Gratitude, Burnout, and Leftovers: A CEO’s Guide to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is here.

Cue the gratitude posts, the overpacked schedules, and the annual internal debate about whether it’s acceptable to eat stuffing for breakfast. (It is. No further questions.)

But if you’re a private practice owner, this season brings more than just mashed potatoes and family time. It’s also the perfect time to take a hard look at what you’ve piled onto your business plate this year, and what you’re carrying into the next.

So before you autopilot into holiday mode or tell yourself you’ll think about operations in January, we’re breaking down three big Thanksgiving metaphors (Boss Co-style) that’ll help you step into CEO mode, clear the clutter, and (finally) run your practice like the sustainable business it’s meant to be.

What Private Practice Owners Should Actually Be Thankful For This Year

Let’s skip the vague “I’m thankful for growth” gratitude list and get into the real CEO wins, the ones that make your life easier and your business better.

This year, be thankful for:

• A team that tells you the truth. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when it stings. Because a team that communicates with honesty is one that helps you lead with clarity.

• A system that catches mistakes. Typos in client notes? Double-booked appointments? Incorrect billing codes? When your systems are doing their job, you don’t have to live in fire drill mode.

• A schedule that isn’t trying to kill you. Your availability isn’t a buffet. You don’t need to say yes to everything, especially at the expense of your health, sanity, or actual CEO responsibilities.

• Expenses you finally trimmed. Goodbye software no one uses and contractors who never respond. Let’s normalize deleting, canceling, and pausing things that no longer serve your team (or your bank account).

• The courage to say “no”. No to bad hires, no to that tempting-but-misaligned partnership, no to overloading your already burnt-out self. Boundaries are a business strategy.

• Processes that made things easier instead of harder. If you finally documented that intake process or built a dashboard that stopped your 12-tab spreadsheet shuffle, celebrate it! Less chaos is the goal.

These wins aren’t flashy, but they’re the foundation of a sustainable, scalable practice. That’s the kind of gratitude that actually fuels growth.

Stop Serving Yourself the Burnout Plate

If your Thanksgiving plate looked like your task list, it’d be piled so high you’d need a second table just to set it down.

And just like Thanksgiving dinner, it’s easy to overdo it in your business. One more thing. One more responsibility. One more project you’ll “just take care of real quick.”

But here’s the truth: Every extra serving on your business plate comes with a cost.

Every time you say “yes” to something that isn’t a priority, you’re saying “no” to your time, your health, and your capacity to lead. That’s not being a good leader. That’s being a human bottleneck.

So this season, try a different approach:

• Trim your responsibilities like you're trimming fat off the turkey.

• Delegate what doesn’t require your brain, license, or lived experience.

• Create SOPs so your team doesn’t need to ask you the same question five different ways.

• Say no to things that don’t align, even if they look tempting on the plate.

Your profit will grow once you do more stop doing everything.

The Leftovers Strategy: Repurpose What You Already Have

You NEVER throw away Thanksgiving leftovers. You turn them into sandwiches, soups, and casseroles for days. Weeks. Years.

Your practice should work the same way.

Instead of constantly buying new software, hiring new team members, or reinventing the wheel, look at what you already have:

🍗 Software you’re underusing: Are there features you’re paying for that could eliminate other tools or automate tasks you're still doing manually?

🥔 Processes that can be cloned: Your client onboarding flow can become your new hire onboarding flow with a few tweaks. You don’t need to build from scratch.

🥬 Team members with untapped skills: If your front desk person is secretly a spreadsheet wizard, why are you the one doing manual reporting?

🥧 Templates and forms collecting digital dust: Update them. Reuse them. Standardize them. Your future self will thank you.

🥕 Your own brainpower: That script you wrote in a hurry for one tough email? That’s the start of a policy. That outline you made for training someone? That’s a template. Repurpose it.

Most practice owners are sitting on a goldmine of underutilized resources.

You need to use more what you already have. More intentionally.

TL;DR: Your Practice Doesn’t Need a New Plate. It Needs a Better Recipe.

This Thanksgiving, give yourself permission to stop overstuffing your calendar and your brain.

Be grateful for the systems you’ve built, the clarity you’ve gained, and the progress you’ve made.

Then take a look at your leftovers, trim what’s no longer serving you, and stop putting yourself last at the table.

And if you’re ready for help sorting it all out? You know where to find us.