December is always a bit of a weird month for me. On one end, it opens up the Holiday Season and the promise of a New Year that would hopefully be better than the year ending, on the other, like for most business owners, CEO’s and others mean closing the fiscal year, reaching the year’s quota or securing the cash flow to meet all financial commitments. This month can indeed be quite stressful, and If you notice how most people talk at this time, is with a conviction that whatever didn’t happen by now, most likely won’t happen in the last few weeks of the year.
What many don’t focus on is that company’s don’t want to leave the approved budget on the table, and many projects are actually awarded in record time in December or that some decision-makers might have procrastinated all year long and end up making an important decision before the end of the year to be able to show some "progress". But unless you are at the right place at the right time, you probably wouldn't even notice this happened.
All my life I’ve been a Team Sports kind of gal, always looking for a team to be part of. As soon as I moved to Miami a dear friend of mine made me discover Dragon Boat Racing (which not too many people know about but it happens to be the fastest-growing outdoors sport in the world!). A boat with 20 paddlers, one drummer, and one steerer. The goal is to have the team paddling in sync, with the technique being more key than strength. You might have the strongest of paddlers onboard, if his/her paddle is not going in the water at the same time as the rest, they create a drag and also un-sync everybody else behind them.
The competition is all about finding the right pace for each stage of the race, starting with very fast-paced paddling to then transition to a loooong and steady race pace paddling. When the finish line is on sight, no matter if the team is winning or losing, the steerer calls POWER UP!!!! I remember that moment as the most magical moment in the race. I still get goosebumps and an adrenaline rush just writing about it, because the entire team starts screaming POWER, POWER, POWER and you just give it 1000%. Even when you thought you had nothing left in you when POWER UP is called, you realize that you can still get plenty of energy out of you, and finishing strong is an often-used technique to come from behind and win the race. Any athlete used to compete knows that you always have a bit more in you, no matter how tired or hopeless about winning you feel.
As I was reflecting on the "pace" of any given year, I realized that it is quite similar to a dragon boat race, with people energized and ready to tackle anything in January and February, to then follow in a more methodical and automated pace by mid-year, getting to the end feeling drained and exhausted, with the idea of "let whatever outcome be" very present in their mind.
As we are getting ready to close 2021, I’ll be the steerer with this blog and call you to POWER UP!!!. Revisit your goals and give it one last influx of powerful energy. Even when the goal doesn’t seem achievable, I can assure you that you will feel so much better knowing that you really gave it your all. Take control of the last few weeks and try to achieve something you thought you wouldn't. Energy is contagious, if anything, your extra push will revitalize others around you, POWER NOOOOOOW!
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