This is an amazing time of the year for everyone from NBA fans, to students whose semesters who are coming to an end, to business owners who are closing out the end of the 2nd quarter, and I suspect for you, as well. It is almost the end of the year, so it is like half time in a game. This is the time to go to your “locker room” and access the situation of your business, and of your life.

You may have walked into the game with good intentions, perhaps you were sure this was your year, and you walked into on Jan 1st on fire and ready to take on the world, and then __________ fill in the blank happened. It is so frustrating to have great plans and then to meet with some unexpected opposition or challenge. In some ways, you may be at the point now where you have silently given up, or you are just incredibly discouraged. Trust me, I know how you feel.

Today, I am sending this newsletter to remind you of a few things and to encourage you to keep on going. Yes, it is true that you had some setbacks, you may even feel like you can’t get to where you want to go from where you are, but you can. It’s the end of the 2nd quarter, and it is time to reassess.

I wanted to give you some easy steps that could help you go into the 2nd quarter strong.

First, reconnect with your why. What were you trying to accomplish, and why was it important? Go back to the beginning and connect with the reason why you needed or wanted things to be different. Allow the idea of accomplishing your goals to fuel you. What will it look like when you finally make it? Who could you help and how will their lives be change?

Most of us are propelled by vision and stopped by fear.

Second, no defeat is final until the end of the game. You must take a close look at your position. Where do you need to do more or where do you need to change positions. Where you are today is nothing but a symptom, of a larger problem, let me explain. You are probably suffering from one of these problems, lack of focus, fear, discouragement, poor planning, lack of action, or lack of follow through, or you may be going in the wrong direction all together. If you are not moving forward you may need to start from scratch, or you may need to make some small tweaks in your current process. In order to figure out what needs to change I encourage you to get some help, and I am going to explain to you why. I run across a lot of people who think they can figure things out, and the great news is you can. The big problem is the time, energy, and money it costs to “figure things out” is expensive, and it is COSTING YOU MONEY. Figuring things out is a costly prospect, and while you are figuring things out, you are not doing something else that is more beneficial and more important. You are wasting precious time and at the end of the day you may end up being only ½ as far as you could have been in the same time period and end up with a mediocre result. It’s time to get in the game, and that means you have to be willing to stop taking shortcuts and start moving forward with your plans. Take out your eraser and spend the next 12 days making some changes in what you are doing and how you are going to do it. Get some other eyes to take a look at your plan and your direction, so you don’t spend the next six months going in circles.

Lastly, commit to your new plan, and don’t allow inaction to stop you from moving forward. When you commit to something you decide to do what it takes to move that plan forward. If the lack of follow through was your challenge, decide to do something different over the next 6 months. I strongly encourage you to get some type of accountability and some type of on-going support. You vision is too important to leave up to chance. For the last 6 months, you have seen what happens when you don’t have support, things start falling through the cracks, and you don’t move forward. Give yourself a fighting chance to succeed and move forward by making sure you are pushing yourself forward.

Remember you are in half time of this game, do what you need to do to move forward, and finish the game strong. Don’t allow yourself to end up on the sidelines with your head down at the end of the game because you didn’t make the changes you needed to make to win. Lastly, remember you will only fail if you quit!