6 Tips for the 4th Quarter

Welp! It’s football season.

Although I’m not much of a sports fanatic (okay, I barely know anything!) I know that the 4th quarter is the last one. How’s that for riveting information?

In all seriousness, the last leg of any game, journey or goal can be the hardest one to achieve especially if you’re trying to win. No one wants to reach the end of the year and look back with regret or higher tax bills than expected. You don’t want to see yourself in the red. If anything, you’ve kept yourself afloat post-pandemic or you’ve experienced immense growth. One of my clients decided it was better to sell the dream than continue it as a nightmare.

Regardless of where you’re at on the spectrum, beginning October 1st, we enter the 4th quarter. As your coach, I’m here to give you a little pep talk. This is for executives, managers, team leaders or entrepreneurs who need a boost!

1. LOOK BACK & CELEBRATE! I’m not kidding. Look back on the year and start to celebrate your wins. There have been many of them. If you’re a solo-entrepreneur, it’s even more important for you to do this. It may take longer without a team to support you, but it still happened. If you have a team, come together and make sure to acknowledge how far you’ve come despite a lot of surprises and challenges.

2. REVISIT GOALS. Now is a good time to get real. Look at the goals you set out to accomplish and if you couldn’t celebrate them - what do you need to change in order to accomplish them? Break them down into bite-size pieces. For example: instead of writing a book about your expertise, what if you simply wrote the chapter outline? Or made a date with yourself once a week to start extracting information.

3. FACE BURNOUT HEAD ON. After the excitement of summer, I think we all crave the routine of a school year and the change of seasons. It’s also a nice time to take a nap. Yep. Chill out for a minute. It’s hard to overcome burnout if you’re not willing to admit you are. There are so many strategies which include: reading this blog. Wink. Wink.

4. FIND FANS. We all need the validation, encouragement on the field and in the stands to keep us motivated. Their perspective can offer us just enough inspiration to finish out strong and be proud. There is so much on the line when you’re running a business and leading others. It can feel defeating when no one sees our hard work. Don’t be afraid to ask for it once and a while.

5. GET WITH YOUR ADVISORS. I’m talking about your money people, coaches or consultants. Check in with your trusted advisors and make sure you’re on track. Now is the time to make changes. Look at your scorecard to see how it measures up. Don’t wait until December to decide on big changes. It will be too late by then.

6. SWITCH PLAYERS. Any good coach recognizes when the teammates need support. Identify who needs to sit out the last quarter and who needs to be put in. This can be difficult to see. It might require you to reconsider who is on the team and what didn’t work over the last year. Here’s a radical idea: What if that person is you? Often times, leaders don’t recognize their own expiration date. Perhaps you have reached your potential in that position and are holding the team back. Or, maybe you need a little sabbatical. Either way, you must slow down enough to understand the dynamics and be mindful about what’s next for your leadership team and support roles.

Lastly, consider this: If you aren’t having fun in the game, why are you playing? Life is a sport. It’s meant to challenge us, ask the best of us and play as a team. We all want to win regardless of what that looks like. I would challenge you to stay committed to the final quarter. Finish it out strong and with integrity. Then, with all transparency and honesty, ask yourself if you’re getting energy in return for the energy you give. If not neutral, wouldn’t it be amazing to get more than what you give?

You got this. Now, go get it.