By Kevin Daum
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Don't let summer slip away without accomplishing all you set out to achieve. These tips will guide your way.
Summer is a finite resource. Business tends to slow down, so many use the time to catch up on all the company business they've fallen behind on. By now, you're now closer to the end than to the beginning. It's time to make sure you're staying on track and will be able to finish all you set out to accomplish.
Think of it as a summer reset. Collect yourself, figure out where you are, and make a plan to move forward. It's not too late to do everything you wanted, but you don't have time to waste. It's time to start executing now.
Here are the steps you need to take to make the most of your remaining summer:
1. List Your Original Goals
This spring, when you were planning for the summer months, what did you set out to do? Did you have specific goals you wanted to achieve? General aims you wanted to inch towards? Perhaps you're very organized and you have the list you made with the timelines you set out for yourself. Or perhaps you're less organized, and what you remember of your brainstorming is somewhere in your head. If so, write them down, with specifics!
2. Do an Audit
Now that you're in the thick of the summer, analyze how you've been progressing through your goals. What have you already achieved? Have you reached important landmarks on your long-term goals? What needs to be done to get the rest of the way there? Be honest with yourself. What hasn't gone well? Is there anything you haven't even started yet? In what specific ways are you running behind schedule? The more you can get specific now, the easier it will be to solve the problem moving forward.
3. Reprioritize
Take stock of what you planned to accomplish, what you've accomplished so far, and what you've learned as the summer as progressed. Are there any important new goals you've since discovered? Have original goals become unnecessary? Gather all this information and reprioritize your list. What really needs to be done immediately, and what is a longer-term goal? What steps need to be completed along the way? Be as thorough as possible so you can plan accurately and realistically.
4. Experiment
Hopefully, summer is a time when deadlines aren't as crushing as they are during the rest of the year. That makes it a great time to experiment with new techniques, tweak existing procedures, and explore creative problem solving solutions. How could your and your team's various processes improve to become more efficient? What method have you been wanting to try, but haven't had the flexibility necessary? Now is the time to find ways to improve, and then practice them to get out all the kinks.
5. Use the Weather
Weather in the summer is a blessing and a curse. It can be beautiful and inspiring, and it's wonderful to have a reason to get outdoors. Light does a body good! But all that fantastic sunshine can also be a distraction from work. Instead of dreading your time indoors, structure your schedule so the weather works for you. Work early in the mornings, so you can enjoy more of the day. On days when you have to trudge through indoors all day, take a call or have a meeting while you're walking around the block. Commit yourself to take full advantage of rainy and cloudy days so you can take advantage of sunshine later in the week.
For the original article, visit: Inc.
