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Your last quarter’s success is possible!

Did you, like me, suddenly look up and realize there are only three months left in the year, and wonder about your last quarter’s success? Time seems to be accelerating, and the Pandemic hasn’t helped us keep track of time. If that sounds like you, here are some ideas for you, as you navigate through the fall and into the winter and holidays. If time management is an issue for you, here’s an article that could help: Best Social Media Time Management Apps and Tools. Hint: Dashlane and NokoTime apps save loads of time.

Be realistic

By that, I mean you might write down some lofty goals, but there may be things that get in your way. And it’s important to give yourself a little slack. Could you write down your most ambitious goals, but back off them just a little? For instance, instead of building an entire team between now and New Year’s Day, how about hiring the main executives instead?

Create obtainable goals to reach a successful last quarter

You might be able to stretch a little on those goals, right? By the way, I’ve written about stretch goals before. You might like How to Make Stretch Goals That Will Make You Stretch. For instance, reframing goals can help you reach your goals. And making goals both fun and productive is also a good idea. Well, at least it’s an idea that has helped me.

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How to Succeed in the Last Quarter | Image by 0fjd125gk87 from Pixabay

How to become productive again?

If your productivity has fallen off this year, it’s time to examine why. Was it because of laziness? Was there an illness in the family? Were there other tasks you had to do before work? Will these same reasons block your productivity during the last quarter? If your productivity is down and you don’t know why, maybe consider hiring a coach for a session or two to help you figure out why.

Holidays can be good times for networking

Holidays can sometimes look like obstacles to someone who’s ambitious and loves to work. But holidays are also great times to get out and meet people! So don’t believe that your productivity will necessarily fall because of the holidays coming up. Your last quarter’s success might depend upon that holiday party! Here’s a good article about reaching out during the holidays: Holidays Are the Perfect Time to Reach out to Your Network.

Don’t give up!

Just because it’s the end of the year, don’t give up! There’s still a lot you can do, and the holidays could even help you reach your own personal successes. Forbes has a good article that could motivate you: 11 Smart Ways for Leader to Assess Accomplishments Each Quarter. I like this: “Our team works backward by setting quarterly goals and then assessing all monthly and weekly goals to be whatever will help us hit the quarterly metrics.” which is part of their fourth smart way.

Most lists only go to ten, but this one goes to eleven! There’s just that little bit more, you see, right at the end. It’s just that much more productive.

Get Better Sleep

When you’re more relaxed, you sleep better, and when you sleep better, you’re more productive.

11 Ways Being Outdoors Can Improve Your Productivity

Have A Better Attention Span

Being outdoors helps you clear your mind, focus on the present moment, and not stress over something an hour or two in the future. And being outdoors during the workday gives you an edge, according to Active.com’s article about how exercise boosts your brainpower.

Be Reminded of Childhood Memories

Certain sights, sounds and scents outdoors can remind you of childhood memories. For instance, redwood trees remind my boyfriend of where he grew up in the far north of California; the trees have a relaxing effect and make him feel at ease. Certain vistas, even particular configurations of fallen trees also bring back memories. And of course scents are closely linked to memory. That “walk down memory lane” can bring you a more productive day–that is, if your childhood memories are happy ones.

Be More Relaxed

Can anything new be said about being outdoors and being relaxed? One study suggest that even looking at greenery can make people more productive. A study by Frances Kuo, at the University of Illinois, focused on women in Chicago. Kuo and her colleagues compared women randomly assigned to various apartments. Some had a view of nothing but concrete sprawl, the blacktop of parking lots and basketball courts. Others looked out on grassy courtyards filled with trees and flowerbeds. Kuo then measured the two groups on a variety of tasks, from basic tests of attention to surveys that looked at how the women were handling major life challenges. She found that living in an apartment with a view of greenery led to significant improvements in every category.

Enter Another Realm

When you’re outdoors, you can think about something entirely different than work and getting that next item on your “to-do” list checked off. You can clear your mind to focus entirely on where you are, or that next step on the beach. Even a walk in a city park, where there is greenery, is superior to walking on city streets. Here’s a good article from Lifehacker about surrounding yourself with nature to be more productive.

Dream of Ewoks

Ewoks are sentient, diminutive, furry bipeds native to the forest moon of Endor, as described in the Star Wars’ Wookieepedia. When you’re out and about traveling in the woods, you can feel their presence. They’re especially prevalent in the woods, near where I live.

People who exercised during their workday were 23 % more productive on those days!

Get Aerobic Exercise

Hiking up and down steep hills and cutting across rocky outcroppings will make your heart pump hard. When you’re indoors all day long, you may not realize how shallow your breathing becomes; being outdoors in nature helps to cure that restricted breathing.

Reduce Stress

Although a certain amount of stress can be helpful (for instance if you’re being chased by a bear), stress usually makes people less productive. Being outdoors is widely known to reduce stress.

Do You Have a Nature Deficit?

Practice Listening

The sounds in the forest or at the beach are much different and more subtle. Practice a different kind of listening when you’re outdoors (not that you can’t use Twitter as a listening tool). And if you didn’t read my article from last week about listening, you might want to.

Recovery Leads to Better Productivity

No one can be productive at the same rate every day, and everyone needs some recovery time. So taking an hour or two to be outdoors brings you back to your work, as outlined in Daniel McGinn’s article about Being More Productive from Harvard Business Review.

Being in Nature Makes You Smarter

According to this article Is a Nature Deficit Hurting Your Productivity? ,” being in nature exposes you to soothing stimuli that engages your involuntary attention, giving your directed-attention a rest and a chance to become rejuvenated.” And if you’ve read this far, then maybe I’ve convinced you to go to the park. It’s a start.

How to Succeed in the Last Quarter