🦅 Nick here! Let’s get started on another great week.
This week, we're discussing how your employees aren’t coming back from the holidays unmotivated. They’re coming back carrying more than you see, and how you respond right now says everything about your leadership.
🦅 Today's Flight Path
Your Employees Might Need a Pat on the Back After the Holidays
Not a kick in the butt.
Let me tell you why.
A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop with friends. Every one of them looked exhausted. Not burned out from work. Worn down from making it through Thanksgiving and rolling straight into Christmas.
As a kid, you never understand how much effort goes into the holidays. Parents are trying to make things special, memorable, and workable for a dozen different preferences. Add hosting into the mix and the load easily doubles or triples.
That conversation stuck with me.
Because somewhere along the way, especially in hustle and performance-driven cultures, we forget that our employees have full lives outside of work. They don’t pause just because the office doors close. They show up after the holidays dog-tired, not because they don’t care, but because they’ve already been carrying a lot.
And too many owners misread that moment.
What looks like disengagement is often exhaustion catching up.
I wrote about this briefly in a LinkedIn post, but it’s worth expanding on here because a lot of owners are missing the mark right now.
So here’s to the employees who aren’t on their “A” game yet.
Wake me up in January!
The Invisible Labor Nobody Talks About
We convince ourselves this is the time to push harder.
Other companies are slowing down. We think this is our moment to take advantage, to win accounts just by showing up while everyone else is tired.
What we forget is that our people are carrying more than work.
During the holidays, employees pile on extra roles and responsibilities. Family obligations. Hosting. Travel. Work events. Emotional baggage. Missing people who aren’t here anymore.
Tired today doesn’t mean reckless last night.
It usually means someone carried everything else first.
Before you label someone as unmotivated, distracted, or checked out, remember what they may have just carried.
Why People Need Recovery After the Holidays
Here are the top ten reasons people need recovery, ranked by how often they quietly wreck people.
Emotional exhaustion from carrying the load
Planning, coordinating, hosting, remembering everything. Mental labor is still labor.Physical fatigue from weeks of buildup
Decorating, shopping, cooking, cleaning, traveling. The bill always comes due.Grief for loved ones who are no longer here
The empty chair hits harder when everything else goes quiet.Disappointment from unmet expectations
Not gifts. Feelings. Connection, appreciation, presence.Staying up too late to savor the moment
You knew tomorrow would hurt. You did it anyway. Worth it. Still hurts.Alcohol and sugar recovery
Fun in the moment. Punishing the next day.Relational tension and unspoken resentment
Who helped. Who didn’t. Who noticed. Who never does.The emotional crash after the buildup
Weeks of anticipation followed by sudden stillness.Life-stage shifts hitting home
Kids grown. Traditions changed. Christmas isn’t wrong. It’s just different now.The pressure to feel grateful when you feel flat
Being told it was “wonderful” while your body and heart say otherwise.
These things show up year-round. But they’re amplified after the holidays.
If someone on your team seems “off,” pause before you correct them.
Where To Go From Here?
If someone on your team feels off this week, don’t rush to fix them.
Pause. Observe. Ask better questions.
Leadership isn’t proven when everything is smooth.
It shows up when your people are human.
Compassion costs nothing.
And it quietly earns loyalty, trust, and effort long after the holidays are over.
Stay awesome, stay confident, and keep soaring higher!
📣📣 Cheering you on, Nick 📣📣