Episode 62 - The One Habit I’m Protecting This December (And Why You Need One Too)
Welcome to Episode 62 of the Time for Living Podcast!
TRANSCRIPT
show notes
You can't maintain everything in December. Nobody can.
Right now you're trying to keep all the plates spinning—your morning routine, business tasks, content creation, client work, holiday events, keeping the house decent, being the magic-maker for your kids. And you're doing everything at about 60%, feeling guilty about all of it.
This episode is for mom entrepreneurs who are drowning in December and need permission to be strategic instead of exhausted. Because there's a smarter way through this month than trying to do it all.
In this episode, you'll discover:
The One Anchor Habit Method: How to choose the single habit that will keep you grounded through December chaos
Why protecting one thing is more powerful than trying to maintain everything and failing at all of it
The real cost of decision fatigue and how menu planning (or your version of it) can buy back hours of mental space
Three specific questions to identify which habit deserves your protection this month
How to let other things slide on purpose without guilt—and why having systems in place the rest of the year makes this possible
The mental shift from "proving yourself" to "sustaining yourself" that changes everything about how you approach this season
FREE RESOURCE
Struggling to figure out what to let slide? Grab my free Hidden Time Finder at timeforliving.co/timefinder to see where your time is actually going so you can make these trade-off decisions more clearly.
Let’s Connect:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timeforlivingco/
• Email: hello@timeforliving.co
Final Thought:
December is not the month to prove yourself—it's the month to sustain yourself. Choose your one thing today.
TRANSCRIPT - The One Habit I’m Protecting This December (And Why You Need One Too)
INTRODUCTION
I chose one thing this December. Just one.
And I'm letting everything else be messy.
That sentence would have made me feel like a failure three years ago. Like I wasn't trying hard enough. Like I was giving up.
But now? It's the smartest decision I could make.
Welcome back to Time For Living. I'm Lucy, and if you're listening to this while sitting in the school pickup line or folding laundry or hiding in your closet for five minutes of peace, I see you.
This is Episode 62, and we're talking about the one habit you need to anchor to this month. Not five habits. Not your entire routine. One.
And I'm going to tell you what mine is, why I chose it, and how to figure out yours—because if you don't choose one thing to protect, December is going to choose for you. And it's probably going to choose overwhelm and burnout.
THE DECEMBER REALITY CHECK
Let me paint you a picture of what December looks like for most mom entrepreneurs right now.
You wake up thinking about the client deadline you need to hit before the year ends. Then your kid reminds you about the class party you volunteered to bring snacks for. You're trying to figure out when you'll get your content done for next week. Your mom texts asking about Christmas Eve plans. You need to order gifts. You have three holiday parties this week. Your business coach is asking about your Q1 goals. And somewhere in all of that, you're supposed to be present and magical and enjoy the season.
Can we just be honest for a second?
You can't do all of that well. Nobody can.
And here's what usually happens: you try anyway. You try to keep all the plates spinning. Your morning routine, your business tasks, your content creation, your client work, showing up for all the holiday events, keeping the house decent, making festive meals, being the magic-maker for your kids.
And you end up doing everything at about sixty percent. You're not really present with your family because you're thinking about your business. You're not making real progress on your business because you feel guilty about not being fully present with your family. And you're definitely not taking care of yourself because there's no time left.
Then you hit January completely exhausted, feeling like you failed at everything.
What if there was a different way?
MY ONE HABIT: MENU PLANNING
Okay, I'm going to tell you the one habit I'm protecting this December, and you might be surprised.
Menu planning.
Not my morning routine. Not my content creation. Not even my daily business tasks.
Menu planning.
And before you think that's not ambitious enough or not business-focused enough, let me tell you why this is actually one of the most strategic decisions I could make.
On the 15th of every month, I sit down and plan our dinners for the entire next month. The whole month. And I write it all in pencil because life happens—we eat out, someone gets sick, plans change. The menu is a guide, not a prison.
Now, I know what you might be thinking: "Lucy, that sounds intense. How is that the ONE habit when it seems like a lot?"
Here's the thing. That one planning session on the 15th? It buys me back hundreds of decisions for the entire next month.
Let me show you what I mean.
THE REAL COST OF "WHAT'S FOR DINNER?"
Picture this: It's 4:47pm on a Wednesday.
You've been working on a client project, you just had a Zoom call, you picked up your kids, and you're standing in your kitchen looking at your phone trying to figure out what's for dinner.
You open the fridge. Close it. Open the pantry. Nothing sounds good. You're not even sure what ingredients you have. You could make pasta but didn't you just do that two days ago? You think maybe there's chicken but is it frozen? How long does chicken take to thaw?
Your kid walks in asking for a snack. Your phone buzzes with a text from your partner asking if you need help with the plan for dinner. You're trying to remember what you ate yesterday. Should you just order pizza? But you’re to eat healthier. And you already did takeout twice this week.
Ten minutes later, you still haven't decided. Your mental energy is completely drained from this one decision. And now you need to switch gears and help with homework but your brain is still stuck on dinner.
Sound familiar?
That's decision fatigue. And it's killing your capacity to show up for your business.
Every decision you make—what to eat for breakfast, what to wear, what to work on first, whether to respond to that email, what to post on Instagram—all of it depletes your mental energy.
By five o'clock, you have nothing left. That's when you scroll instead of work on your business. That's when you snap at your kids. That's when you make decisions you regret later.
So when I plan my menu on the 15th of the month, I'm not just planning meals. I'm buying back mental space. I'm protecting my decision-making energy for the things that actually matter—like my client work, my podcast, my business, being present when my son tells me about his day.
Even when things change—and they always do in December—I have options already planned. I can shift things around. Skip a meal and move it to tomorrow. But I'm never starting from zero. I'm never making all those decisions from scratch when my brain is already tired.
And here's the business angle: every dinner decision I don't have to make is brain space I get back for my business. When I know what's for dinner by the 15th of the month, I'm not standing in front of the fridge at 5pm trying to figure it out. I'm finishing that proposal. I'm recording content. I'm doing the work that actually grows my business.
Menu planning is my anchor habit because it has a ripple effect on everything else.
(And yes, if you want to hear how I actually do monthly meal planning—because I know some of you are wondering how that even works—send me a DM on Instagram and I'll do a whole episode breaking down my system. It's honestly one of the most powerful things I've built into my life.)
WHY YOU NEED ONE ANCHOR HABIT THIS DECEMBER
Now, your one habit might not be menu planning. And that's completely fine.
Maybe your one habit is moving your body for fifteen minutes every morning. Maybe it's your journaling practice. Maybe it's sending one pitch email per week. Maybe it's reading before bed instead of scrolling.
The specific habit doesn't matter as much as the principle.
You need one anchor habit this December because it's going to keep you tethered when everything else is chaos.
Think of it like this: December is a storm. You can't control the weather. You can't stop the wind and rain and things flying around everywhere. But you can drop an anchor so you don't drift completely off course.
That one habit? That's your anchor.
It's the thing that reminds you that you haven't given up on yourself just because it's the holidays. It's the thing that proves you can still keep a commitment to yourself even when life is demanding everything from you. It's evidence that you didn't lose yourself completely in the chaos.
And here's what I really want you to understand: choosing one habit to protect isn't about lowering your standards. It's about being strategic with finite energy.
It's about saying, "I know I can't do everything right now at the level I want, so I'm going to choose the one thing that will have the biggest impact."
For me, that's menu planning because of the mental space it gives me back. That mental space serves both my family and my business.
For you, it might be different.
So how do you choose?
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR ONE ANCHOR HABIT
Let me walk you through this because I don't want you to just pick something random. There's actually a method here.
First, think about all the habits you're currently trying to maintain. Your morning routine, your business tasks, your self-care practices, your household systems—just bring them to mind.
Now I want you to ask three questions. And be really honest with yourself here.
Question 1: Does this habit give me energy back, or does it take more than it gives?
Some habits are net positive. They actually return more energy than they require. Menu planning does that for me—it takes fifteen minutes once a month but gives me back hours of mental space and decision-making energy.
Other habits are still good habits, but they take more than they give right now. They might be perfect for January or February, but they're not the right anchor for a chaotic season.
What on your list actually fills your tank?
Question 2: Does this habit create a ripple effect that makes other things easier?
The best anchor habits are force multipliers. They knock down other dominos.
Menu planning makes grocery shopping easier, makes weeknight cooking easier, makes our budget easier to manage, and frees up mental space for my business. One habit, multiple benefits.
What habit on your list has that kind of ripple effect? What's the thing that makes everything else a little bit easier?
Question 3: Can I protect this habit even on my worst day this December?
This is critical. Your anchor habit needs to be doable even when everything goes wrong.
Even when your kid is home sick. Even when you have family visiting. Even when you're exhausted and overwhelmed and everything feels like too much.
For me, I can protect that one planning session on the 15th no matter what else is happening. If I was trying to anchor to a full morning routine or daily business tasks? That would break the first time we had early hockey practice or a school event or someone was up all night sick.
Your anchor habit should be small enough and valuable enough that you can protect it no matter what.
Once you've answered those three questions honestly, you'll probably see one or two habits that stand out. Pick one. Just one.
And write it down. Put it somewhere you'll see it. This is the one thing you're protecting in December.
WHAT I'M LETTING SLIDE (AND THE PERMISSION YOU NEED)
Now here's the part that might be harder to hear, but it's just as important as choosing your anchor habit.
You have to let other things slide. On purpose.
For me? I'm letting cleaning slide this month.
Now, before you think I'm just abandoning my house to chaos, let me explain what I mean.
The rest of the year, I have a cleaning system. I know what gets done when. I have rhythms and routines that keep things running. That system works for me from January through November.
But in December? I'm intentionally stepping back from that system.
The house is messier than usual. I'm not doing the deep cleaning I normally do. Those projects that are usually on my list? They're not happening this month. And I'm definitely not organizing closets or tackling anything extra.
And here's why this works: because I have that system in place the rest of the year, I can let go in December without everything completely falling apart.
This is what strategic planning looks like. You build systems during the sustainable months so you have permission to ease up during the unsustainable ones.
And I can hear the voice in your head right now because it's the same voice that's in mine: "But what will people think? What if someone stops by? Isn't this just being lazy? Shouldn't you be able to do it all?"
Let me be really direct with you: That voice is lying.
Letting cleaning slide this month isn't failure. It's not laziness. It's not giving up.
It's a strategic trade-off I'm making on purpose. And the people that drop by? They drop by because they love you for you, not because your home is perfect.
I'm choosing mental space for my business over maintaining my usual cleaning standards. I'm choosing to show up for my work over having everything perfectly tidy. I'm choosing to protect my one anchor habit instead of exhausting myself trying to do everything at the same level all year long.
Because here's what would happen if I tried to maintain my full cleaning system in December: I'd end up doing everything halfway. I'd be stressed and resentful. I'd snap at my family. I'd feel guilty about my business not getting enough attention. And I'd roll into January completely burned out with nothing to show for it.
Instead, I'm going into January with my anchor habit intact. With proof that I can keep a commitment to myself. With mental space protected. With energy still in the tank.
That's worth a messier house for one month.
Now, what are you letting slide?
Maybe it's your usual social media posting schedule. Maybe it's responding to every email within an hour. Maybe it's the elaborate holiday decorating you usually do—I let that one go years ago. Maybe it's saying yes to every event invitation that comes your way.
You get to choose what matters most right now. And you get to let the rest be imperfect or incomplete or not done at all.
If you're struggling with this—and I know a lot of you are because the guilt is real—I have a free resource that might help. It's called the Hidden Time Finder, and it helps you see where your time is actually going so you can make these trade-off decisions more clearly. You can grab it at timeforliving.co/timefinder.
But right now, I'm giving you permission to not do it all.
Choosing one thing to protect and letting other things slide doesn't make you a bad mom. It doesn't make you a bad entrepreneur. It doesn't mean you're not trying hard enough.
It means you're being smart about your finite energy during a season that demands more than you have to give.
THE MENTAL SHIFT THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
I want to address something before we wrap up because I know some of you are sitting with this uncomfortable feeling right now.
We've been conditioned to believe that doing less means we're lazy. That we're not committed. That we're not serious about our goals or our families or our lives.
But what if doing less strategically is actually the smartest move you could make?
Here's the shift I want you to make: December is not the month to prove yourself. It's the month to sustain yourself.
You're not quitting. You're not giving up. You're not abandoning your goals.
You're being honest about what this season requires and protecting what matters most so you can actually make it to January without completely falling apart.
Think about a mom entrepreneur who tries to maintain everything in December. She's exhausted by Christmas. She hits January burned out, behind on everything, feeling like she failed at all of it. And she has to spend the first month of the new year just recovering.
Now think about a mom entrepreneur who chose one anchor habit in December. Protected it fiercely. Let other things be messy. She hits January with momentum. With proof she can keep commitments to herself. With energy. With a foundation to build on.
Which one do you want to be?
When you protect one habit through December, you build confidence. You build evidence. You prove to yourself that you can be strategic, that you can make hard choices, that you can sustain yourself through chaos.
That's what you're taking into 2026. Not burnout. Not guilt. Not the feeling that you failed at everything.
You're taking in proof that you know how to take care of yourself and your business even when life gets hard.
YOUR ONE THING
Okay, here's what I want you to do. Not later. Right now.
If you're driving, obviously keep your hands on the wheel. But if you're folding laundry or sitting in the pickup line or walking on a treadmill, pause for a second.
Think about those three questions:
What gives you energy back?
What creates a ripple effect?
What can you protect even on your worst day?
What comes to mind?
That's probably your anchor habit.
Write it down. Text it to a friend. Send me a DM on Instagram. Make it real by saying it out loud.
This is your one thing for December. Everything else can wait. Everything else can be imperfect. Everything else can slide.
But this one thing? You're protecting it.
And when you get to January and you realize you kept that commitment to yourself through all the chaos, you're going to feel like the strategic, capable, powerful woman you actually are.
CLOSING
Next week, Episode 63, we're talking about permission to rest. Why I'm not hustling into 2026 and why you don't have to either.
Because the "New Year, New You" pressure is about to be everywhere, and I want to give you a different perspective before you get swept up in all of that.
But for this week? Choose your one anchor habit. Protect it. Let everything else be messy.
You've got this.
I'll talk to you next Tuesday.