Doing Christmas Properly

How to enjoy yourself without stifling your positive start in 2026

The festive season line is a difficult one to tread.

On one hand, this is the one time of year where you go all out – guilt-free – and drink, eat and socialise way more than you’ve ever had the opportunity to this year.

Whether this is chipping away at an advent calendar.

Eating seriously rich Christmas food.

Or copious – often midweek – drinking (I’ve already had my fair share of Baileys…)

And yet on the other hand…

You’ve worked so hard this year, assessed what you want to improve, where you want to take it.

And have already chartered a course towards your ambitious, exciting new goals for 2026, starting in January.

How then, does one reconcile “not missing out” and rightfully indulging properly over Christmas whilst retaining the right amount of discipline and steadfastness to start well in the New Year?

My answer to this question needs to first expose what I’ve found, over a 15 year career, to be the relationship behind attainment and willpower that follows a time like Christmas.

And how being too disciplined can be as perilous as losing control when it comes to your January performance…

Let’s discuss willpower first, as it really is the central tenet that binds all of this together.

Willpower isn’t hardware; it’s software.

Nothing more than a resource that can be tapped into, depleted and also, crucially, replenished.

While some people may be seen to have more willpower, what this means more often than not, is that they’ve expanded their reservoir of it by attaching it to the right goal, or developed habits to manage it.

Now, with many of my clients I incorporate tools on their plan, to help manage and preserve this finite resource.

This does not simply come down to diet: it comes down to a wide range of habits and structures designed to keep people moving forward without too much life disruption.

And sometimes it requires finessing, and loosening, to allow for even better results to come.

And this is what should happen over Christmas.

We need to be able to pan the camera out, understand our goals over the medium-long term, and consider where our efforts will have the most effect.

And where we have the best opportunity to keep willpower stable and replenished, whilst continuing to at the very least maintain the progress already made, or even move forward.

Because you ostensibly have two extreme options: negate all your good habits, train much less frequently and go all in on the Christmas experience.

Booze, food, the lot.

And emerge in January, super-motivated to undo the damage.

But now you aren’t at the starting line; you’re 50m back.

And that damage does need to be undone before you can be said to be progressing again.

Or!

You stay the course, keep yourself out of the biggest trappings of the Christmas experience and hit January – self-righteous and sober as a judge – with a head start on where you would have been otherwise.

And certainly, ahead of everyone else.

But as noted previously…

Willpower is a resource! A finite one at that.

And you’ve just missed your best opportunity all year to unwind with everyone else – at a time when everyone is unwinding – and opened yourself up to a high risk of fading motivation early in the year.

Motivation isn’t discipline. That’s true.

But you also need a requisite amount of motivation to be disciplined.

Maybe not acutely (it’s cold and dark outside and I can’t be fucked to go for the run I planned)

But at least in the context of your main goal – your long term goal – you need to be motivated to work towards it and this informs your discipline.

It might not matter if you’re a professional athlete.

It might not matter if you’re a movie star with a million dollar pay check getting ready for a role.

If you’re primarily training for yourself, and something you want…

You need to allow at least some ebb and flow in your effort level, the times you apply yourself hard to the grind and the times when you dial things back to keep willpower stocked up and keep life and your goals in symbiotic harmony.

You won’t hit the same heights if you keep a linear level of effort.

You NEED the ebb and flow.

Times when you’re on, and times when you’re ON.

Because over Christmas, you can still be “on” enough to inch forward and not allow too much disruption.

But this doesn’t require living like a monk.

For example…

Instead of hitting 4-5 sessions a week.

Hit 2-3.

Instead of pushing each workout to the brink, dial the intensity back and allow your body some time to recover.

A deload would be a great intervention for this time of year, and could allow your nervous system some respite to be able to hit some earl 2026 PR’s (as well as assuaging some niggles in the background)

Instead of religiously tracking your food and adhering to a strict diet plan.

Focus on keeping your protein intake up each meal and be a bit more liberal with your choices. You won’t overeat too much if you keep protein intake as a high priority.

And instead of saying no to social events that might derail you, well, would you rather have socialising fuck with you now or in January?

You need to see your friends, your family and maintain the positive connections in your life as this will spur you on to perform even better.

And all of this leads me to restate an absolute truth that is important to recognise: maintenance is infinitely easier than progression.

You’ve already climbed halfway up the mountain; you won’t slide down to the bottom just because you aren’t gunning for it over one month (or a couple weeks if that)

So, put down the dumbbell.

Pick up a dram of Baileys.

Reward yourself for what you’ve accomplished this year and remain consistent – enough – with the habits and attendance to the gym that got you there.

But dial it back here.

Your body needs it.

Your mind needs it.

And your future greatest achievements need it.

Times like this only come around once a year.

Make them count as good as your reps.