Autumn Equals Opportunity
Finishing the Year with Accomplishment
Image by Jens Herrndorff from Unsplash
FALL is a terrific time. It’s a SECOND NEW YEAR of sorts, and the perfect season to dedicate presence and focus to clearing the decks, completing one important or important-to-you project, and finishing the year strong with no hiding and no excuses.
Fall has its own energy — not a January vibe, but something more grounded and deliberate. The leaves and weather don’t apologize for doing their thing, and neither should you when it comes to doing important and important-to-you work. Savvy professionals understand that autumn offers forward motion, resolve, and a particular type of performance review. How do we draw a line and stop putting off projects and dreams that are gathering dust? Do this:
TAKE ON RESISTANCE: There's an insidious, deceitful, invisible force that shows up every time you or I are about to do something important. Steven Pressfield calls it RESISTANCE. Resistance is the internal force that opposes any act that moves us from delaying to action, the force that opposes anything that moves us from a lower station or mindset to a higher one. Resistance sabotages our health, creativity, career, self-image and potential. Resistance is impersonal. It’s also predictable. It is beat only by going pro and doing your work day after day, even though, even if, even when.
CHOOSE: Choose one goal, project, or important-to-you something that will be personally or professionally important to launch, complete, ship, or otherwise deliver by December 31. This is YOUR life. Your career. Your show. What are you going to do with it, and what specifically will you launch/complete/ship by years’ end come hell or high water?
ACT: Work 10-minutes minimum on your project every morning by 11:00am. Begin the next Saturday, Monday or Thursday — whatever weekday is closest. You are free to work longer than 10 minutes, and at City we advise that you complete your 10-minute commitment by 11am six mornings per week, possibly seven. It’s very important that you and I make before we manage — make it a MAXIM to make/create before you get caught up in the busy work and deadlines of the day.
After completing your 10-minute daily session (and not before), be deliberate about creating margin and physical space to do your work. Do this by systematically eliminating the auto-pilot stories you tell, by eliminating outdated obligations, by eliminating drains that serve agendas that are not your own, and by eliminating the mental and physical clutter that erodes your enthusiasm and decision-making prowess.
Photo by Getty Images via Unsplash+
Fall doesn’t wait and neither should your work, your credibility, your calling, or your personal and professional development. So,
Show up.
Take the reins and operate as the Executive of you that you are.
It’s time to do both — Fall really is the perfect time.
Finishing the year strong isn’t about perfection — it’s about going pro and doing what is to be done consistently — doing work that is consequential, that MATTERS to us personally, that matters professionally, and refusing to let another year slip by with important projects left incomplete.
Good luck friends. You’ve got this, and if you’re interested in working together to complete the Fall Focus project you’ve chosen, be in touch.