We’ve got a few weeks left until the end of the year and you can probably feel it’d be pretty easy to just take your foot off the gas, let things slow down, maybe mindlessly read the news a little?
OR, you could take a breath, make a plan, and finish the year off STRONG.
Today on the show we’re sharing 8 ways to end this year strong so you can start off next year with clear eyes and a clean slate. Enjoy!
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“End this year STRONG: 8 ways to set intention and follow through”
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1. The college finals approach
Remember when finals were coming up and you didn’t have a choice to skip out on the finals; the grade depended heavily on your score on the finals. In college that’s forced upon you, but in life you have to put this pressure on yourself.
Steph thinks about it this way: “I want to take several days off for the holidays, I want to sign off for the last working days of the year and finish on a high note.”
To do so she sprints hard at the end of the year, not letting herself fizzle out into next year.
Maybe it’s deciding to launch something in early January or publishing something big at the beginning of the year. Giving yourself a deadline like this on a project that you’re pumped to do will get your energy up!
So, what project would you love to publish at the beginning of next year?
2. Define exactly what you want to finish by the end of the year
Every quarter the Fizzle team creates a list of projects we want to accomplish. We keep these in Trello so we can look at them visually and move them from “ideas” to “in process” and finally to “completed.”
This list is a very clear indicator of exactly which projects we’ve committed to but haven’t finished yet. So as the end of the year approaches, we know exactly what work is left to do.
Do you know what work you’d like to finish by the end of the year? Are you crystal clear about it?
You don’t have to wait to make a list at the beginning of next quarter, you can make your list right now!
Exactly which projects do you want to finish by the end of the year? Get crystal clear about it and make a plan!
Further reading:
3. Complete the end of year review process
We’ve designed a process to help you review this past year so you can make a truly ass kicking plan for next year. We’ve even recorded a podcast episode about it to walk you through it.
Listen to it here: The End of Year Review and Planning Process Every Small Business and Online Entrepreneur Should Follow
4. Clean and organize your computer files
Chase loves to end his year by cleaning all of his digital files up. This means organizing anything lying around on the desktop and in the downloads folder, moving family photos to an external hard drive, and organizing and archiving files for work.
The basic gist of this is to start the next year with a totally clean computer slate; you’ve got the freedom to make any changes to your workflow or how you organize files, etc.
The tension here is cleaning as much as you can without leaving you without a file when you need it (because you archived it on an external hard drive some where).
Chase leans in to that danger: “It feels so good to have a clean computer! This one task alone can knock a bunch of creative ideas to flying out of my head.”
5. Take a goal for next year and start making progress on it right now
Why not get a head start now on something you care about for next year?
For example, Steph has a goal for fitness next year. Well, she just started it NOW in December!
What’s stopping you from starting right now on a goal for next year?
One thing to think about here is maybe you can make this one a personal goal, something you want to do particularly for yourself. Got any in mind?
6. Take on a project that requires focus
At the end of the year things slow down, people bug you less, there are less meetings, less interruptions.
This is a perfect time to take on a project that requires focus, something that needs long stretches of uninterrupted attention.
Corbett’s doing that right now, diving into a software project that’s a goal for us in 2017. Less emails (and a little discipline about not surfing the news pages) means long, uninterrupted hours of FOCUS, baby!
7. Clean and organize your workspace
Chase has a home office (which is in the background of most of our Fizzle videos) that’s very fun, colorful and, dare we say, cluttered.
It’s an energetic environment, but it can “grow weeds” as Chase puts it, feeling too disorganized and cluttered.
So every year Chase pulls everything out (even the deep storage bins for audio/video cables, family archives, etc), he get’s into every box and cubby and shelf to organize what’s there.
Some things get thrown out (like about 60 USB cables this year since his new computer doesn’t even have a USB port!), others get re-organized.
For Chase, this is cathartic because, as it’s put in the movie Fight Club, “The things you own end up owning you.” Cleaning out the workspace is like taking back ownership.
8. Clear your schedule with some simple hacks
These weeks are filled with loads of requirements and expectations, so find some simple hacks around them.
For example, shop online instead of spending time driving to, searching within and waiting in line at a store.
Also, if you can swing it (and lots of us can’t) Not traveling for the holidays is HUGE. That alone can feel like it gives you whole days to work with.
Another idea is being clear with your family that you’re working on your projects up until xxxxx date. It’s easier to do this when you’ve got a clear goal you’ve set (like #1 above, creating a big project to launch in January, or #2, being crystal clear about what you want to accomplish by the end of the year).
Make. It. Count.
You’ll only get to end this year once… how are you going to make it count? We’re rooting for you because we know as well as you do: your business, income and freedom rely on your ability to execute projects like these.
Break a leg out there!
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