Your Daily Boost — Episode 642

Jonathan Jones
Nov 25, 2025
4 min read

The Ghost Town Advantage

There’s a particular kind of quiet that shows up the week of Thanksgiving. Not the peaceful, serene kind. Not the “I’m on vacation and life is sunshine” kind either. I mean the other kind. The eerie, confusing, office-ghost-town quiet.

The kind where half the country is already checked out, the other half is pretending they’re not, and you’re standing somewhere in the middle trying to figure out what that means for you. It’s the week where your inbox slows down, your pace lightens just enough to notice it, and the world gives you an inch of space — but only if you’re paying attention.

This is the Ghost Town Advantage.

Not because it’s magical. Not because it makes everything easier. But because when the noise fades, even briefly, you finally get to hear yourself think. And that’s rarer than it should be.

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The Quiet That Tells the Truth

When the world gets still, you start noticing things you’ve been stepping over for weeks:

A task that’s been waiting on your courage, not your calendar
A decision you’ve postponed because you didn’t want to face the outcome
A goal that keeps tapping you on the shoulder politely
A pattern you didn’t realize you’ve outgrown
A habit you know is costing you energy
And the big one — a direction you know needs adjusting

That clarity doesn’t show up when everything is loud. Chaos keeps you distracted. Busy keeps you numb. Noise keeps you running forward even when you’re not aiming at much. The ghost town quiet…has a way of spotlighting the truth. Not harshly. Not aggressively. Just honestly.

Being Alone With Your Own Potential (Which Isn’t Always Comfortable)

The funny thing about a slower week is that it removes your excuses without asking your permission. People aren’t calling. Meetings are canceled. Half the folks you need responses from are already in another state eating pre-Thanksgiving carbs. And there you are. With a little more space…and nowhere to hide in it.

For some people, that’s uncomfortable. For others, it’s energizing. But for all of us, it’s instructive. It forces a question:

“What do I do when nothing is pressing me?”

Most people don’t like that question because it exposes their internal compass...or lack of one. But the truth is, the answer tells you everything:

If you avoid the quiet, something needs attention.
If you freeze in the quiet, something needs clarity.
If you thrive in the quiet, something needs to be built.

The Ghost Town Advantage isn’t about productivity. It’s about orientation. It’s about noticing where your energy naturally wants to go when the world stops pulling on you.

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The Work That Only Happens in the Gaps

There are two kinds of work:

1. The work the world demands of you (Emails, meetings, responsibilities, timelines — standard daily operations.)

2. The work only you can demand of yourself (Reflection, realignment, planning, cleanup, personal growth, next-step thinking — the work that changes the trajectory, not just the calendar.)

Weeks like this are built for the second kind. Not because you suddenly have tons of time, you don’t. But because the pressure shifts enough for you to see the difference between what is urgent and what is essential. This is where you pull forward the things you normally shove into “later”:

Organizing your thinking
Cleaning up mental clutter
Re-centering your priorities
Reconnecting with your goals
Clarifying what you want the next season to look like
Making decisions your future self will be grateful you made now

This is where you gain ground quietly. Not dramatically. Not publicly. Just honestly.

Staying Present While Planning Ahead

Preparation is only valuable if it doesn’t hijack your life. (Remember this lesson?)

One of the hardest skills...maybe one of the rarest...is learning how to prepare for what’s coming without abandoning where you are. It’s a balance of:

Awareness without anxiety
Planning without spiraling
Adjusting without overcorrecting
Being ready without forgetting to live

This week is the perfect training ground for that. The world slows down just enough for you to practice being intentional and present. You can think ahead without mentally evacuating your life. You can plan without forecasting disasters. You can build forward momentum without rushing through the moment right in front of you.

The Ghost Town Advantage: Use It, Don’t Waste It

If I could put one message on a billboard this week, it would be this:

“Use the quiet.”

Not force it. Not fill it. Not guilt yourself into being hyper-productive. Just use it. Use it to listen. Use it to recalibrate. Use it to identify the next right move. Use it to breathe before life speeds up again. Use it to strengthen the parts of you that the loud weeks wear down. The quiet isn’t the reward. What it reveals is.

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