Fourth Quarter

At football games, you often see players (and fans) holding up four fingers to signify that the fourth quarter has started and it’s time to seriously take control of the game and its outcome. As you approach the beginning of your own fourth quarter at work, take time to assess where you are in the work game—and in your life outside the office, too. Take a good look at your work and life goals for the year, and decide exactly what you need to do today to achieve those goals.

Not only is now a great time to make sure you finish strong, but also it is the right time to think about next year and what you want to accomplish moving forward. Evaluate yourself and your personal brand. Are you doing what it takes to do what you do better? If someone were to ask you, as they might have at some point, “What does it take to be successful in [your line of work]?” What do you tell them? How many of those things are you currently doing? What do you need to do more of, less of or stop doing altogether to enhance your brand and your position in the market?

And finally, consider how much of your time is spent solving problems, reading emails, surfing the Internet and doing nonrevenue-producing things? What percentage of your time is spent actually producing revenue? What activities can you do to replicate your successes? We see people today spending lots of time on “busywork” activities that are not working for them; they should, instead, be doing more of what is working! Remember, it’s all about doing what you do better every day.

Make this fourth quarter one of the most productive fourth quarters you have ever had.