Imagine a marathon runner on his final lap who, instead of putting all of his focus and energy into finishing off strong and beating his previous record, starts daydreaming about his next race. You would call that person crazy, would you not?
Tell me if this sounds familiar.
You planned a Monday meeting, but the time arrives and you’re busy or tired, and you decide to reschedule for Tuesday. On Tuesday, something important comes up, so you reschedule for the next day. Before you know it, Friday rolls around and you still have not had that meeting, so you postpone it until the following Monday.
The cycle continues, until you actively decide that enough is enough, and you’re going to make that meeting a priority.
We all know this tragic cycle well. And, unfortunately, the same happens to us when it comes to this time of year: As December approaches, we start feeling giddy about entering a new year, a fresh slate. We start dreaming of new goals, new initiatives, new clients we want to contact in the coming year. But all too often, as a result, our momentum for meeting this year’s goals dwindles—or worse, we forget all about the things we had wanted to, and still can, push ourselves to accomplish before January 1.
Imagine a marathon runner on his final lap who, instead of putting all of his focus and energy into finishing off strong and beating his previous record, starts daydreaming about his next race. You would call that person crazy, would you not?
Don’t let this happen to you. The best way to start 2020 is to finish off 2019 as strongly as possible. It’s tempting to get distracted thinking about the next shiny object, but don’t throw away these last 27.5 days brimming with possibility just because you have your sights set on 2020.
Here are three Ptex Practical Pointers for achieving your year-end goals so you can start 2020 off on the right foot.
1. Recommit to your goals.
Reflect back on the last 12 months. How many of your goals for this year did you achieve? And more importantly, why or why not? After doing an honest assessment, recommit to achieving as many as realistically possible before December ends.
2. Contact the clients on your short list.
Who are the clients that you can still put on your list for this year? Who didn’t you reach out to that you want to be in touch with? Early December is a great time to reach out to clients you haven’t communicated with in a while (or at all). You’ll catch them before the holiday rush and your name will be top of mind.
3. Get clear about the “how.”
It’s not enough to know your goals for the remainder of the year. You need a roadmap for how to achieve them. Prioritize your goals, and break your goals up into baby steps so that you don’t feel overwhelmed and have a clear understanding of the steps you need to take to achieve them.
To sum it up: Don’t slow down when you’ve got one more lap in the race. Now more than ever is the time to push yourself and make these last few weeks count. You’ll thank yourself in January for staying focused in December with clarity and purpose.
Onward and upward,
MH
P.S. What are your goals for the remainder of 2019? Comment and tell me. I’d love to hear them.
