Friday Fieldwork: Slow Down Before You Burn Out

Because sprinting through December is how dads pull hamstrings and lose patience

December has a special talent…
it speeds up your calendar and your exhaustion at the exact same time. And if you missed Monday’s Reset (the one where I basically admitted dads can’t sprint through two holidays in a row), you can read it here.

Kids get wilder.
Events multiply.
School concerts appear out of nowhere.
Your inbox turns into a holiday-themed escape room.

And dads everywhere start limping into the final stretch of the year thinking,
“January Me will fix all this.”

Spoiler:
January You doesn’t stand a chance if December You is already dehydrated, sleep-deprived, and running on leftover pie crust.

This is why Month 2 of Preseason exists…
the season where the work shifts from resetting you to resetting your home.
Not for perfection…
but for presence.

Because the truth is simple…
You can’t lead your family into January if you limp into it.

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This Week’s Fieldwork: The Slower December Reset

1. Pick one slowing practice.
   Something that forces the pace to drop just enough that your home can breathe.
   Examples:

   • A 10–minute nightly connection with one kid

   • A weekly family moment (lights walk, cocoa, story, prayer)

   • One slow morning with no rushing

   • Removing one obligation from the calendar

   • One simple December ritual your kids can count on

2. Protect it. Ruthlessly.
   Put it on the calendar.
   Name it at dinner.
   Tell your spouse.
   Tell your kids.
   If someone invites you to something that would crush the margin?
   “We’re not available that night.”
   (They don’t need the novella-length explanation.)

3. Do it together.
   Ask your kids what they want the December ritual to be.
   Something slow, small, and repeatable.
   Let them co-create it…

   they’ll own it more, remember it longer, and remind you when you forget.

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Why It Works

When December gets loud, slowing down is how you lead.

Nearly 80% of resolutions fail by February.
Some say it’s bad goals.
Others blame motivation.

But for most dads?
It’s burnout.
We start the new year already cooked.

Quiet practices rebuild the margin your January habits actually need to stand on.

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Closing Reminder

December doesn’t need more from you —
it needs more of you.

Start the ritual now,
protect the margin,
and let quietness do the work loud Decembers never can.