What do the “dog days of summer” and the winter holidays have to do with one another?
They’re bookends to a shift that happens every year and for the most part, goes unnoticed but could be a powerful time of transition.
As we squeeze out every last drop out of summer, kids go back to school, and (for some of us) the weather starts to give hints that cold winds and snow will be blowing in sooner than we’d hoped. There is a very subtle but palpable shift and if you’re awake to it, it can snap you into focus to end your year powerfully and with much greater satisfaction than previous years.
Now is the time to use one of those last summer days to plan the rest of your year; re-evaluate your aspirations, goals, and resolutions. Whether you made a lofty annual plan this year or not, and whether you’re still working or not… think about three accomplishments you could finish before the winter holidays that would make you feel like this year was a success. And, if you are working and feeling particularly intentional, select three accomplishments for your personal life and three for work.
These three things have to be worthy of your time and energy because if they are just a good idea, they will likely just be three more things that you did not check off your list by the end of the year.
If you deem them worthy projects, you will have the motivation to get to work on them, in spite of other pulls for your time and you will be much more satisfied once they are complete.
Maybe you really wanted to clean out the basement or garage this summer. Perhaps you have a work project you have been unintentionally procrastinating on for months because it feels so huge or because other projects always seem to take priority over it.
Or, maybe you just want to finish all the obligatory duties, so when the holidays roll around (really, really soon!) you will be able to fully enjoy your family and friends this year, like never before.
Whatever the projects or motivation, use this time to strategize. List the three projects or accomplishments and then add time on your calendar to actually work on them from now through the next couple of months.
The number of projects is not crucial. Their meaning to you is crucial.
Think of projects that, if you do not do them, you will feel like you failed a bit.
And, if you do get them completed, you will feel proud and maybe even a bit elated.
Personally, I just finished a filing project in the office that had been bothering me since my last assistant moved out of State. She had revamped my accounting filing to support her process and since she had been accountable for those details, I had switched to her system, gladly.
But, after she left, I had no idea what her method was or how to use it, so everything piled up. If you know me, you know this is totally contrary to my values. I decided I was not going to let one more month, let alone next year start with me still lamenting over what I deemed to be a mess in the office. So, one Saturday I tackled the pile and now I have an even better system in place than before that assistant joined me and everything is in order.
The meaning or significance is that I am a coach for this exact subject (and should therefore be the best example of it). Secondly and even more important, the filing was specific to the financials of my business, which is the foundation on which everything else is built. This win, while sounding trite to many, is huge to me. And once I was resolved about taking it on, it happened so fast, even I couldn’t believe it!
You are the only one who knows what these projects are and what importance they hold for you. You are also the only one who can motivate yourself to get them done and give up your excuses why they have not yet been tackled.
Of course, you know this is my passion area, and around me, people produce results that matter most to them.
If you always feel like time gets away from you if you feel like everyone else has everything together but you never quite get your personal passion projects across the finish line, if you feel hopeless about getting even three accomplishments completed over several weeks… ask me when the next Time Alchemy Formula™ (TAF) starts. TAF is an eight-week program I’ve designed to transform your relationship to time and results forever. You really can learn how to spin time out of thin air!
And, if you first want to read more on the subject of Time Affluence, I got you covered there too.
Happy creating!