In high school I competed in track and field. One of my events was the 300-meter hurdles. Many consider this event to be the most grueling of track events. It requires a combination of all-out speed, explosive power and stamina.

One of the great temptations in the 300s, and any race, is to simply run to the finish line. We’re extremely tired, our body is oxygen-depleted, and we just want to quit.

This is a rookie error that costs many athletes their medal or record-breaking times. When our eyes are only on the finish line, there’s a natural tendency to essentially quit the race once we feel like we’re “basically there.”

We often see this in amateur racing with inexperienced or poorly coached runners. A front runner, leaning into the final leg, will arrive near the finish line and suddenly their posture and pacing visibly changes. Before they know it, they’re passed. And the runner who passed them was running through the finish line; rather than to the finish line. The victorious runner is always someone who’s focused on a point beyond the finish.

As we near the end of the year, it becomes easy for many leaders to begin to pull back: to change their pacing and posture; to slow down; to stop running the race. After all, the leader tells himself, “We’ve basically accomplished everything we’re going to get done this year.” Or, she suggests at the meeting, “It’s pretty difficult to get things done during the holidays, so let’s just try to maintain.”

I’d like to encourage you to look at the goals you set at the beginning of the year. (You did set goals, didn’t you?) What can you do to finish this year well? Not just cross the finish line; but finish strong. Think how satisfying it’ll be to know you were able to dig down deep and follow-through on an elusive goal, or one of those items that kept getting “kicked down the road.”

Finish your year well. Don’t offer excuses for those unfinished goals that could be completed now.

Here’s how to do it: just pick one or two (no more) goals that you want to finish by the end of the year. If possible, choose one that you tend to keep putting off, for whatever reason.

This year, mark that one “completed.” Make it happen. You can do it.

Next year is waiting in the distance. Keep your eyes there and sprint through this year’s finish line.

What are the 1-2 goals you want to complete this year?

What tends to prevent you from accomplishing those goals?

What do you need to do to sprint through the finish line this year?

As you face the end of another year, thinking about your goals, do you find that you:

— Christian Muntean (@VntgeConsulting) November 19, 2015