Welcome to Episode #235 of the Own Your Best Life Podcast
So much of what we want in our dream careers — and our lives — comes down to one thing: feeling like we have the time and space to do what matters most.
And yet, as the year begins to wind down, that sense of space starts to tighten.
The holidays are approaching. The emails keep coming. Projects pile up.
You start to feel that familiar end-of-year pressure — the quiet whisper that says: You’re running out of time.
But what if that wasn’t true?
What if the end of the year wasn’t about racing to the finish line… but opening a new one?
Completion Meets Beginning
One of the reasons I love this time of year is because it holds two opposing — and equally beautiful — energies: completion and beginning.
For many, the fourth quarter feels like a vise slowly tightening. Deadlines, goals, the mental checklist of things we still “should” do before December 31st.
But if we slow down just a little, we can sense a different kind of energy — one that feels like possibility.
The changing of the seasons, cozy moments with family, the way the world softens as it prepares to rest. There’s something about this time that invites reflection and renewal.
When we see the end of the year as a beginning, we realize that there’s still so much potential waiting for us — not in frantic action, but in focused intention.
The Pressure We Feel — and Why It Matters
I know what it’s like to spend the holidays working, studying, or prepping for something that never seems to end. I used to feel envious of people who could fully disconnect — who weren’t glued to their laptops, waiting for the next urgent email to hit.
That pressure can feel personal. It can feel like you’re falling behind.
But the truth is — it’s not you. It’s the system.
Your job, your company, your business — they don’t care that it’s Thanksgiving week or that you traveled miles to be with your family. They care about their own survival.
And that’s okay — that’s how systems are designed to run.
The key is that you can care about something else.
You can care about your life. Your presence. Your energy.
You can care about the people you’re with — and how you want to feel as the year ends.
Take Care of Business — Before It Takes Over
When we understand that our jobs will keep moving with or without us, we stop fighting that reality and start working with it.
That’s where strategy meets spirituality.
We take care of business beforehand. We prepare.
We organize, delegate, communicate, and create the space we need to rest.
This is exactly what I teach inside Spiritual Achiever® Coaching, and it’s the foundation of our upcoming workshop: Strategic No’s and the High-Impact Career Filter.
Because when you know how to decide what truly matters — what actually deserves your energy — you stop getting lost in the noise.
You start focusing on what’s essential.
That’s what high performance with peace looks like.
The Spiritual Truth of Work and Worth
The deeper part of this conversation — the one that most people avoid — is the spiritual truth that your worth is not tied to your work.
When I was burning out, I thought I had no other choice.
I couldn’t quit because, what about the money?
I couldn’t skip a meeting even with a fever — who would handle it if I didn’t?
I couldn’t drop a single spinning plate — because what if everything fell apart?
That mindset kept me trapped for years.
I believed that success required sacrifice — and that rest was something you earned after proving yourself.
But what I’ve learned since then is that allowing yourself to do the things you want — to rest, to dream, to explore — is what creates options.
And options are freedom.
When you say yes to what truly matters, you begin to build a life where you no longer have to choose between success and peace.
You create a career that supports your joy instead of consuming it.
Diversify Your Career and Happiness Portfolio
If there’s one mindset shift that changes everything before year-end, it’s this:
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket — especially when it comes to your happiness.
We’re taught to invest our time, energy, and identity into one role, one title, one version of success. But when you start diversifying — your skills, your passions, your sources of meaning — you stop feeling trapped.
You create a career and happiness portfolio that’s resilient.
A life that allows for flexibility, creativity, and rest.
That’s why, alongside finishing projects and closing loops, I always ask my clients (and myself):
- What would future me thank me for doing right now?
- How can I set myself up for success before the next year begins?
- Where am I investing my time — and is it giving me energy back?
Back-to-Career Energy
Think of this time as a “back-to-school” moment for your soul — except this time, it’s back-to-career and back-to-calling energy.
Instead of checking boxes, you’re designing your next season intentionally.
You’re choosing work that reflects your potential and your purpose.
You’re creating time to grow, not just grind.
That’s the energy I want you to bring into these next few months.
It’s not about hustling harder — it’s about aligning smarter.
When You Feel Too Busy to Slow Down
The hardest part of this work is that you’ll feel too busy to do it.
You’ll tell yourself that you’ll reflect later. You’ll focus on your growth after the holidays.
But “later” rarely comes.
Unless you decide that it does.
You’ll need to develop your internal compass — a way of knowing what truly matters to you, not just what’s loudest around you.
That’s what we work on inside Spiritual Achiever Coaching®: how to align your energy, your goals, and your actions so you can create the results you want — in work and in life.
Once you learn this, everything changes.
You make decisions faster, with more peace.
You feel proud of the life you’re creating.
And you finally get to end the year present, grounded, and fulfilled.
Your Next Step
You deserve to end this year feeling calm and confident, not behind or burned out.
If you’re ready to create your own year-end plan and start the new year from a place of clarity and alignment, I invite you to join Spiritual Achiever® Coaching.
Together, we’ll create your Q4 strategy — one that helps you prioritize what matters, protect your energy, and step into your next chapter with purpose.
✨ Learn more or book a call with me at www.mayempson.com/contact
Start Here: Free Training
👉 Watch the free training:
STAND OUT AND LEAD – How to use spiritual and high-performance strategies to achieve time and financial freedom.
Apply for Coaching
Ready to live a life that feels as good as it looks?
📞 Apply now at www.mayempson.com/contact
Risk-free: If you don’t start seeing results in your first month, you’ll get your money back.
Want to know more about what happens when you join?
- When you join Spiritual Achiever® Coaching you’ll be supported for a full year: Career Revelation Academy: A 5-step career change process (if you have a job you want to stay in, I’ll show you how to love it even more) that can launch you into your next career chapter in 30 days.
- 2x/month group training and coaching on Spirituality, Achievement, Earth Energy and Harmony. You’ll know how to design your days for breakthroughs, create a personal brand and community, lead yourself and others through change, become more physically and mentally fit, reduce stress and reinvent what’s possible in this next chapter of your life.
- Discover your Leadership Strengths and Branding Workshop: Increase your awareness of what makes YOU different from others and how to become even better at your genius zone.
- Your Best Year workshop: Create your one year plan and design this next year, no matter what time of the year it is.
- Your Next 5 Years one-day virtual retreat: Vision what’s possible 5 years from now and break out of your old routines so you can step into new habits, behaviors and routines.
- Tickets to all in-person Spiritual Achiever retreats (discounted rates): Highly immersive and intimate gatherings where we spend time in nature, experience energy work, eat and move well – all while making big decisions and committing to what’s next for us.
- Monthly 1:1 Coaching Sessions: To help you break through obstacles, define your individual path, and to work on both strategy and mindset.
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