4 Ways To End The Year Strong

This week I started thinking about a lot about gift-giving. 

I love giving gifts. Specifically, I like to give the small little things that people don’t think to buy for themselves but add so much joy, interest, and practicality to everyday life.  

Inevitably, during the gift-giving season, I end up getting a gift or two for myself too. When I do, I think back to the present I gave myself in 2015. 

That’s the year I decided to quit my job and give myself 5 years to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.

I chose 5 years because I thought that would be enough time to see if my business was truly viable.

And because I figured that, in 5 years, I’d still have time to rejoin the workforce, and to double down on my company-sponsored 401(K) if I found out that things weren’t working out for me in the business world. 

Since giving myself this gift, my journey in business and life has had many unexpected twists, turns, and humbling moments. But it’s still the best decision I’ve ever made and the best gift I’ve ever given myself.

 We all talk about betting on ourselves, but there are very few people who actually do it.  

 The reason seems to be that, as adults, we rarely give ourselves permission to dream and try. Somehow dreaming becomes synonymous with irresponsibility and frivolousness. 

 But you don’t have to abandon your responsibilities to try. You can pursue any dream in a way that is practical and joyful at the same time.

If you plan to permit yourself to pursue your dreams next year, here are 4 ways you can end the year strong so that you are ready to take a chance on yourself in 2020.

Reflect On What Happened This Year

 I start each year by writing down my goals and intentions for the year ahead. After setting these goals, I use I Done This and Bullet Journaling to keep track of the daily tasks and projects I need to complete to achieve these goals. 

Because I’m working so hard during the year completing task after task, I don’t always remember to reflect on and appreciate what I’ve accomplished so far. So the end of the year is an excellent reminder for me to take that time.

If you want to end your year strong, you should do the same.

 Between now and the end of the year, take 30 minutes and think back on this past year. What were your accomplishments and challenges? What initiatives or promotions were successful, and which ones flopped? Measure it all and be grateful for it all because the things that happened this year are preparing you for next year.

Declutter! Physically and Digitally

I can always think better and concentrate more if things are tidy and organized. So decluttering my physical and digital space before the new year rolls in is a good way for me to feel ready to hit the ground running.  

Sometimes organizing files, especially digital ones, can feel a bit overwhelming. So here are some tips:  

Even though folders are a great way to categorize electronic content, having too many creates more trouble than the folders are worth. So, I catalog my information with just 2 top-level folders for my computer. Those folders are labeled “Business” and “Personal.” 

There are subfolders under these top-level folders. However, organizing this way helps me to catalog data quickly and stops the overwhelm that I’d feel if I had hundreds of loose files everywhere. With 2 folders, I’m always on top of things. 

Cast Your Vision For Your Ideal Future

Sometimes we have a general idea of what we want but haven’t permitted ourselves to dream in detail for fear we’ll be disappointed. Casting a vision for your future self will change that because you can get in touch with your true desires.  

To do this, take out one sheet of paper and write a description of what your ideal “normal” day looks like in the future. This day should be an ordinary weekday where you go about the typical routines of your day. 

In your description, include where and what time you wake up? Who’s there with you? What you do in the morning? What you do for work and where it is located? How long you work? What your day look like after work, etc.?  

Be as detailed as possible but limit your time to complete this task to 10-15 minutes. You want honest, stream of consciousness style writing.

Once you finish writing this vision, use it as your north star. This is your goal for the next step in your life and career. The ultimate goal is to bring this ideal normal day into reality.  

Set Goals and Make An Action Plan

After you cast your vision, you need to turn that vision into actionable, manageable tasks that you can complete daily or weekly during the year. Here’s what I do to create my task list: 

• Step 1: Set 3-5 Major Goals For The Year. From the vision I cast, I write down all the major goals I need to accomplish to get there. Then I whittle those goals down to a list of the 3-5 goals that I can complete in one year. That list is my goal list for the year.
• Step 2: Set Milestones With Deadlines For Each Goal. For each goal, I decide on 5 time-sensitive milestones that will inch me closer to my goals month-by-month. Setting milestones with deadlines forces me to make a decision and get things done on a timeline instead of wallowing in indecision and research.
• Step 3: Create a LATL. To translate those milestones into daily activities, I create a LATL – Long Ass To-do List. A LATL is a master list of everything I think I need to do to reach that milestone. It also includes all of those day-to-day tasks that come up like buying toothpaste, calling my sister, buying a birthday gift, etc. My LATL is really long, but I make it manageable by selecting and ranking 3-5 things from the list to complete daily. I focus on those 3-5 things and on incrementally moving forward toward my goals.

And there you have it. 4 ways for you to end the year strong. I’d love to hear your strategies for ending the year strong too. What will you be doing to end 2019 in a way that sets you up for success in 2020? Let me know in the comments below.