The Year Isn’t Over Yet

Here we are in October, and I feel like all I’m hearing is that I “only have 90-ish days left in the year and I better get busy. Finish strong! Look at those goals you set in January! What haven’t I accomplished yet? There’s still time to CRUSH 2026!” 😳🤦‍♀️

And listen, I love a goal. I love a list. I especially love checking things OFF the list. But I’m not really feeling the whole “you only have 90 days left, so you’d better get moving” thing this year.

Maybe instead of looking at these last few months as some kind of deadline, could we look at them as what they actually are – three whole months of our lives that we still get to live.

I think sometimes when October rolls around, we mentally start wrapping up the year before it’s actually over. We start thinking about the things we didn’t accomplish, the resolutions that quietly disappeared somewhere around March and the projects we were absolutely, definitely going to get done this year. Then the holidays start creeping in and suddenly we decide we’ll just start fresh in January.

Who decided January 1 has some kind of magical power that October 7 or November 12 doesn’t have? 🤷‍♀️

There is still plenty of time to do something that matters to me (to you), and it doesn’t have to be some enormous life-changing goal. Maybe there’s someone you keep thinking about who you haven’t talked to in way too long. Call them. Maybe there’s something you’ve wanted to try but you keep telling yourself you’ll do it “someday.” Maybe someday could be next Thursday. Maybe there’s a small change you know would make your life easier or happier.

And maybe what you need to do before the end of the year isn’t to START something at all. Maybe you need to stop something.

Is there something you keep doing simply because you’ve always done it? Is there a commitment that made sense two years ago but doesn’t anymore. Is something taking up space in your business, your calendar or your head that you’re ready to let go of. Is there something you’ve been beating yourself up about that you need to finally forgive yourself for and move on.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how easy it is to measure our lives by what we accomplish. I’m certainly guilty of it. Give me a productive day where I knocked out a bunch of things on my list and I feel GOOD. But the older I get, the more I realize that some of the things that matter most will never show up on a to-do list.

I recently went for a massage in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, and I felt guilty about it! WHY? Don’t I deserve it? Yes I know I should have been working on responding to emails or finishing a web design project early. I even had someone ask me if it was a reward for accomplishing something. Why did it need to be a reward? Why have we not normalized a random Tuesday afternoon massage is a good thing for our body and mind?

Getting a massage or calling someone because you miss them isn’t on the business plan. Sitting around talking with your husband or a friend when you probably “should” be doing something productive doesn’t move a project forward. Taking a day off when there is still work sitting on your desk doesn’t give you anything to check off.

But those things count too.

There are definitely things I still want to accomplish before this year is over. I have projects that need to get finished, ideas I want to get moving and, let’s be real, probably some things on a list somewhere that I have conveniently stopped looking at. I’m not giving up on goals or suggesting we all spend the rest of the year on the couch.

I just don’t want to spend October, November and December racing toward some imaginary finish line and miss three months of my actual life in the process.

I also don’t want to put something off simply because I can’t finish it before December 31. If I start something in November and I’m still working on it in February, so what? If I decide on December 15 that I want something in my life to be different, I don’t have to wait 17 more days to begin.

January gets way too much credit.

So maybe instead of asking yourself what you still need to accomplish before 2026 is over, ask yourself what would make these last few months feel good. What would you like to do, change, experience, release or begin?

And whatever your answer is, please don’t tell yourself you have to wait until January 1.