“It is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task and their subsequent task performance suffers.” —Dr. Sophie Leroy
Have you ever joined a Zoom call while having 20+ tabs open?
You know instantly when you’ve overtaxed your laptop, because the video stream starts lagging. Then all the sudden your face is frozen and everyone’s asking, “Can you still hear me?” while you close everything out 😅.
Now imagine…that’s your brain heading into Q4.
At this time of year, it feels like everyone is pushing organization and productivity tips. Which are helpful—but only to a certain extent.
In my experience both leading and coaching, I’ve learned that Q4 burnout has less to do with workload management than it has to do with accumulated stress. To-do lists and productivity hacks can only go so far when your brain still has 20 open tabs running in the background.
So before you look at Q4 and ask, “What needs to be done?” take a moment to ask “What’s been getting in the way?”
And it’s not always what you would expect.
The Obstacle Isn’t Always Logistical
Maybe you’ve heard of the Zeigarnik Effect. In psychology, it’s a term explaining how unfinished tasks or goals tend to weigh heavily in our minds, creating cognitive burden.
Most leaders are good about crossing tasks off their lists, thus keeping cognitive burden to a minimum. But the biggest obstacles aren’t your everyday to-do list items.
Sometimes what’s getting in the way is…
- A decision you’ve been avoiding
- A difficult professional relationship or conversation
- Hesitation around a business or career move
- Something you don’t want to do that you’ve repeatedly postponed
- A thought pattern you may not even be aware of
Obstacles like these—often rooted in fear, uncertainty, or self-doubt—eat up much more of your mental energy than you may realize. Yes, your Q4 to-do list may be long. But it feels much longer when your brain is already exhausted from the weight of unresolved issues.
The Q4 Shift
This Q4 I want to challenge you: Not to be more productive, or more organized, but to address some of those background tasks that are keeping you stuck.
If you’ve recognized something that’s been weighing on your mind for a while, I would love to help. This fall, I’m offering a special coaching series to help you resolve the obstacles you’re carrying into Q4, so you can focus on the things you actually want to focus on.
Over the course of three sessions we will…
- Identify what’s really getting in the way.
- Challenge the thinking.
- Test a different approach.
- Reinforce what’s working and plan how to carry it forward.
Above all, I want to help you take at least one meaningful objective or challenge you want to address, and eliminate it from your cognitive load by the end of the year.
There are only 5 spots open for Q4, so if you’re interested, click the button below to schedule a call this week and learn more. The investment is $750 as long as you confirm your spot before September 22nd.
Book a CallIf you have any questions, simply Contact Me. I’m happy to provide more information about coaching options and answer any questions you may have.
Let’s smooth out your Q4 together.
