Hey my dear Reader,

it's nine weeks until the end of the year and as you read this, the PhDs in my Ph*ing Do it! PhD Finisher's challenge will be doing a thorough interim review of the progress they have been making towards their EOY goals since we started the challenge five weeks ago.

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I'm pretty sure, we'll be having a blast. I've been seeing them hit milestones every week and I'm pretty confident they will hit their goals by the end of the challenge.

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(Also, can I just say how much I'm loving working with them? I still can't believe I get paid for spending time with such an inspirational bunch of people. They are smart, creative, engaged in a wide variety of exciting things and most of all, warm, kind and so ready to support each other. Just the best! 🩷)
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This is the third time I'm running the challenge and what I see consistently is how important it is to commit to goals and milestones and to track progress towards them every week.

Which is why I thought, rather than sending you a long (hopefully) inspirational email about setting and reaching goals I want to invite you to start your own end-of-year mini-challenge:

Here's how it goes:

1. Tell me: What is one tangible goal you want to achieve before the end of this year?
2. Break the goal into milestones: What needs to happen so you will hit your goal before 2027 (or before the Christmas break if that's a better deadline for you)?
3. Make an honest account of how much time you have to complete your milestones. That includes crossing out days when you're working on other stuff, traveling, or taking time off (weekends! ;)). Do not skip breaks!
4. Put your milestones in your calendar. Ideally, you'll have a milestone at least every two weeks (every week is better).
5. Decide what to do when not everything fits: Can you do certain tasks more quickly (aka less "perfectly"), can you drop some of them altogether or can you move the deadline?
6. Share your plan with an accountability partner and commit to giving each other regular progress updates.
7. Have fun and be kind to yourself! 🩷
8. Reply to me with your goal and plan. I said this already, but I'm serious! I wanna know about your goals and for you it's another way to increase accountability just a little bit. I promise, I'll reply to every email!
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Take care!

Andrea

P.S. Enrollment for the January cohort of the Ph*ing Do it! Challenge will start soon. If you want to start 2027 by finishing something big (your PhD, a paper, a proposal,...) and you love having inspirational company as much as I do, let me know.