This is my favorite time of year! The weather gets cooler, it’s time for sweaters and football, and instead of slowing down on my goals…I put my foot on the gas. Here’s why the last quarter of the year is a time to thrive instead of survive.

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I have rarely done things conventionally.

There has always been this tug I’ve had to go the opposite direction others are going. Especially when I don’t want to do something in the first place. When I was a teenager, I thought I was just being rebellious and angsty. You know, teen vibes. But as I grew up I realized that it wasn’t something I was growing out of.

Even into my adult years, when other people have gone right, I’ve pivoted and gone left (see below for actual photographic evidence at my best friend’s wedding).

Maybe it is some stubbornness (I am a Capricorn after all) or because I’m more introverted than extroverted, but there is something to be said about the road less traveled. It is a lot less crowded.

I broke up with New Year’s Resolutions awhile ago. Mostly because I found that even if I set one, I would forget or give up on it entirely by the end of February.

Maybe you’ve been there. You set the goal January 1st, go HAM on it for a couple weeks, and then get bored, realize you set too lofty a goal, or give it up because it feels like too much work.

Same.

Then a number of years ago I listened to a podcast of a woman who was rapidly building her own company and also working on some massive personal growth.

She talked about how she started doing what she called “Last 90 Days” and, instead of setting a New Year’s Resolution, she would set a goal for the last three months of the year and put in some massive work towards it instead of waiting to start come the first of the new year.

This caught my attention for a number of reasons. First being, of course, that it was unconventional. Right up my alley. Second being that someone else had already tried doing something unconventional and found it to be wildly successful.

So I gave it a go.

And it worked. I’ve done it every single year since, because it works for me every time.

And now I’m sharing with you exactly how I start the new year already setting myself up to win by doing the following.

You can’t really start working towards something if you don’t know what you’re working towards. So, you need to set a goal.

Maybe you have a short-term goal of losing 10lbs. Or getting every single room and space in your house organized. Or getting a promotion at work. Or running a marathon.

Short term goals are great because I think they help us unlock some bigger, loftier goals we want to achieve.

But maybe you’re a big dreamer and a hard hitter and you want to go for a long-term goal. A big, audacious one. Like starting your own business. Changing careers. Landing a role on Broadway.

Whatever it is, it’s time to put pen to paper in a special, designated notebook just for this, and write down your goal.

I know this part feels a little scary. Like you’re spilling a big secret that you didn’t want anyone to know. Or like you aren’t allowed to want what you want because it feels way too big and out of reach and inconvenient to other people (blink twice if you just started to sweat).

Girl. This is YOUR goal. No one else’s. You are allowed to want whatever it is that you want.

Believe me when I say that it literally doesn’t matter if no one else understands why you want to achieve the goal you want to achieve, as long as you understand why you want to achieve your goal.

So, take a deep breath and write it down.

Then, put it somewhere you’ll see it every single day. A post-it note, written on your bathroom mirror, your car, your closet–anywhere you’ll see it, which will help keep you focused for the next 90 days.

So you set your goal. I’m proud of you. Most people have a hard time even doing that part.

This is also normally the time some self-declared expert will tell you to pick something achievable that you can actually accomplish for a quick win and a boost of confidence.

I’m no self-declared expert, but I actually think that’s pretty crappy advice.

I believe that we can accomplish just about anything we decide to accomplish. It just takes some time and consistent effort.

Those two things will make you unstoppable and a force to be reckoned with. But here’s some truth for you.

There’s a good chance you won’t achieve your goal in the last three months of the year. I’m not being mean. I don’t doubt your amazing abilities. But that’s just kind of the reality and I’ll explain why.

We are heading into the holiday season and the trifecta–Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. All of which are largely centered around food and beverages and big gatherings and time consuming activities and events.

(I didn’t even include Halloween, but it deserves honorable mention).

I’m not saying it can’t be done, but if you are the kind of person who enjoys these holidays (like me), you need to be realistic and recognize that you will likely indulge, be busy, and be swayed by everyone else slowing down in the last 90 days of this year.

I’ll use myself as an example. Let’s pretend I’m trying to lose 5lbs.

Losing weight by the beginning of the year is, frankly, not realistic for me. I like to indulge and some of my favorite things about the holidays are the delicious food and yummy treats (Shameless plug: Be sure and check the blog for recipes to my favs!).

Knowing that, my goal of losing weight doesn’t need to change, but my timeline does. This is where the realistic part comes in. Instead of aiming to lose the weight by the end of the year, what if my goal is to lose weight by the end of March?

“Wait, what? Naomi, you just said that we’re working on goals for the last part of the year and now you’re saying to push it out to March?!” Stay with me.

Even though my timeline changes a little–and I cannot stress this enough–it doesn’t mean I can’t start now.

The average person would wait until the first full week of January knowing they probably won’t lose any weight in the last part of the year but, more importantly. knowing that they won’t even try (sorry if that was a gut punch for you).

I can still start October 1st and start making shifts in habits that will ultimately lead to losing some weight, even if I don’t actually see the result right away.

Things like leading meals with protein, having a vegetable at every meal, drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day, and fitting in 20 minutes of movement at least 5 days per week are all ways to start working towards my goal of weight loss.

Not only is this incredibly realistic, it’s actually a really good plan because it gives me some “practice” time before the real work starts.

I may not see the scale move down much, but starting to incorporate these habits is setting me up for some massive success come the first of the year.

While everyone else is having to get into this new routine and start their healthy habits, I’ve already got them down so it feels less like a struggle to get started and way less overwhelming because I’ve already got a plan in place that I’ve been practicing for three months.

I’ve also got some extra time to tweak things if I need to before the heavy lifting (pun absolutely intended) starts.

And hey, maybe it’s not a race against anyone and you don’t get a prize for having a jump-start for the first of the year.

But I can tell you with utmost confidence that you will watch others around you quit (and quickly) because they’re overwhelmed, can’t get a good routine going, didn’t take the time to make a plan, or just don’t want it bad enough.

You can stop being one of those people.

We’re obsessed with instant gratification in this day and age. Remember, goals take time and consistent effort to reach achievement.

Here’s my best advice: Look at any of the obstacles that might be in your way in the next 90 days, anticipate them, and figure out how to work around them. Spoiler alert: There’s almost always something you can do to move the needle on your goals, even if it’s small.

Plan on not reaching your goal by the end of the year, but make your best effort if it’s realistic enough to do by the end of the year. If it’s truly not going to happen by the end of the year (like mine), then set a realistic timeline.

You could also consider breaking your goal down into bite-sized parts. I like to do this with bigger goals because it helps make them feel less daunting. And it gives me a clearer road map on what to do, when to do it, and in what order. Think about how you could break up your goal.

Could you complete Part 1 by the end of the year? Or two of the three? You get the idea.

Last, it isn’t always about taking something away. Many times success is found by adding something in. Reverse engineer it if you aren’t seeing a clear path. Start with your end result in mind, and go backwards on how you see yourself getting there. Pretty soon you’ll have a plan in place begging you to get started.

I always smirk when I explain this part because, to me, it feels kind of silly to have to say it…but I have learned that it must actually be said.

In order to start your goal…you have to start working toward your goal.

Unfortunately there’s no Goal Fairy that reads your plan in the middle of the night and leaves you the results you’ve been wishing for.

Girl, you gotta put in some WORK.

Don’t just stare at the plan you spent so much time thinking through and putting together and hope it starts to work. Hope won’t get you the results you want. It helps you feel a little warm and fuzzy, but hoping for a goal instead of taking action is worthless.

YOU are the key to the door. YOU have to do the work so YOU see the success.

Don’t just leave your plan sitting in your Notes app, ChatGPT, or a Google Doc, either.

Print it out. Look at it every single day. Check boxes. Put in some daily work for the next 90 days, even if it’s just for 20 minutes a day, and I promise you’ll see the needle move on your goal. At the very least, you’ll be further along by the first of the year than you were.

Stop stalling and just start.

And instead of waiting for the deadline to come and becoming anxious because you haven’t started yet, set your start date instead. October 1st is just around the corner.

As I said, I’ve never done things the conventional way. I think it’s because when people do things the conventional way, they’re doing what’s average. What most people do.

The thing is, I’m not looking for average in this life. I want the amazing. Exceeds expectations. The life I dream of that may seem like a long shot but, with some work and consistency, isn’t actually that far off.

Every year when the last 90 days approaches, I think about if I want to do this challenge again. The answer has always been yes, because each time I’ve chosen a goal and committed to it, I’ve impressed myself again and again. And this year will be no different.

The first year, I committed to my health and did workouts for 6 days a week, cut out one category of food I didn’t need to be eating (sugar), and started a daily gratitude practice (that I still do to this day! Tap here to see my daily gratitude practice).

By the first of the year I was already in the habit of working out, eating to fuel my body, had a decent handle on meal prep, and was noticing a huge improvement in my mood by practicing daily gratitude.

A couple of years ago I committed to severely limiting processed sugar (4g or less per serving, per day. That’s about one teaspoon of white sugar per day, for perspective). I ended up doing it for 6 months and even though I indulge some now, I mostly keep sugar to a minimum because it just doesn’t taste good anymore. Especially in any boxed/processed snacks.

This year my goal is business related and pretty massive. But I’m committed to putting in the work to hopefully see some big strides very soon.

As I write this, it is September 15th. Which leaves two weeks until the last 90 days of the year. Fourth quarter. End of 2025. Final countdown (cue theme music).

Two weeks is plenty of time to come up with a goal you’d like to work on and to put a plan in place to start working on it. However, you likely already have a goal in mind that you’re thinking about as you read this. So it’s time to write it down and put your plan in place!

It’s tempting to over-complicate goals because we invent things we need to do before actually starting. Like doing research (and then more research), creating another spreadsheet, buying whatever stuff you convince yourself you think you need to start, or knowing every single thing so there aren’t any surprises.

Listen. With love, you don’t need any of that. Those are all excuses your mind is making up to protect you from being scared of starting. What you need is a goal and an action plan. That’s it. And remember, part of your action plan is anticipating roadblocks. There’s no need to get so worked up about what could go wrong right now that it stops you from starting.

Look, I get it. I’ve been there. But here’s some science for you.

At the very basic level, this is your survival part of your brain trying to protect you from being chased by a lion. It’s called the Amygdala if you want to look into it further. Except your brain doesn’t know you aren’t being chased by a lion and that you’re just setting a new goal. Because your body reacts and feels the same way either way.

That anxious-nervous feeling that stops you from wanting to get started? The sweat that broke out, handshaking and slightly dizzy feeling? That’s your body responding to the stress of it. It’s hitting all the same parts of your brain and lighting everything up, just as if you were a cave person about to be dinner to Simba.

Tell your brain thanks for protecting you, but that you can take it from here. Breathe deep. And get started.

Most of us know the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing on repeat expecting different results. This is a great opportunity if you’ve never (or rarely) been successful at accomplishing a new year’s resolution. You can’t keep repeating the same process if it isn’t working! It won’t work this time either, Sis. And it’s not your fault. You just need to pivot and change it up.

Making the most of the last 90 days is also not as daunting as it may seem.

Almost everyone I know takes half the month of December off. Work slows down and people push things off to the first of the year because everyone is celebrating the holidays, which means your competition (hypothetical, imagined, or real) is pumping the breaks while you put your foot on the gas and sail right past them.

It also means that no one is noticing what you’re doing (or not doing). They’re all wrapped up in their own holiday chaos to care what your new goal is, so you can let your shoulders fall away from your ears if you’re worried about anyone making fun of you, asking rude questions, or making you doubt yourself.

(Which, by the way, if those people exist in your life, eew. Ditch them and find a circle who is accepting of you. I promise, they’re out there and it’s worth finding them so you don’t have to feel guilty or judged by your mother-in-law when you explain why you’re spending time away from your kids and husband to train for a marathon for the millionth time).

To be clear, I still make plenty of time to celebrate and slow down around the holidays. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love spending time with my family, baking, watching movies, doing puzzles, and just getting my mind quiet from all the noise leftover from the first 3/4 of the year.

There is something productive about slowing down and allowing yourself to experience joy and enjoyment. I often feel re-inspired, rejuvenated, and more creative versus when I’m pushing myself to do more without a break. Especially when I feel stuck.

The point of pushing yourself during the last 90 days of the year is not to burn yourself out, but to make some true progress on something that’s important to you, in a slightly unconventional, non-traditional way.

If I haven’t convinced you to try this yet, I’ll leave you with this:

Even if you don’t hit your goal in the last few months of the year, it’s not a waste of time to move the needle forward. Because no matter what you’ll be further than when you started.

You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Get out of your own way.

I hope to see you on the road less traveled on October 1st with your goal and plan in hand.

P.S. If you aren’t sure where to start, grab a free printout of my Goal Setting Worksheet below and use it as a guide to help you get started and keep you on track!