As we enter the final three months of 2023, we need to acknowledge the year is winding down. Do you have projects remaining to wrap up?
Take a breath and evaluate where you are with the intentions you set for 2023.
Before you begin to think about the projects to finish, make a list of all the things you have accomplished.
Celebrate your wins.
Go back and review your calendar. I am a member of a goals group that meets monthly. Each month we review our wins and set our goals for the upcoming month. I have notes related to the intentions I set and my wins. As I look back through them, I realize that I had forgotten some of the awesome things I have accomplished. Celebrate those wins.
What’s left to wrap up?
Now look at what you still want to accomplish before we wrap up this year. Is your vision the same as it was when you set your intentions for 2023? Do you want to tweak some of your goals? Have some of the projects been more complicated and lengthier than you had planned? You have probably made progress, but perhaps it is not realistic to wrap it up this year. Maybe one or more projects need to be broken down into even smaller bites and reevaluated.
Finish the year using SMART goals.
Do a brain dump. Decide what you want to accomplish for the remainder of this year. Ask yourself if these projects have SMART goals? Are you clear and Specific on what you want the end goal to look like? Make it a Measurable goal so that you will know when you have reached it. Is it Achievable or does it need to be modified? Is it Realistic to expect to accomplish this goal this year? And is it Time related? Do you have a clear timeline in place?
Choose three goals or intentions that you want to accomplish by the end of the year. List what you will need to do to reach each goal.
Backwards planning works.
Use backwards planning to create the steps to follow. Work on one project at a time. Be clear on what “done” will look like for this project. Pick the date that you want this project finished. Can you complete it in a month or three? List all that you need to do so that you can say “done”. Arrange those tasks in a logical order. Decide when you are going to do each step or small task and put a date beside it. Leave some extra room to allow for flexibility when life gets in the way.
Write those dates on your calendar.
Options if you are stuck.
If you have gotten stuck on this project before, consider enlisting help. Help might be a tutoring session. It might be a virtual assistant. Maybe a friend, colleague, or a family member can help you. Or you could hire a coach or professional organizer. Getting help to put you back into a winning streak and finishing a project can make all the difference in a win or giving up.
Let’s wrap up this year with some big wins and a reason to celebrate! It’s possible. So, start now!
If you want help or just some accountability in working or developing your end of year plan or project, join Diane Quintana and me in our Clear Space For You clutter support group.
Jonda S. Beattie, Professional Organizer owner of Time Space Organization, and co-owner of Release, Repurpose, Reorganize. She is based in the Metro-Atlanta area. As presenter, award-winning author, as well as a retired special education teacher she uses her listening skills, problem solving skills, knowledge of different learning techniques, ADHD specialty, and paper management skills to help clients
I know the year is coming to a close as we swoop our way into fall. But somehow I hadn’t thought of it in terms of only three months left. Isn’t it four months (Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)? Phew! I feel like I just gained some time.
Thank you for your encouragement to review the wins, check-in on goals, and reset and commit to progress for the remainder of the year. I recently revamped my vision board by simplifying it. There is more work I want to do with it and your post gave me a good nudge.
I’ve been having a lot of conversation with one of my coaching clients on the word “done.” He seems to get close, make progress, but never quite make it to the finish line. Sometimes, I think this is ok, while others, it isn’t. Progress is good, but it really does help to be clear about what “done” will look like. By going through this step, we know when we can walk way. Such an excellent point.
Can’t believe we are winding down this year already!
I love this idea of a forward-looking wrap up! For many, late August and September feel like beginnings (school starting, fall sports, holidays just starting to gear up), but it’s so valuable to view this time period from the perspective of finishings. You’ve inspired me to take a look back at my January journaling and planning and see what’s actually been happening. I know I’ve reached some goals, but I suspect there are a few I’ve totally forgotten!
I have always found I plan and set goals in a less than usual way. I decided what to do to reach towards my goal in November and started putting things in motion. They were completed in February. The next months were building on the new concept by starting a group and working on developing a world wide marketing plan. That is still in the infancy stage. I like using the fourth quarter of the year to brainstorm what is the next goal so I am ready to start working on it in January. Planning backward is what I do most of the time. I figure out the end result and then plan how to move towards it.
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost over, there is still time though to try and finish the projects before the end of the year. Days are going by so fast. Thanks for the reminder.
You’re so right — I try to do a wrap-up during the holiday week and the end of the year, but it’s easy to forget your wins from early in the year, and if you don’t savor and revisit the, it’s easy to lose the Ws among the Ls (and the rainouts)! And taking time now, when there are still four (unless you don’t count December, since it’s wacky) months left in the year, to tackle those incomplete goals is a great way to end the year (and begin the new one) feeling empowered!
I don’t know how the year is going by so quickly, but I appreciate you giving us the motivation to finish it off in style!