(thescore.ie)

Believe it or not, as competitive as I am, and having grown up with brothers who were athletes, I’m not the biggest sports fan. Whenever I do happen to tune into a game, it’s a big one. Oddly, my eyes do not look for the scoreboard first. It is my nature to instead check and see how much time is left until the game is over. In my opinion, how much time is left determines the level of suspense that is happening in the game. It also lets me know if I have time to browse other channels, or if I need to keep it right there and give it my undivided attention. Like the end of a sports game, the end of the year can bring similar feelings. With just 3 months to go before the year is over, this is typically a time when people either decide to ramp up their efforts in making their year successful, or they decide to be content with the way things have turned out so far.

The decision to stay complacent is usually because of the short period of time left, but short periods are deceiving. It’s not how much time you have but what you do with it, and how you manage it. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that how much time you are given will control the outcome of what you want to do, or that you need to wait until next year to accomplish what you can now.

Keep in mind that how this year ends determines how 2015 will start. You have the choice of starting ahead of the game and only needing to expand on what you have begun, or you can end up having to waste time by starting things that could have been done previously. Making the most out of the rest of your year doesn’t always have to be based on huge goals and overwhelming task. It can be as simple as picking back up good habits you may have discontinued as the months passed by.

For those of us that will make the most out of this year, we are going to use the remaining weeks not to intimidate, but to motivate ourselves. So, in case you were thinking of throwing in the towel and begin to plan how 2015 will be, let me encourage you to not leave 2014 yet. It’s not over. Make the proactive choice to resolve what needs to be taken care of, and begin what you should start now.

(cnn.com)

Remember, the games that everyone talks about have the best endings. More often than not what made it a great game, is that with little time left, a team decided to still play like it had just started. And, their efforts  were well rewarded.

Rachel Bryant Lundy