This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.
In just a few weeks, I'll stand in front of my team and offer a progress report on where we are against our company's 2030 strategic plan. In some ways, it feels like we're well ahead of plan, and in others, we have some catching up to do. But I know this for sure: we've made progress this year, and it's valuable to reflect on where we are versus where we wanted to be, so we're clear about where to go from here.
In preparing myself for this presentation, something else has become abundantly clear: we've officially entered the year-end sprint. Seven short weeks until we turn the page to 2027.
If you're anything like me, you're either trying to make the most of the time left in this calendar year, or you're already leaning into the next one. Even more likely, you're trying to do both.
There are surely changes ahead and some hard decisions on the horizon. There always are, regardless of the year. So, I'm doing my best to ready myself for what’s ahead before a new set of hard decisions is right in front of me.
As Mission Partners heads into its 10th year, and I into my 23rd as a business owner, you'd think some of this would get easier. But as I've learned, some things never change. The hard decisions are still hard.
What has changed is how I ready myself for them.
So, as you prepare yourself for what's ahead and I do the same, here are four ways I've learned to get ahead of the hard things and to make the most of the time we've got right now:
1. Look both ways (back and ahead). Before you take off on that year-end sprint, be sure to look back at the progress you made this year. Consider the questions and challenges you were facing just 11 months ago, and how you've moved through those challenges. What has surprised you? What makes you proud? And where is there more you still hope to do ahead? Reflect on how well you showed up this year compared to how you hoped to. Then ask what you want to carry into next year.
2. Finish, hand off, or let it go. There will always be an urge to get it all done before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Let that feeling go. Instead, look at what's ahead of you and sort it honestly. What will you finish well? What belongs to someone else now? What is ready to be released? Every year comes with certain goodbyes, and it's a good time to start thinking about what you'll leave behind in this year so you can protect space for what matters even more in the year ahead.
3. Make the hard decisions before they're forced on you. You can probably already see one or two of them coming. A conversation you've been putting off, a budget that needs rightsizing, a season of life that will require a different type of support. Consider how you want to feel looking back on these decisions one year from now, and how you want the people involved to feel in that same window of time. Then identify one or two concrete actions you can take now to make those hard decisions easier for everyone involved. Sometimes taking the hardest things bit by bit makes the sting of any hard decision a little softer.
4. Plan for time away and take your break. Before the holidays, make sure your team has what it needs from you. Clarify your priorities for these last several weeks and for the first month of the year, keeping a clear break between this year and next. Then, take a break, in whatever way you can. You will never feel ready to begin again if you haven't had a chance to stop in between seasons.
Bottom line: Ready isn't a feeling that just shows up on January 1. It's something we build in the weeks before. Start organizing yourself around how you want to end this year and how you intend to show up again in the new year. Then, give yourself the rest you deserve.
This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
