✨You Can Finish Strong and Let Go

If you are anything like me, you’re feeling the crunch right now.

Not because your organisation has formally asked you to “do more with less.”
Not because of a restructure or a budget cut.
But because… life happened.

A team member had to move interstate at short notice.
Capacity changed overnight.

And suddenly, the year-end stretch felt heavier.

What surprised me wasn’t the pressure.
It was my response.

Instead of defaulting to push through,
instead of quietly absorbing the gap,
I noticed something different arise in me:

Curiosity.

Not: How do I stretch my team further?
But:
How do we achieve the outcome without breaking the people?

And that question changed everything.

A Different Kind of Leadership Question

I didn’t have spare capacity to lean on.
My team was already stretched.
And asking them for “just a bit more” would’ve borrowed from tomorrow’s energy.

So instead, I shifted the conversation outward…

To my stakeholders.

Not with a crisis tone.
Not with apology.
Not with drama.

But with clarity and partnership.

I named the reality:
Capacity had changed.

I named the intention:
We didn’t want to enter the holiday season carrying unfinished work like emotional baggage.

And then I asked the question that unlocked everything:

“How might we get this done, together, without compromising the outcome or the people?”

What I received wasn’t resistance.

It was…

Alignment.
Practicality.
Ownership.
Relief.

Not because I had the perfect pitch.
But because I invited others into the problem instead of carrying it alone.

The Myth We’re Still Undoing

Somewhere along the way, many of us absorbed this belief:

But leadership isn’t about who holds the most weight.
It’s about who knows when to redistribute it.

What I was reminded of this week:

You don’t finish strong by holding more.
You finish strong by holding what matters.

And letting the rest go.

A Gentle Check-In for You

As we wind down for the year.…

I want to ask you:

• What are you still carrying that was never meant to be yours alone?

• Where are you compensating instead of collaborating?

• What would change if you invited others into the how, not just delivered the what?

• What would finishing “lighter” look like — not just faster?

And maybe the bigger one:

What are you willing to leave behind in 2025 without guilt?

Burn Bright, Not Out

This season doesn’t need your heroics.

It doesn’t need quiet sacrifice.

It doesn’t need you burning what little is left of your energy just to prove you can.

You’ve done enough.

Let finishing strong mean finishing lighter.

And let leadership, this time, feel like partnership — not pressure.

Until next week,
Mary

Success without sacrifice — because your fire should fuel, not consume.