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Finish the Year Strong to Carry Momentum Into 2019 Survey your accomplishments now, and reassess your goals, to conclude this year in kinetic alignment with where you want to go next.

By Raul Villacis

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Nora Carol Photography | Getty Images

At the end of every season I like to take some time to reassess my yearly outcomes. I also do this with all my coaching clients because it helps them see the progress they've made and how they can adjust their expectations.

This year, I decided to bring all my clients together for a two-day event to do their assessments in a group setting. This is going to be the main theme at this year's Next Level Leadership Summit: "How to Finish Strong."

I've been privileged to coach, consult and interview some of the most productive entrepreneurs I know, and I have learned as much from them as they have from me. The principles they have shared with me are timeless and easy to follow. I have used them time and time again to reset my goals to make sure I set myself up for a great closing to the year instead of being disappointed by what I didn't accomplish.

Don't let attachment to the outcome rob you of victory.

Most entrepreneurs are very competitive. We have a vision and goals, and we want things to look a certain way. The truth is that things don't happen the way we want them to most of the time. To keep the momentum, sometimes you have to adjust your vision.

Related: 16 Actions to Take to Achieve Any Goal

Currently, I'm working with a real estate developer who is working on several projects. At the beginning of the year, he set a goal to close a deal that would net him $20 million. He found one and started working it. It looked like he was on his way to achieving his goal, but he later received news from his architect that he had miscalculated some numbers and that they would be making $5 milliion less than originally projected. Upset, he called me to tell me the news.

All I heard in his voice was how disappointed he was that he was not going to hit his goal. I reminded him of where he was three years ago when he joined my program. He was burned out, had lost his purpose and didn't have any deals to count on. And now, this is one of the many deals he has in the pipeline. Maybe he won't get what he was aiming for, but this is still a victory.

This is what we do all the time. We beat ourselves up because we are attached to the way things should be. A high-performing entrepreneur looks at their life as a game. To finish the year strong, he must appreciate how far he has come and reset his outcomes according to his current situation.

Focus on progress, not perfection.

At the first of the year, you create a list of things you want to accomplish. You then wait and wait for the perfect timing. After nine months go by, you look at the list and you feel disappointed you didn't get everything done.

I know a guy who is developing a productivity app. He has interviewed developers, created the overall design and is constantly asking for feedback from people on how the app should look. He has been working on this for years but he is always waiting for the perfect time to execute.

One of my other clients has just launched his first app, and he is getting rave reviews. What's the difference between these two men? One is waiting on the perfect time and is paralyzed by the illusion of perfection while the other one was focused on creating progress.

Each week I asked my client how his app was going, and he shared his progress. Was it perfect? No. Did he experience challenges to make it work? Yes. But he knew the first steps -- finding the money, reviewing the design and creating the user experience -- were going to be the hardest. Now he is working on improving it based on all the feedback he has gotten from users.

Related: 6 Tips for Hearing Tough Feedback

High performers know perfection is the lowest standard. To finish the year strong, take inventory of all the progress you've made and focus on making things better.

You are the product of your environment.

We've been taught that mindset and positive thinking are the keys to success. But that's only part of the equation. For the last decade, I've focused on being in an environment that supports my growth. It doesn't matter how strong your mindset is. It doesn't matter how positive you are. If you are around negative people or in a negative environment, you will lose.

I've helped one of my clients get clear on how he wanted to take his business to the next level. We created a plan and a timeline with clear outcomes. Then I asked him, What is one thing that can mess this plan up? He said if he continued to hang out with his drinking buddies and give in to his old habits, it could distract him from his plan. So I told him to change his environment for the next 100 days to see if that would make a difference.

Now, at day 110, everything -- his business, life and relationship -- are on fire. I not only asked him to change his environment, I also replaced it with a group of high-level performers who hold him accountable to his commitments. That group is on fire, and they are going to be recognized for their amazing shift at my Next Level Leadership event.

High performers evaluate their environment and make changes to align it with their vision. They eliminate any possible scenario that can prevent them from getting what they want.

Focus on the other R.O.I. -- return on impact.

As entrepreneurs, we must watch the bottom line at all times. Every move we make has to bring us a return on our investment. Lately, I've seen a big shift in the market. The "cut through to the bottom line" mindset can only take you so far. I've been able to grow my business faster by focusing on the impact rather than the income. Don't get me wrong. I charge for my services, and I'm not running a non-profit, but income is not my main focus.

I recently helped a client create a framework in his business that gave him a sense of purpose. He was ready to sell all his assets and move to an island with his wife and kids because his idea of success was being met by his expectations in his business. I helped him see that he simply needed to focus less on the transactions and more on the transcendence his business could provide. He owns multiple businesses, so it took him some time to figure out how he could help his clients have a better experience rather than treating them as singular transactions.

Related: Five TED Talks to Help You Find Purpose

When he came back to me, he had a list of things where he had made an impact. All of a sudden, his passion for running a business had returned. He had a new sense of purpose seeing how much impact he could make in he lives of others.

A high-performing entrepreneur measures his success on the amount of impact he has on people's lives.

Reset, recharge and recommit.

We all want to have more time. We are running 100 mph, and we don't want to slow down. That's the life of any entrepreneur who wants to succeed in this competitive market. But, if a car is running that fast every day, it will eventually crash. And that's what happens to us. We crash and sometimes burn things down.

To avoid this, I meet with my clients several times throughout the year to reset our goals, recharge our batteries and recommit to the process. Nothing is better than iron sharpening iron. It doesn't have to be a long period of time. We actually discover that all we need is one day per quarter, and we can compound time. When you're busy, quality is better than quantity.

Each quarter, people travel from all over the country to our meetings so they can share their progress and see how they can help one another. The key here is to Reset your goals, recharge your mindset and recommit to your outcomes.

High performers know that proximity is power. They also know you need to recharge your batteries in order to get back into the game -- especially if you want to finish strong.

Raul Villacis

Entrepreneur, investor and coach for CEOs, Entrepreneurs

 Raul Villacis is an entrepreneur, investor, author and speaker. He's the CEO of Next Level Experience and The Next Level Real Estate. Visit him on Facebook or at his website.

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