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Finish The Year Strong

It is mid November and with the end of the year only a few weeks away, many of those goals you had at the start of the year can suddenly seem unlikely. The tendency is that they now need to be on next years to-do list… again. And it feels crap.

Do be fair on yourself.  Many ambitions do legitimately get railroaded by life’s bigger plans; loss of a loved one, a new role at work, unexpected bills, break ups, marriages, fall outs, babies, unexpected travel, illness and just life stuff. These require legitimate energy and attention.

Yet there is still time to finish your year strong. Between now and Christmas there is still time to do one thing that you can feel great about. One thing that would be very fulfilling.

The task isn’t as big as you think. You just need to do it.

Make the phone call. Set the meeting. Get out the sewing machine. Empty the garage. Sell the car. Meet with the mortgage broker.

The complication is not the activity. The complication is that the new activity has never been in our routine before. Thus we don’t recognize the moment to actually do it.

Instead we put another load of washing on, empty our inbox and pay some bills online; convinced we are doing important things. We legitimately think that these ‘illusions of important tasks’ need to get done. We feel frustrated, rushed, busy and that we couldn’t possibly do any more than we are doing. And then we look at the calendar and ask “Where did the year go?” Well… it went to doing the washing!

There is still time to have the best year yet, but to do that, some old activities need to take a back seat for the new activities. At least for a while.

The washing will need to wait. You may have to call some people back later. You might get a bill with red ink. It will be ok.

For change, the new action needs to be prioritised. So get clear on what has to happen in the next few weeks (that you are in control of) for you to feel fulfilled or proud.

Don’t get caught up in dramatizing the impossibility of it happening. Don’t let your ego rob you of happiness by shouting to your friends ‘Woe is me’. Drop the victim talk and instead, just act. Now. Swiftly. Take such big action that you can truly look back on the year and smile.

Don’t put another task first.

Don’t rationalise.

Simply take an action that is fulfilling!

In the time that you took to read this, you could have made a phone call. You could have put an activity in your diary. There is time!

There are six weeks till Christmas. It is not too late to have the best year yet.