask: What would make this month feel complete, not perfect?
Then stop there. Completion is more powerful than perfection.
4. Rest like it’s strategic, because it is
A tired brain can’t plan.
A regulated nervous system can.
If you want clarity, creativity or direction next year, December must hold space for rest.
We need a new definition of finishing well
No one needs you to perform a dramatic year-end sprint to prove your ambition, to produce more in the last two weeks than you have in the last two months or to sacrifice your wellbeing to “earn” a badge that doesn’t exist.
I recommend a reframe:
You don’t need to finish strong. You need to finish resourced, rested and ready.
We know that January is going to demand vision, decision-making and fresh energy, not hustle hangovers from a hectic December.
So try pacing… rather than pushing.
Finish slowly. Finish softly. Finish sustainably.
Your strength will show in how you start the next year, not how loudly you close this one.
