December.

Probably the busiest month of the year in society. The month of December is often characterized by a myriad of activities. The festive aura associated with the Christmas season has everyone on the go as they prepare to celebrate the season with family and friends. Several end-of-the-year events are organized by social communities, churches, and various other groups to round off their activities for the year.

There’s also a lot of traveling as many folks prefer to spend the holidays with family. And then, there’s the group of people looking to have a “detty December“. Well, with the massive lineup of events everywhere, it doesn’t take much to achieve that. Just be ready to shed some funds.

On the other hand, not everyone is interested in jollying. For some people, December is rather a time of reflection. They spend the month winding down and taking stock of the year as it comes to a close. And depending on how the year panned out, such reflections either bring about contentment or disappointment.

Regardless of what category you fall under, one thing is widely common. In December, there’s often a general complacency in the air regarding checking off our goals for the year. You don’t even have to look too far to notice it.

It is obvious, from social media and conversations in general, that many people have already closed the books for 2021. Many have shipped whatever is left from their goals list (or even drafted new ones) to 2022. To them, the year already ended, and they’re just waiting for the calendar to confirm it.

But is that the best approach?

The Race To The Finish Line

In track events, the primary goal of every runner is to get to the finish line. Even if they don’t win the race, getting to the finish line is often good enough. Interestingly, runners exert the most energy at the beginning of the race and as they approach the finish line. This last-minute burst of energy is even more prominent in long-distance races as the athletes increase their paces in the last lap of the race. It doesn’t matter if they’re winning or losing, they continue to press until they arrive at the finish line.

We can liken the year to a long-distance race. As a general rule of thumb, everyone starts off high, motivated to smash their goals. As the year rolls out, we tend to lose steam. The momentum drops over time and hits rock bottom around this time. We become too unmotivated to act on anything. We just let the year run out its course.

Like in the track event analogy, the race isn’t over until the finish line. It can be tempting to throw in the towel early. You probably feel you can’t achieve much before the year runs out, so what’s the use of trying. Well, it’s too early to sign out. There’s still enough time to cross off one or two things from your to-do list for the year. One month (more specifically, 26 days when this post was published) is enough to hit some significant targets.

New Year, Old Cycle

As the year comes to a close, some folks are probably thinking “out with the old already, in with the new” in expectation of the new year, believing that it’ll afford them the opportunity to set things right. Well, not so fast, people.

Whatever you intend to get right in 2022, this is the best time to set the necessary foundation on which that goal would thrive. A new year does not automatically make you super disciplined or productive (I want to believe we know this already). A fresh start is always exciting. However, the excitement eventually fades off. Soon enough, we’re back to our former state and looking forward to the next year to fix things up… And the cycle continues.

The turn of a new year might serve as a good cue to get the wheels rolling, but if you intend to keep those wheels turning for long, it is essential that you build the appropriate systems to support your goals. What better time to do that than now?

Cheers to a productive month!:)