From the Engagement Committee
September is the perfect time for a reset.
There’s enough of the year behind us to know what’s working, and still enough ahead of us to make meaningful changes before December arrives.
This month, ACW is introducing our first Q4 Reset & Finish Strong resource. Rather than another traditional business review, use these five quick moves to turn reflection into action.
1. KEEP: Protect What’s Working
Start with what you don’t need to fix.
Ask yourself: What has worked especially well this year?
Try this: Identify two things producing results, a habit, routine, relationship or way of working, and intentionally protect them on your Q4 calendar.
Sometimes finishing strong means doing more of what already works.
2. FIX: Find Your One Loose End
That project you keep pushing. The conversation you need to have. The goal that quietly slipped away.
Don’t make a giant Q4 catch-up list.
Try this: Choose the one unfinished item that would create the most relief or momentum if you handled it. Give it a deadline and schedule the first action now.
One completed priority beats ten lingering intentions.
Push it further: Try doing this each week or month for a snowball of results.
3. CONNECT: Make a Relationship List
Networking doesn’t have to mean meeting someone new.
Think about the people already in your world: a mentor you haven’t contacted, a colleague you want to know better, a customer or partner you appreciate or someone whose career you could support.
Try this: Pick three people and make three intentional connections before year-end, one to learn from, one to reconnect with and one you can help.
4. SHOW: Do a Visibility Check
We’re often quick to move from one accomplishment to the next without documenting our contributions.
Open a blank document and spend five minutes answering:
What did I improve, solve, create, influence or help accomplish this year?
Save it.
That list can become fuel for your year-end review, résumé, LinkedIn profile, promotion conversation — or simply a reminder of how much you accomplished.
5. POSITION: Work Backward From January
Picture yourself in January 2027.
What would make you think, I’m really glad I did that before the year ended?
Maybe it’s asking for a stretch assignment. Finding a mentor. Updating your résumé. Learning a skill. Joining an ACW committee. Having a career conversation you’ve been avoiding.
Try this: Pick one January outcome and work backward. What needs to happen in December? November? October?
Now you have a Q4 plan.
Your 10-Minute Q4 Reset
You don’t need to overhaul your year.
- Keep one thing.
- Fix one thing.
- Strengthen three relationships.
- Document your wins.
- Take one step toward 2027.
That’s it.
Q4 will get busy whether we plan for it or not. Take 10 minutes now to make sure some of that energy goes toward what matters to you. Share your tips and tricks with your fellow ACW members and post in the ACWConnect Member Portal how you plan to tackle Q4 successfully.
