What November-December Taught Us About Sustainable Performance

November and December are the ultimate stress test for your systems.

Travel. Social events. Disrupted routines. Family obligations. Work deadlines before the holiday shutdown. The gym being closed. Your usual meal prep falling apart because you're eating at your in-laws' house.

If your approach only works when conditions are perfect, November-December will expose that immediately.

I saw this play out in real time with clients. About half hit a version of the same breaking point. Their systems required precision that chaos wouldn't allow, and when they couldn't maintain that precision, the entire approach collapsed.

The other half? They adjusted. And they came out the other side having actually maintained progress through one of the most challenging periods of the year.

Here's what separated the two groups.

The Perfect Plan That Doesn't Survive

One client had been making solid progress. Tracking was dialed in. Training was consistent. Everything was working.

Then November hit. More social events. Restaurant meals. Holiday gatherings where precise food tracking wasn't possible.

The rule was simple: track everything precisely, or don't track at all. If accuracy couldn't be maintained, there was no point.

Except that rule only works when you have complete control over your environment. And November-December is specifically designed to remove that control.

So tracking stopped. Not because of lack of care, but because the system required a level of precision that reality couldn't accommodate.

Here's what happened next: without any tracking, all awareness of intake disappeared. What started as "I'll just eat reasonably" turned into weeks of genuinely having no idea what was being consumed. Training stayed consistent, but nutrition was completely off the rails.

By the December check-in, there was significant regression. Not because of lack of discipline. Because the system was binary: perfect execution or complete abandonment.

The Adjustment That Actually Works

The fix wasn't complicated. We changed one rule.

Old system: Track everything precisely, or don't track at all.

New system: Track every meal, even if you're estimating.

At a restaurant? Estimate. At a holiday party? Estimate. Can't weigh the food your mother-in-law made? Estimate.

The goal wasn't precision. The goal was to maintain awareness and practice the behaviour of tracking, even when conditions weren't ideal.

This did two things:

First, it kept engagement with the process. Not falling into the black hole of "I'll get back on track Monday" that turns into "I'll get back on track in January."

Second, it kept intake within a reasonable range. The estimates weren't perfect, but they were close enough to prevent the complete derailment that happens when you stop paying attention entirely.

What I Learned From My Own November-December

I traveled extensively during this period. More than usual. Different cities, different time zones, different gyms, irregular access to food I'd normally eat.

I made YouTube content about how I was navigating it, partly to document the process and partly to work through the strategy in real time.

Here's what actually mattered:

I identified my non-negotiables. Not everything I do when conditions are perfect. The specific things that, if I maintained them, would keep me on track even when everything else was chaotic.

For me: training happened every day, even if it was shorter or modified. The protein target got hit, even if other macros fluctuated. Sleep got prioritized, even if it meant saying no to evening plans.

Everything else? Flexible. I didn't stress about meal timing or specific food choices or whether I was training in my preferred gym. I focused on the handful of variables that actually move the needle and let everything else adapt to circumstances.

The Principle That Matters

Your system needs to account for reality, not ideal conditions.

If your approach requires:

• Perfect access to your kitchen and meal prep

• No social obligations

• Complete control over your schedule

• Zero travel or disruptions

• Ideal training conditions

...then you don't have a system. You have a plan that works 8 weeks out of the year.

The question isn't "what's the optimal approach?" The question is "what's the approach that I can actually maintain when life gets chaotic?"

Because life gets chaotic regularly. November-December isn't an anomaly. It's a predictable, recurring period that happens every single year. If your system falls apart during this period, it's going to fall apart during any period that disrupts your routine.

What This Means for January

Most people approach January by creating another perfect plan that requires ideal conditions.

They set ambitious goals that sound impressive but don't account for the fact that their life in January won't be fundamentally different from their life in December. The chaos might be different, but chaos is still the default state.

Instead, identify your specific roadblock. The thing that caused your system to fail when conditions got difficult.

Was it:

• A system that required precision you couldn't maintain?

• Non-negotiables that weren't actually non-negotiable?

• Goals that required too many variables to align perfectly?

• An all-or-nothing approach that didn't allow for adaptation?

Then build your January goal around that roadblock.

If you fall into the "perfect tracking or nothing" trap: Your goal is to track every meal in January, even when you're estimating. Maintain the behavior, even when you can't maintain the precision.

If your "non-negotiables" disappeared the moment your schedule got disrupted: Your goal is to identify the 2-3 things that actually move the needle and make those genuinely non-negotiable. Everything else is flexible.

If your plan required everything to go right: Your goal is to define what "good enough" looks like when conditions aren't ideal. What's the version of your system that survives chaos?

The Bottom Line

The plan that survives chaos beats the perfect plan that doesn't.

November-December just showed you which plan you have. Use that information.

Set one goal for January. What's the specific adjustment you're making based on what November-December exposed? Reply and tell me what it is. Or if you're not sure what your roadblock actually was, ask - that's a useful place to start.

Stay Strong,

Paul Oneid, MS. MS. CSCS

Founder and Head Coach