How to Use Seasonal Transitions to Fuel Your Next Quarter
The time between the end of summer and the holiday season can feel like the longest and most chaotic stretch of the year. Both personally and professionally, it might be a challenging and stressful period to juggle kids moving into new classrooms, the shortening runway to your annual business goals, and inevitably more family around than usual.
Whether you’re dreading this next quarter or feel well-equipped to finish strong, here are a few ways you can transform the chaos of seasonal transitions into more productive habits and momentum.
Take Inventory of Your Year
Before diving into your end-of-year plans, it’s important to reflect on how far you’ve come and evaluate the expectations you had for the year. Like many executives, you likely set some BHAG goals in January. Pull out that list. Have you hit all of the benchmarks you initially set for yourself or your company? You probably accomplished some, are working on others, and maybe have a couple that you forgot about all together. A 2020 study found that when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, participants with approach-oriented goals were significantly more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals. This means that focusing on achieving positive outcomes rather than avoiding negative outcomes will be instrumental, especially in the third and fourth quarters. Operating at the executive level can feel isolating, like the weight of a company’s successes rests on your shoulders. By reviewing what you’ve achieved already, you can build off your productivity, reset with your team or family, and finish the year strong.
Losing Daylight not Productivity
Now that you’re reminded of your overarching plan, let’s explore why this transition may be particularly challenging. While most seasonal transitions are more energizing, the summer to fall to winter stretch can feel different. The weather changes, leaves turn color, and the sadness of summer ending and another year wrapping up can be overwhelming. The “post-vacation blues,” or the adjustment period returning to work after a relaxing trip, can be especially challenging as the fall season begins. Anxiety can be a precursor to the winter-pattern of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is caused by the shortening of daylight hours and impacts mood and energy levels. It’s estimated that millions of Americans experience the disorder, but many aren’t cognizant of the effect. The pressure of end-of-year goals combined with shorter days often harms mental motivation and the ability to focus at work. Prioritizing your well-being is a stepping stone to a more rewarding fourth quarter. Explore our Top 10 Wellness Essential for Busy Executives to discover our favorite ways to enhance your well-being.
Build Up and Out
Armed with the knowledge of the potential challenges ahead, it’s time to turn to this upcoming quarter. It’s important to be both realistic and bold. You aren’t starting from square one, so look at what has worked in the past and find ways to apply it in relevant ways now. This goes beyond your own personal goals. Research shows that leaders’ mastery-approach goals, or intrapersonal objectives, lower employee burnout more than the employees’ own goals do. You have the power to create a work culture that is both high-achieving and energizing. Remember to prioritize what actually matters — what’s critical to your personal business goals, and what are you actually okay with letting slip into the new year? We recommend incorporating the must-complete tasks with ideas from your team to propel yourself far beyond Q4.
While goal-setting does matter, it can feel overwhelming when objectives start to pile up. Remember that a final stretch of the year doesn’t mean the clock is running out. It just means you have an opportunity to press pause, evaluate your progress, and prepare for another year of growth.
