A writing prompt was given to everyone attending an online writing meeting. The question, “What would you like to complete by the end of the year?” In the hour-long time the host gave us to complete our answer, I wrote four pages on a business subject I’d neglected to finish. Four pages is a lot when you are handwriting with nothing else to distract you and people to answer back to.
I hadn’t even thought of this task for the last six months. I wasn’t avoiding the work, simply not remembering I needed to make the year-end deadline. As an event manager, I always typed up daily, weekly, and monthly task lists to keep me on track but somehow that ritual fell by the wayside when event planning stopped being my main focus.
In that one hour, I created ten jobs for myself. Some are easy and quick, like sending emails; others will take research. A few of them require a day to ask deep questions for clarity so I can reach out to sources for support and completion. Using a timeline or spreadsheet listing these responsibilities with dates will help me finally finish this project by year’s end.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom should be obvious to you. If you took the next hour or an hour sometime this week, to ask yourself the same question, “What would you like to complete by the end of the year,” what comes to mind? Is it something you’ve been dreading to do? Is it something you forgot about? Does it feel too hard to do? Do you need solitude for contemplation? Do you need guidance from others? Write all of the answers to these other questions down too and see how they lead you to solutions.
Committing to do one thing we’ve wanted to accomplish by year’s end, will give us a cleaner slate to relish and celebrate as we enter 2025.
Women TIES 