It’s that time of year, the leaves are turning, football is in full swing and there’s a crispness in the air.
But what time is it? You ask?
It’s the beginning of the fourth and last quarter of 2012 assuming the ancient Mayan Calendar predictions of eminent doom in mid December are wrong… we have 13 weeks until the end of the year.
It always amazes me how clients seem to get a bunch of stuff done right before we meet. I don’t know why it surprises me, I do the same thing with my coach. When there’s a deadline there’s motivation!
There is one big deadline rapidly approaching and one I would like you to consider. The one that is rapidly approaching is the calendar year end so check your math. Checking to see where you are in relation to your goals year to date is a great exercise.
One of my mentor’s, the late Jim Rohn had a great quote. “At the end of each you should play back the tapes of your performance. The result should either applaud you or prod you.” The end of each day is a great exercise and even better would be to review at the end of each month and the end of the third quarter / beginning of the this the fourth quarter is an excellent time. I understand you can’t spend all your time reviewing your progress but the problem is most of us don’t spend any time reviewing our progress.
The benefit is in the review!
1.) You can learn early on where you might be heading off course. Knowing allows you to make micro adjustments to get back on track faster. We all get off course, the trick is to catch it and fix it and both of those the earlier the better.
2.) You can learn your ratios. Everything boils down to ratios and once you understand that, it’s called “game over” and you win! How many prospects did you contact to get an appointment and how many appointments to get a sale. What ever a sale is for you, an ad, a car, a house, what ever.
3.) You can begin to build your playbook. What are the common objections you’ve been hearing? What phrases have been resonating with your prospects? Make a section in your journal, one for objections and one for success phrases. This way you can practice what works over and over again.
The second deadline I would like you to consider is year end but I want you to look at it as year beginning and have your plans crafted. It’s not too early to begin to plan now for a successful 2013. Look at the landscape of next year in at least 4 ways. One through three should be each quarter and the fourth is the year in entirety. You can look at each month by each month too if you so wish. Think of the BIG things you want to get accomplished. Plan the biggest, most important things first. Personal, professional, developmental, income and any other major category you think you should invest time in to be even. It’s the story of the big rocks first!
Next, after the big rocks, put in those medium sized things. Don’t spend too much time worrying if you don’t have many items.. there will always be things that fill the gaps between the big and medium things. The reason to plan is because if you don’t…the little things will consume you and you’ll stand a real chance of missing what you shouldn’t and keep you from finishing 2012 strong and starting 2013 with a roar!
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