Your brain is used to running a million miles per hour, with a calendar that looks like a game of Tetris. It is no wonder the holidays can feel confusing. Everything in you is built for GO mode, while the holidays ask you to slow down, talk, rest, and simply be with your people.

You are used to living at full speed. You solve problems before most people even notice they exist. You predict fires and put them out before anyone smells smoke. So when someone tells you to “just relax and be present,” it feels about as realistic as “just grow wings and fly.”

So let’s translate presence into CEO language your ambitious mind will actually respect.

Being Present Is A Leadership Skill

Presence is not an optional extra you squeeze in when the stars align. Presence is leadership. When your mind and body land in the moment, your influence expands. And if you are always looking for reasons to escape family time in order to fix a crisis for a client, it is worth asking yourself what story that tells about your priorities.

Put Your Fixer Brain On Holiday Hours

If you are the default problem solver, you probably enter holiday gatherings like an undercover project manager. You hear tension and start troubleshooting. You notice a logistics gap and mentally create a system. Someone vents and you immediately map out a plan to fix it.

This holiday season, give yourself a new rule. Your brain can notice problems, but it does not have to solve them in real time. You are allowed to listen without offering a strategy. You are allowed to say “that sounds really hard” instead of “here is what you should do.” Your family does not want a business consult. They want you. The human version of you, not the problem solver unless they specifically ask.

Use Your Senses As An Anchor, Not Your Inbox

Being present is easier when your senses have something to focus on. Instead of refreshing your inbox, refresh your attention. Notice how the room smells. Listen to the music playing in the background. Feel the warmth of your drink in your hands.

Sensory awareness pulls you out of overthinking and anchors you into the moment right in front of you. When your mind wanders back to revenue goals or tax planning, gently redirect yourself. “Interesting that my brain wants to work right now. Can I look at the Christmas lights instead?”

Set Silent Boundaries Your Family Never Needs To See

You do not need to announce that you are “working on presence.” You can quietly build your own structure.

Choose when you will check email. Give yourself one CEO check-in in the morning and then put your phone in another room. Tell your team what actually counts as an emergency. Prepare for the holiday week the way you prepare for a launch so you are not tempted to “hop on real quick.”

Invisible boundaries matter. People do not know the rules you set, but they feel the calmer, softer, more grounded version of you that those boundaries create.

Remember What They Will Actually Remember

Your family will not remember that you cleared your inbox on Christmas Eve. They will not remember the two-minute client response. They will not remember that you solved a major problem behind the scenes.

They will remember your laugh. They will remember that you sat on the floor with the kids. They will remember that you looked them in the eyes and listened.

Presence feels small in the moment. Years later, it becomes the thing that matters most.

Your Future CEO Self Will Thank You

Here is the part your strategic brain will appreciate. Practicing presence during the holidays builds the exact qualities that make you a better leader.

You are teaching yourself to step out of urgency. You are proving you can pause without everything collapsing. You are learning to trust your systems, your team, and your future self.

When January arrives, you will not feel like a wrung-out sponge pretending to be a leader. You will feel clearer, more grounded, and more capable of making powerful, profitable decisions. Presence pays off. In your relationships, in your well-being, and in your leadership.

Your family does not need you to fix the holidays. They need you to be in the room. Heart open. Phone down. Mind here. That is the real upgrade.

Final Thoughts from Your Favorite Accountant 🧡

Being busy does not make you a better leader. Being present does. Your clients may love your work, but your family loves your presence. They notice when you are really there. And so do you.

Slow down. Celebrate the small moments. Build a business that supports your energy and the legacy you want to leave behind.

If you are ready to create financial systems that support presence instead of pressure, I am here for you.

✅ Hire My CFO for done-for-you bookkeeping that supports your life and leadership
👩‍💻 Join my Path to Profit Masterclasses to learn how to budget for rest, recovery, and real alignment
📚 Prefer to DIY? Grab my book and workbook on Amazon and learn how to build STOP accounts that give you peace, power, and permission to rest

👉 Because at the end of the day, cash flow is not luck, it is strategy.