Second helpings and second chances

If you like good food and went into Thanksgiving weekend on a diet, you were likely set up to fail.  The best-laid intentions too often surrender to the temptation of the moment.

So as of this morning, another Thanksgiving weekend is over.  So is November.

Both may have started with good intentions and explicit goals.  Then reality happened.  You won a battle here and there, but still beat yourself up about what might have been.  If only I’d been more diligent about my prospecting plan. If only I’d turned down that second (or third) helping of grandma’s green bean casserole.

Today it’s December.  Another fresh month to dream, plan, exceed quota, finish the year strong.  It’s the stretch run of the last quarter of the year.  Time to focus and execute.  This means closing business, but also doing the daily work required to build your pipeline, your network and the deals that’ll come in January, Q1 and 2015.

If you had personal, fitness or diet goals entering Thanksgiving weekend, it doesn’t get any easier over the next four weeks.  Holiday parties, cookie trays, workplace potlucks, massive boxes of chocolates that appear on the break room table.

Your personal and professional goals (this month and always) require up front planning and discipline, but also quick reflection, self-forgiveness, resolve and daily second chances.

The same goes for those New Years Resolutions you’ll set a month from today.  No reason you need to wait an entire year to set them again.

Time to work…