How to avoid the end of year crush
It’s here! The last quarter of the year. My personal favorite. So I like to stretch it out and make it last.
Then last night my husband said, “The end of year is going to come fast!”I kindly shut him down saying, “I don’t accept that rhetoric.” 😁
If you’ve been following along with me over the last twelve months, you might recall that last October I re-read one of my favorite books, Einstein Dreams, which is full of beautiful vignettes on different experiences of time. It made me pause and think that I could be more intentional in shaping my time and in managing my pace. Both have been topics on the podcast (E39, E52, E68, E69) and here on the blog.
Part of shaping my time is not getting pulled into the common time narratives that can lead us to feeling rushed and overly stretched:
“Oh my gosh, it’s the end of the year! It’s come so fast!”
“Oh no, the holidays and end of year are going to be here before you know it!”
“Ugh, I’m so busy. I want to enjoy this, but it’s rushing past.”
And yet, I also have empathy for this sense of overwhelm we can feel, especially as the close of a year approaches. I was on a recent call where someone asked a group,
“How can we avoid the end-of-year crush?” Well, that’s where I think Sustainable Ambition can play a role in helping us shape our time.
This topic of being “crushed” at the end of the year inspired 2 podcast episodes last week: my quarterly check-in and, in particular, my Q4 planning episode.
These are part of my year-long series on planning and living a more sustainable+ambitious year. You can listen to those episodes to review your Q3 progress and plan your Q4 to avoid the end-of-year crush and make the end of the year more sustainable.
Q3 Review is on your favorite player here or on our website here
Q4 Planning is on your favorite player here or on our website here
And if you don’t have time for the podcast interviews, I’ll leave you with these prompts to consider how you might want to frame your end of the year to make it joyful rather than weighty:
Reframe the narrative: How can you create an end-of-year you’ll love?
Set your pace: How can you craft your experiences to be present and create space to slow down your pace?
Renegotiate your personal and professional priorities: What really still needs to get done this year?
Manage your energy to your priorities: What can be done at 50 or 80%? What requires 100 or 120%?
Create your sustaining plan: What energizing activities will you put on your calendar? What draining activities will you eliminate?
Have a wonderful Q4! I hope you make it what you want.
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