Can you believe next week we will be entering the last quarter of the year!?
October 3rd will kick off the last 90 days of 2022. I don't know about you but I am in shock with how fast this year has gone! Granted it has been a year of lots of changes for me personally and professionally and that has speed up time even more.
Every year as we approach this point of the year, I take on the Last 90 Day Challenge. I like to take on this challenge to hold myself accountable and end the year strong, instead of just cruising through the end of year telling myself “I will start over on January 1st”.
This year I want to take a new spin on this Last 90 Day Challenge so I created a Career version of the Challenge.
This challenge is for everyone! If you are feeling stuck in your career, maybe you are disengaged at work, or you are looking to find fulfillment in your job/career, or maybe you know there is more for you in this space. Or maybe you feel you have made a lot of progress and you have reached your career goals this year but you want even more. This challenge is for you!
This challenge will help you:
Re-engage with your job and career
Feel greater appreciation for where you are today while working towards where you want to be
Gain momentum towards your personal growth and development
Feel energized and inspired
Take the driver seat of your development and career
The challenge itself is simple… commit to five daily habits and do them consistently for the next 3 months. The goal is not to be perfect but to commit to trying your best. Commit to going again when you fall off course, because you will.
Learn all about the challenge on this podcast episode:
The Five Daily Habits:
Here is an overview of the five daily habits that will change your career in the last 90 days.
Practice Gratitude:
If you decide to choose only one of these habits to incorporate into your day, please let it be this one! A daily gratitude practice will fundamentally change your life and your career. Write down three things that happened in the last 24 hours related to your job, career and/or business. Try to be as specific as you can. Everything counts, don't look for big things to be grateful for, I actually recommend you focus on the small things. Maybe things went really well on a meeting or someone at the office helped you with something or you connected with someone new. If you want to take this particular practice to the next level, every time you identify someone you are grateful for, send that person a thank you note or text.
This simple but powerful practice has the power to completely change your perception around your job and/or career. You will start to be more present and soon you'll find yourself finding more and more thank and people to be grateful for which will increase your level of engagement and fulfillment at work.
Read 10 pages of a book:
What book you read is up to you. My recommendation is that you pick of two types of books: a personal development book, you can check some of my favorites here; or a book that helps you develop or continue to develop skills that will help you perform better at your job, will prepare you for a future job or will help you develop skills that is high demand today or will be in the future.
Now, you might be asking is why is this habit including on this challenge? Well, personally I believe that reading is one of those keystone habits, meaning, it has a ripple effect in many areas of your life. Also, because when you read you learn, and the more you learn, the more curious you become, and the more you want to learn, so it helps you develop a growth mindset which is key id driving your career and will be a key enabler for your success.
Another questions you might have is why read 10 pages? No, there is no magic with the number ten. You can pick a different number. For me ten is short enough that I can fit into my day but long enough to push me outside of my comfort zone in terms of slowing down and focus my attention. I also like ten because is a round number, I found many chapters of many books average ten pages, and stopping at ten pages vs continue reading allows me to digest and reflect on what I read.
Set intentions for your day:
I like to start my day setting intentions for the day, in that way I am more in control of how I show up vs being on reactive mode through the day. Setting a daily intention takes no more than five minutes, and it keeps you connected to your goals, desires, and needs and align these with your day-to-day routines.
What’s the difference between setting intentions and setting goals you might be asking yourself? Goal setting is more future-focused and represents a specific achievement, accomplishment, or destination you wish to reach. Intention-setting is focused on the present. The intentions you set describe how you intend to be this day, in this moment, at this point in time. Intentions can guide and support you in pursuing your goals by helping you maintain motivation and a positive mindset. Intentions are less about where you end up and more about how you show up and who you show yourself you can be
Step outside your comfort zone:
I love this one. You probably have heard that growth happens outside your comfort zone. A great way to get re-engaged at work and your career is to constantly stepping outside your comfort zone, that allow you to grow every day and when you grow consistently over time you start to feel more engaged, more confident and as I like to say, on your A game.
When I suggest you step outside of your comfort zone every day, it doesn't have to be in big ways. In fact you only need to make small, tiny, 2mm shifts. Ask yourself every day, what is one 2mm shift I can make today that will push me outside of my comfort zone? And go for it!
Eat that frog:
You might have read this week "Eat that Frog", if you haven't, I totally recommend it. What does eating that frog mean? Eat That Frog! uses this saying as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day. On his book, Tracy o explains these tasks are often the ones you are most likely to procrastinate on. However, they are also the most likely tasks to have a significant impact on your life. Eat That Frog! The book provides 21 tips to organize your life around eating that frog faster and more often. Maybe this is the first book you grab as part of your last 90 day career challenge. Whether you have read the book or you plan to, the essence of this habit is to start your day (even before you check your emails in the morning) by crossing that thing off your to-do list.
Additional Resources:
Download your challenge tracker
Grab your Last 90 Day Career Challenge Planner
