Invest in your future self by finishing strong

Are you like me? A bit surprised that we’re in the last quarter of 2021?

If so, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve accomplished what you set out to achieve this year. Good for you! Setting goals and accomplishing them is a tremendously satisfying feeling. Maybe you’re still striving to meet your goals. The great thing about the start of the fourth quarter of the year is that there’s time to meet some of the goals you might not have yet fulfilled, or to add to the list of what you would still like to achieve.

Investment is what I tend to think about in the month of October. Investment in new technologies, financial investment and perhaps most importantly, personal professional investment. Many years ago, I would simply try to make it from October 1st to January 1st with a heads-down push to complete projects and meet targets. Sometimes this resulted in an intense need for a break, just when the new year required my full attention and focus.

Now I’ve learned to focus on professional development in the last quarter of each year. Education is energizing and I find it prepares me to move into the next year with new information and fresh perspectives. Professional development is not just good for the mind, it’s good for the spirit.

Next month, November 19th in fact, your PMI GLC Chapter will host a virtual Professional Development Day. This is a fantastic opportunity to educate, energize and ensure you have what it takes to finish the year strong, by dedicating yourself to your own professional development.

Finishing strong is a concept familiar to many who participate in some type of athletic endeavor. In my personal workouts I both dread and look forward to a difficult “finisher” which is so tough to get through and yet leaves such a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Make time to finish strong with your own professional development and reap the benefit of education as you energize yourself to meet the challenges of the new year ahead.