The Post-Holiday Pivot: How to Reclaim Your Schedule

We’ve all been there. The lights are coming down, the last of the holiday treats are finally gone, and the calendar is suddenly looking a lot more crowded than it did two weeks ago. After the beautiful mess of the holidays, the “Great Re-entry” into a normal routine can feel a bit like running through sand. You want to get back to your goals, but your schedule feels like it belongs to someone else.

The good news? You don’t have to do it all by Monday morning. Reclaiming your schedule isn’t about a total life overhaul; it’s about a pivot. It’s about making small, intentional adjustments to find your rhythm again without the burnout. Here is how I’m lacing up and leaning back into the daily grind this month.

Audit Your “New” Normal

Before you can fix your schedule, you have to see where it stands. The holidays often leave behind “schedule creep”: new habits or obligations that don’t serve your long-term goals. Take ten minutes to look at your week. Where are the time-wasters? Where can you reclaim thirty minutes for a walk or a quiet morning? Seeing it on paper makes the pivot feel manageable rather than overwhelming.

Prioritize the “Big Rocks” First

When we feel behind, we tend to chase the small, easy tasks first just to feel productive. Instead, identify your non-negotiables: your “Big Rocks.” Whether that’s your morning movement, a specific work block, or family dinner, get those on the calendar first. If you build the day around your priorities, the smaller “sand” tasks (the ones that fill in spaces between the rocks) will eventually find their place.

The 15-Minute Rule for Movement

Getting back into a fitness routine is often the hardest part of the post-holiday pivot. If a full workout feels too daunting, commit to just 15 minutes. Tell yourself you’ll walk or run for 15 minutes, and if you want to stop then, you can. Usually, once the shoes are tied and the fresh air hits, you’ll keep going. It’s about breaking the friction of starting. We talk about this more in this post on staying on track through the holidays.

Prep for the “Future You”

Decision fatigue is real, especially when you’re trying to find your groove again. Help your “Future Self” by doing a little bit of the heavy lifting the night before. Lay out your running clothes, prep the coffee maker, or jot down your top three priorities for the next day. When you remove the need to make choices in the morning, the routine starts to handle itself.

Give Yourself a Grace Period

The most important part of a pivot? Not oversteering. You didn’t lose your fitness or your discipline over the holidays; you just took a detour. If Tuesday doesn’t go as planned, don’t scrap the whole week. Give yourself permission to be a “work in progress” for the first couple of weeks of January. Consistency is a marathon, not a sprint.

Reclaiming your schedule doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t require perfection. It’s about the “Post-Holiday Pivot”: that conscious choice to turn back toward the habits that make you feel like your best self. Take it one day, one mile, and one small win at a time. Before you know it, the “daily grind” will feel like a steady, joyful rhythm again.

Join us next week —> What helps you stay motivated through the winter’s blah months? holidays?

Link Up With Tuesday Topics

Welcome back to Tuesday Topics, as Jenny, from Runners Fly joins Jenn at Runs With Pugs to co-host this link-up! Please join us every week for a new topic! Write on our weekly prompt or choose your own topic! Make sure to add your post to the link up, link back to your hosts, and comment on the other shared posts!