Finish Strong: Orchestrating An Epic Finish

Honestly, 2023 has been such an incredible year for me. I was talking to a friend the other day and telling him that this has truly been the greatest year of my life. At the same time, it has been the most challenging year of my life but the rewards have been great. I truly believe that how you end the year will determine how you enter the new year. I want to share some keys with you that will empower you to finish the year strong and set yourself up for success in 2024 and beyond!

1. You cannot have a strong finish without taking time for evaluation. When I say the word evaluation, a lot of people start to feel uncomfortable. Why is that? We do not like to evaluate our lives because it forces us to come face to face with the choices that we have made. In addition, evaluation compels us to take responsibility for our lives. If you end a year and never evaluate your progress and productivity, it lets me know that you do not value your potential. Anything that you are unwilling to evaluate you will never work to improve. Furthermore, there is no growth or development without evaluation. Take some time to evaluate your goals and assess them against your results. This is the best indication of what you have accomplished over the last twelve months. If you are not happy with your results, then start to formulate a plan and devise a strategy to make the next year of your life the best year of your life.
2. Evaluation without correction will only result in the repeating of cycles. As a highly respected thought leader, I have had the pleasure of mentoring leaders from all walks of life. When it comes to reflecting on a year, a lot of people will simply look at their goals and start thinking about their performance over the last twelve months. This is when a lot of people start to get frustrated, discouraged and some even give up. Why is that? You cannot simply stop at evaluation. You must take it a step further and commit to making some corrections in your life. Otherwise, every year will simply become a repeat of the year before. So take some time to measure your performance over the last twelve months in relation to your goals. Did you meet your goals? How would you rate your performance? Where did you come up short? Only what you are willing to correct are you empowered to change.
3. You must close old chapters. It is impossible to embrace the new until you first decide to let go of the old. Many times we turn the pages of the calendar but we never turn the pages into the story of our lives. Therefore, we enter a new year with old mindsets, wrong habits, and inferior results. If the next year of your life is going to be different for you, then I challenge you to leave some things in 2023. Leave behind toxic relationships, toxic behaviors, toxic mindsets, disempowered decisions, and toxic cycles. What you are willing to leave behind will determine what you give birth to in the days to come. You cannot dream of a new life while refusing to let go of the old life. Be willing to bury everything that stands in the way of you becoming who you were born to be. Refuse to allow old chapters to oppose the change that you want to see manifest in your life.
4. You must orchestrate an epic finish. As I told you earlier, this has been the greatest year of my life. I have been productive, made progress, and maximized my potential in so many areas. While I could easily go into cruise control, I still have my foot on the gas and I am not slowing down. In other words, I will maximize every remaining moment of 2023. While this is the time of the year when many people become comfortable and complacent, I am challenging you to take the driver’s seat and design the type of finish that you want. Why is this so important? How you finish out this year will frame what you accomplish in the next year of your life. I challenge you to finish this year with focus, fortitude, and the spirit of a finisher. The spirit of a finisher is an attitude that is relentless in pursuit of your greatest potential. If you take the next few weeks seriously, you will be amazed at the results that you can produce in your life. We focus too much on how you start and not enough on how you finish. Your followthrough ultimately determines the fulfillment of your life.