I have a really fun one-year anniversary call that I do with all my clients. The purpose is to enjoy and celebrate. The purpose is not to get things done or be productive and efficient.
After your cup is empty and you’re all out of energy, momentum, motivation and ideas, you have to figure out a way to fill your cup.
It’s like working out: If you keep doing one workout after the other without giving yourself a break, you’re going to be exhausted. You won’t be able to sustain energy until, eventually, you burn out and quit. The same thing happens with work.
My one-year anniversary call is a place where we fill our cups back up and focus on celebration, rejuvenation, positivity, motivation, reflection and introspection. I have a fun little agenda that we follow where participants answer the following five questions:
1. What is the scariest moment you had in our work this last year?
2. What is the most exciting moment you had in our work this last year?
3. What is your favorite or best customer or employee story from this work?
4. When you describe this work to your peers, how do you describe it?
5. Why does this work matter?
I’m sharing these questions with you because I know you’ve been working hard this year, and we all need an extra energy boost. We all need to take a moment to have fun, celebrate wins, and, at the same time, reflect on why we do what we do.
Asking yourself and your team simple questions like these is one of the most enjoyable and impactful things you can do right now.
Companies all want to push harder in the last quarter of the year. Over the past two years, the productivity pattern has been this: a surge in Q4 followed by a plunge in Q1 of the following year. In the fourth quarter of 2021, productivity increased by 6.3% only to be followed by a 7.5% decline in the first quarter of 2022, the sharpest drop in 74 years.
It’s time to break this seesawing pattern. It’s tempting to move on from one task or project to the next and smash all your company goals this year, but don’t forget that you all need to take a breather and bask in what you’ve achieved and overcome so far.
Regardless of how the past few months of 2022 have gone, you have learned a lot. Start the last quarter of the year right by taking a moment to fill your cup. Create space in your busy schedule to engage in a relaxing and enjoyable conversation with your team to celebrate and reflect.
In love and respect,
Hilary Corna
