If I had to pick one word to describe the energy of the day after Labor Day, it would be commitment.
White clothes have been tucked away for their long winter’s nap, daylight grows noticeably shorter, and we’re collectively mustering the energy to shuttle our kids to endless activities and create holiday merriment every month until the end of the year.
Somewhere in all of this frantic energy, we become acutely aware that time is running short to meet the goals we’ve set for the year. Professionals everywhere are sharpening pencils, dusting off strategic plans, and buckling down for what is always the most stressful time of the year. It takes commitment and a healthy dose of resolve to make it to New Year’s Day brunch with your sanity intact and your goals achieved.
As you may remember from an earlier post this year, January is generally a terrible time for setting goals and making resolutions. Spring is the optimal time for setting them, while September is ideal for evaluating progress and recommitting to finishing the year strong. Beyond resurrecting old goal-setting slide decks and becoming overwhelmed by shortcomings in achievement, there are proactive steps every professional can take to successfully recommit to meaningful goals.
This time of year doesn't allow for philosophical waxing on the importance of goal setting and its impact on professional development. We need meaningful goals to advance our skills and measure success. Period. Goals help establish our professional competence and enable us to evolve into the professionals we aspire to be—but only if we hold ourselves accountable for achieving them.
Here’s the strategy I recommend to professionals at this time of year to finish with a strong sense of professional efficacy and achievement (and yes, these strategies work for those dusty New Year’s resolutions too). Use this worksheet for self-guided prompts to the strategies described below to recommit to your goals.
1. Reflect on Your Progress
Before looking ahead, take a step back to evaluate where you stand. Review the goals set earlier in the year, assessing achievements, challenges faced, and necessary adjustments based on evolving circumstances. This is the time to critically evaluate the feasibility of your goals and strategies and summon the courage to pivot when needed to turn goals into reality.
Action Step: Set aside an hour with your team to evaluate progress and discuss these questions:
What have we achieved? Celebrate milestones reached along the way.
What challenges have we faced? Identify the unanticipated obstacles.
What adjustments are needed? Discuss tweaks to goals and strategies.
2. Redefine Strategies
While goals may remain unchanged late in the year, the strategies to achieve them can often evolve. Each goal requires key initiatives, projects, and strategic plans to succeed, yet we often neglect these plans, adopting a 'set-it-and-forget-it' mindset. Engage strategic thinking to ensure that your established plans are still the most effective path to achieving your goals.
Action Step: Clearly define the strategies and initiatives necessary for each goal. Break down each strategy into specific milestones with associated tasks, deadlines, and ownership responsibilities. Allocate support resources as needed and use project management tools to maintain momentum. Schedule monthly strategic sessions with your team until year-end.
3. Reclaim Your Schedule
Nothing derails goal achievement faster than allowing your schedule to be overrun by endless meetings and unnecessary obligations. This leads to reactive, ineffective time management focused on tasks rather than their alignment with overarching goals. Goal achievers prioritize deliverables and their alignment with inspiring goals more than twice a year. Success comes to those who manage their schedule, not the other way around.
Action Step: Integrate these practices into your professional routine:
Question Meeting Invitations – Can a team member attend in your place? Do you need to be there for the entire meeting? Do you need to attend at all? Be discerning to save precious time.
Use Time Blocking – Our days will become cannibalized by meaningless tasks if we allow it. Time blocking is the only way to establish time for the important, but not urgent tasks crucial to achieve goals.
Eliminate Distractions – Humans are now distracted every 47 seconds. Notifications and obsessive checking divert focus from sustained attention essential for success. Train yourself to focus longer than 47 seconds by silencing notifications, closing your door, and dedicating uninterrupted time to strategic thinking.
Goal achievement and the professional development it fosters aren’t about reinventing the wheel. Sometimes, success lies in committing to proven strategies that bring us closer, not farther, from our goals. By reflecting on goals, adjusting strategies as needed, and consistently dedicating time to goal evaluation until year-end, empower yourself to achieve them.
Use this reminder to transform the season’s hectic energy into focused, strategic action prioritizing your own success. This is your opportunity to finish the year strong and wake up on New Year’s Day proud of your achievements. Embrace commitment, adjust as necessary, and keep pushing forward. You’ve got this!
Danielle Terranova is the voice behind Leadership Lessons with Danielle.
She has been an executive coach since 2015 and owner of Terranova Consulting, LLC since 2019.
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