The neuroscience of endings, the psychology of time perception, and why November and December might be the most important months of your entire year
There’s a peculiar feeling that arrives every November, isn’t there?
It sneaks up on you—one moment you’re planning your summer, mapping out ambitious goals for “the year ahead,” and then suddenly, as if by some temporal sleight of hand, Mariah Carey is on the radio and you’re staring down the final sixty days of the year wondering where it all went.
And with that realization comes a choice.
You can tell yourself it’s too late. That the year is essentially over. That whatever you didn’t accomplish by October is now set in stone, and you might as well coast into January and “start fresh” with another set of resolutions you’ll abandon by March.
Or—and this is what I want to explore with you today—you can understand something profound about how your brain actually works, and use these final two months not just to salvage your year, but to completely redefine how you’ll remember it.
Because here’s what most people don’t realize: Your brain doesn’t judge a year by its average. It judges it by its peaks and its ending.
And that changes everything.
The Peak-End Rule: Why Your Brain Is Lying to You About Your Year
Let me tell you about a discovery that transformed how I think about time, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.
It’s called the Peak-End Rule, theorized by Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. The principle is elegantly simple and profoundly disruptive to how we think about experience:
Your brain doesn’t remember experiences objectively. It remembers the most intense moments (the peaks) and how things ended.
Think about that for a moment. Your brain is running a highlight reel, not a documentary.
This explains so much about human experience. Why a vacation can be wonderful for nine days but a stressful return flight will color your entire memory of the trip. Why a relationship that was mostly good but ended badly feels entirely painful in retrospect. Why a speech or presentation that starts strong but stumbles at the end feels like a failure, even if 80% of it was brilliant.
The ending disproportionately shapes the entire narrative.
I’ve seen this play out countless times when I work with clients at the beginning of a new year. They’ll tell me, “Last year was terrible. It was a disaster. Nothing worked.”
And then we’ll actually map out their year—month by month, project by project, win by win. And what emerges is fascinating: The year wasn’t objectively bad. Often, there were significant victories, meaningful progress, moments of genuine breakthrough.
But something difficult happened in November or December. A project fell through. A relationship ended. A health scare emerged. Something went wrong in the final act.
And that ending rewrote the entire story.
I know this intimately because I’ve lived it. My own 2024 had some beautiful chapters—real growth, meaningful work, connections that mattered. But the last quarter was… chaotic. Things fell on me that I didn’t ask for, didn’t see coming, couldn’t have prevented.
And even now, even knowing intellectually about the Peak-End Rule, I still catch myself characterizing 2024 as “a hard year.” Because my brain is doing exactly what Kahneman said it would do: over-weighting the ending.
But here’s where this gets interesting: If your brain is going to judge your year by how it ends anyway, you might as well use that to your advantage.
Why These Last Two Months Are More Important Than You Think
Let me reframe something for you:
You don’t have “only” two months left. You have the two most neurologically influential months of your entire year.
Think about what this means practically:
Everything you do in November and December will be what your brain uses to evaluate 2025. Not the average of all twelve months. Not a balanced assessment of wins and losses throughout the year. Your brain will focus on the peaks (which may have already happened) and the ending (which you’re living right now).
This isn’t just interesting psychology. It’s actionable wisdom.
Because it means that how you finish matters more than almost anything else you’ve done all year.
A strong ending can redeem a difficult year.
A weak ending can diminish a successful one.
And most importantly: You still have agency over this. You’re not a passenger in these final weeks. You’re still writing the story.
So the question becomes: What kind of ending do you want to create?
The Five-Step Framework for Finishing Strong
Over the years, I’ve developed a framework for navigating these final weeks that honors both the neuroscience of memory and the reality of human energy. It’s not about pushing harder or doing more. It’s about being more intentional with what remains.
Here’s how it works.
Step One: Set a Clear Intention and Return to What Matters
When you only have sixty days, you cannot afford to scatter your energy.
Most people don’t take the time to pause and ask: “What would make this ending meaningful?” They just keep running, keep doing, keep checking boxes until they collapse into the holidays exhausted and unsatisfied.
The first step isn’t to do more. It’s to clarify what actually matters.
You need to answer three questions with brutal honesty:
1. What do I need to finish?
Not everything. Not the entire list of things you hoped to accomplish this year. Just the one or two things that, if completed, would make you genuinely proud when you look back on these final weeks.
What has a deadline? What can realistically be completed? What matters enough to focus on?
2. What do I need to initiate?
These are the seeds you plant now that won’t bloom until 2026. You’re not looking for immediate results here—you’re setting things in motion that your future self will thank you for.
Maybe it’s a conversation you need to have. A relationship you need to begin building. A skill you want to start developing. Research you want to begin. Systems you want to put in place.
You won’t see the harvest this year. But you’re planting intentionally for the next season.
3. What do I need to stop?
This is often the hardest question and the most important one.
What collaborations aren’t serving you? What projects have run their course? What commitments are draining energy without providing value? What do you need to release to make space for what matters?
Autumn is nature’s season of letting go. The trees don’t hold onto every leaf. They release what they don’t need to survive the winter.
You need to do the same.
For me, this meant making some difficult decisions about collaborations that weren’t working. Not because anyone did anything wrong, but because they weren’t aligned anymore. It meant stopping things that had momentum but no longer had meaning.
And it meant choosing one primary project to focus on for the end of the year—something I can’t quite talk about publicly yet, but something that feels essential to complete before the year ends. Not because it needs to be perfect. But because it needs to exist.
That’s the power of clarity: It lets you say yes to what matters and no to everything else.
Step Two: Plan the Final Sprint Visually
Here’s something I’ve learned about the human brain: It struggles with abstract time but thrives with visual structure.
“Two months” is abstract. November 4th to December 31st is concrete.
So take out paper—actual physical paper, not a digital calendar—and map it out.
Print or draw two months. November and December, side by side, where you can see everything at once.
Now fill in:
- Your non-negotiable deadlines
- Your important milestones
- The time blocks you need to protect for focused work
- The recovery periods you need to honor your energy
- The commitments that already exist (holidays, travel, family obligations)
This simple act—seeing your time laid out in front of you—does something remarkable: It transforms anxiety into agency.
When time is abstract, you feel overwhelmed. When time is visual, you feel empowered.
Every client I’ve worked with who initially resists this exercise (“I already know what I need to do”) comes back afterward saying the same thing: “That relieved so much mental load. Everything feels clearer now.”
Because you’ve taken the calendar out of your head and put it in the world. You’ve externalized the planning so your brain can stop trying to hold it all.
Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.
Step Three: Create a Sustainable Rhythm, Not a Death March
Here’s where most people sabotage themselves:
They look at those two months, see how much they want to accomplish, and decide to go into full-on hustle mode. Maximum effort. No breaks. Push through to the end.
And then they arrive at the holidays completely depleted, possibly sick, definitely exhausted, having accomplished less than if they’d paced themselves.
Sustainable intensity beats unsustainable sprinting every single time.
This matters especially in autumn and early winter. If you’re in a temperate climate, your body is responding to shorter days, colder weather, and seasonal shifts. Your energy is not the same as it was in spring or summer. And pretending it is will only hurt you.
So instead of asking “How much can I do?”, ask: “What rhythm will let me finish strong without breaking?”
For me, this means:
- More recovery time built into my schedule
- Shorter, more focused work blocks
- Earlier bedtimes and more sleep
- Less tolerance for energy drains or distractions
- More strategic about what gets my best hours
I’m in immersion mode for my primary project, yes. But it’s structured immersion, not chaotic overwhelm. I work deeply, then I recover completely. I focus intensely, then I step back to gain perspective.
Find your rhythm. Not someone else’s. Yours.
The goal isn’t to match someone else’s output or meet some external standard of productivity. The goal is to honor your actual energy while still moving toward what matters.
Step Four: Enter Deep Focus Mode
Once you’ve clarified your intention, planned your time, and established your rhythm, it’s time to eliminate distraction and enter what I call “immersion mode.”
This is where you protect the final sprint from the thousand small things that will try to pull you away.
Every new idea that emerges? Write it down for January.
Every opportunity that appears? Evaluate it against your stated intention.
Every shiny object that calls to you? Acknowledge it and let it pass.
This isn’t about rigidity. It’s about integrity—staying true to what you said mattered.
You already made the hard decisions about what to focus on. Now you need the discipline to actually focus on it.
This is particularly challenging for multipotentialites and people with diverse interests (which, if you’re reading this, probably includes you). We’re wired to see connections, to pursue multiple threads, to explore tangents.
But sometimes, focus is an act of love.
Love for your future self who will inherit whatever you finish.
Love for the work itself that deserves your full attention.
Love for the life you’re trying to build that requires you to sometimes choose one path over many.
You’re not abandoning your multifaceted nature. You’re channeling it toward one thing for one season.
There’s a difference between focus and limitation. Focus creates depth. Limitation creates constraint.
Step Five: Honor the Journey—Both the Peaks and the Valleys
Before we finish, there’s something else we need to do—something that might seem counterintuitive when we’re talking about pushing toward a strong ending.
We need to pause and honor what already happened.
Remember the Peak-End Rule? It’s not just about the ending. It’s about the peaks too—the high points and the low points that your brain has already marked as significant.
Take time to look back at your year with compassion:
What were your peaks—the moments that made you feel alive, proud, connected, purposeful?
Really see them. Write them down. Let yourself feel the gratitude for those moments. They happened. They were real. They count.
What were your valleys—the moments that challenged you, broke you, tested you?
See those too. Not with judgment, but with compassion. You survived them. You’re still here. That itself is worth honoring.
What did those difficult moments teach you? What did they reveal about your resilience? What doors did they close that maybe needed to close? What growth did they force that you wouldn’t have chosen but maybe needed?
The goal isn’t to judge your year as “good” or “bad.” The goal is to see it as fully human—containing both light and shadow, both victory and struggle.
Because here’s the truth: A year with only highs would be fantasy, not life. The valleys are part of the story. The challenges are part of the growth. The struggles are part of what makes the peaks meaningful.
So honor it all. The beauty and the mess. The wins and the wounds. The progress and the setbacks.
You’re still here. You kept going. That alone is worth celebrating.
What a Successful Ending Actually Looks Like
So now we arrive at the essential question:
What would it mean for you to finish this year well?
Not perfectly. Not having achieved every goal you set in January. Not having magically solved every problem or healed every wound.
Just… well. In a way that feels aligned. In a way that honors your effort. In a way that lets you move into 2026 with momentum rather than exhaustion, with clarity rather than confusion, with pride rather than regret.
Maybe it means completing that one project that’s been sitting unfinished.
Maybe it means having those difficult conversations you’ve been avoiding.
Maybe it means finally setting boundaries that protect your energy.
Maybe it means investing in rest so you actually enter next year with reserves rather than running on empty.
Maybe it means releasing what’s no longer serving you so you have space for what could.
There’s no universal definition of success here. Only your definition.
But I’ll tell you what I know to be true from my own experience and from working with hundreds of people through these transitions:
The years we remember most fondly aren’t the ones where everything went perfectly. They’re the ones where we finished with integrity.
Where we kept our promises to ourselves about what mattered.
Where we stayed true to our values even when it was hard.
Where we chose meaning over momentum.
Where we honored both our ambition and our humanity.
That’s what a strong ending creates. Not perfection. Integrity.
The Invitation: Write Your Ending
You have sixty days.
Sixty days to shape how you’ll remember this entire year.
Sixty days to create momentum that carries into 2026.
Sixty days to prove to yourself what you’re capable of when you focus on what truly matters.
This isn’t about pressure. It’s not about cramming in more productivity or exhausting yourself in a final burst of achievement.
It’s about consciousness. About intentionality. About agency.
It’s about recognizing that you’re still writing this story, and the ending hasn’t been written yet.
So my question to you is this:
What needs to happen in these next sixty days for you to look back on 2025 with genuine satisfaction?
Not based on what you think you “should” accomplish.
Not based on what others expect.
Not based on the goals you set twelve months ago when you were a different person in a different situation.
Based on who you are now, what you’ve learned, what you’ve survived, what you’ve grown into, and what would make you proud.
That’s your compass for these final weeks.
Everything else is noise.
A Final Thought
Before you close this and return to your day, let me leave you with something to sit with:
Your year isn’t over. Your story isn’t finished. You still have the pen.
And the beautiful, terrifying, empowering truth is this: How you finish matters more than you think.
Not because of some external judgment or societal measure of success.
But because you’re the one who has to live with the story you tell yourself about this year.
And right now, in these final sixty days, you’re deciding what that story will be.
So make it one worth telling.
Make it one that honors your effort and your humanity.
Make it one that lets you step into 2026 not depleted and defeated, but energized and intentional.
You’ve got this. Now go finish strong.
What’s the one thing you need to finish, initiate, or stop to make this ending meaningful? I’m genuinely curious. The act of articulating it—even just to yourself—is often the first step toward making it real.
Key Takeaways: Your 60-Day Action Plan
Week 1 (Early November): Clarity
- Answer the three questions: What to finish? What to initiate? What to stop?
- Define what a successful ending looks like for you personally
- Write down your primary intention for these final weeks
Week 2 (Mid November): Planning
- Create a visual calendar of November and December
- Block out deadlines, commitments, and protected work time
- Schedule recovery periods and honor your energy rhythms
Weeks 3-7 (Late November through December): Execution
- Enter deep focus mode on your primary intention
- Maintain sustainable intensity—rhythm over sprint
- Capture new ideas for later but stay focused on now
Week 8 (Final Week of December): Integration
- Review your peaks—celebrate what worked
- Honor your valleys—learn from what challenged you
- Set the stage for 2026 with intentional closure
The Daily Practice:
- Morning: Review your intention and your most important task
- Midday: Check in with your energy and adjust as needed
- Evening: Acknowledge progress, plan tomorrow, release the day
Resources for Going Deeper
If you want support as you navigate these final weeks, there are ways to go deeper:
For personalized guidance: Consider booking a clarity session where we can map out your specific situation, identify what matters most, and create a custom plan for finishing strong.
For self-guided work: Explore time management frameworks that help you plan, prioritize, and protect your energy during high-stakes periods.
For ongoing support: Join communities of people navigating similar transitions who understand the unique challenges of finishing well while preparing for what’s next.
The key is recognizing when you need external perspective versus when you can chart your own course. Both are valid. Both work. Choose what serves your situation.
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