Seventy days remain. That is ten weeks, a window that carries you from this second week of November through the holidays and into the first weeks of the new year. It is easy to look at the calendar right now and write the year off. Don’t. Pick one thing. Finish it. The year is not over.
Why the Middle of November Feels Like the End
There is a mental trap that shows up around this time every year. The holidays are visible on the horizon. Schedules are filling. Everyone is talking about next year. It starts to feel as if the current year is already closed, and anything unfinished should simply be rolled into a fresh set of resolutions.
That instinct is understandable, but it costs people a great deal. Ten weeks is a meaningful amount of time. It is long enough to finish a project, rebuild a habit, repair a relationship, clear a backlog or get a stalled plan moving again. Plenty of comebacks have been built in less time than that. The only thing that makes the remaining weeks worthless is deciding in advance that they do not count.
If you have had a hard year, this matters even more. A setback can make you want to fast-forward to a clean slate. But the way you finish a difficult year shapes how you start the next one. Finishing one thing well gives you momentum and evidence to carry forward.
Pick One Thing
Not five things. Not a new master plan. One. The power of this check-in comes from focus. When you try to rescue every goal at once in the last stretch of the year, you usually end up rescuing none of them.
To choose your one thing, look back at the goals or intentions you had for this year and ask:
- Which unfinished item would make the biggest difference if it were done?
- Which one is realistic to complete in ten weeks, with the time and energy you actually have, holidays included?
- Which one keeps nagging at you? The task that keeps coming back to mind is often the one that needs closing.
Good candidates are concrete and finishable: complete the certification, clean up the finances, finish the first draft, make the doctor’s appointment you have been avoiding, have the conversation, organize the garage, ship the project. Vague goals like “be healthier” or “grow the business” need to be narrowed into something with a clear finish line.
Finish It
Choosing is the easy part. Finishing is where most year-end efforts fall apart, usually because the plan is too loose to survive a busy season. Give your one thing a structure that can handle the holidays.
- Define “done.” Write one sentence that describes what finished looks like. If you cannot describe it, you will not know when to stop.
- Break it into weekly pieces. Ten weeks means roughly ten steps. Assign one to each week, and leave the holiday weeks lighter.
- Put the work on the calendar. Block specific times, not “sometime this week.”
- Remove one obstacle now. Gather the materials, make the call, clear the space or ask for the help you will need.
- Tell one person. A friend, coach or colleague who will ask you how it is going.
Plan for the holiday dip
The weeks around Thanksgiving and the end of December rarely go as planned. Travel, family and events take over. Instead of pretending that will not happen, build it in. Front-load the heavier work into the next few weeks, keep the holiday weeks for small, easy steps, and use the quieter days right after the new year to close it out if needed.
Common Mistakes in the Final Stretch
- Waiting for January. The new year does not bring extra energy. It brings a new calendar. Start now.
- Choosing something too big. If it cannot realistically be finished in ten weeks, scale it down to a finishable piece.
- Adding instead of finishing. Year-end inspiration often turns into starting three new things. This check-in is about closing one.
- Letting one missed week end the effort. If a week falls apart, pick up next week. Ten weeks has room for a stumble.
- Not celebrating the finish. When it is done, mark it. That sense of completion is part of what you are building.
What Finishing Does for a Comeback
Finishing one meaningful thing does more than check a box. It changes how you see yourself. After a setback, it is common to lose trust in your own follow-through. You start to expect plans to fall apart. A completed project, even a modest one, is proof against that story. It says: I can still decide something and see it through.
That proof is worth more than any resolution you could write in January. It means you walk into the new year as someone who just finished, not someone hoping to start.
Questions for Your Check-In
- What did I set out to do this year that is still unfinished?
- Which one item would I be most relieved to have done by the time the new year begins?
- What is the very first step, and when exactly will I take it?
- Who can I tell, so someone is in my corner?
- What will I let go of so this one thing has room?
What to Do This Week
- Choose your one thing today and write down what “done” looks like.
- Map it into ten weekly steps, with lighter steps during the holidays.
- Schedule this week’s step on your calendar.
- Tell one person what you are finishing.
- Take the first step before the weekend.
Seventy days remain. Pick one thing. Finish it. The year is not over.
Chris Dorrity speaks and coaches on resilience and the comeback. Book him for your team or event.
New messages, real moments from the road, and the All Is Well Project. Follow along and say hello.
The lessons behind everything Chris teaches. Start with three chapters, free.
Turn the lessons into your comeback.
Talk it through free with the Team Dorrity coach, or work with Chris one-on-one in The Better Than Back Experience.
