Fourth Quarter

“It’s always too early to quit.” Norman Vincent Peale

If you have ever watched a college football game, you know the sign that football players make as soon as the clock ticks off the final seconds of the third quarter. Players point four fingers in the air to emphasize that the fourth quarter is about to start. It predicts and commits them to the effort they will make in the final segment of the game. They intend to give it their all . . . to leave everything on the field. They want to finish strong.

The concept of the fourth quarter is not limited to football. Businesses have a fourth quarter. You may own or work for a company that makes projections for the final segment of the fiscal year.  For some businesses, it is the time to set up the company for the next year. It can also be the time to make a final effort to achieve annual goals.

I love the idea of the fourth quarter. It is one more way to help motivate a team to not only make a great effort, but to make the best effort. To leave everything on the field before the final horn sounds. Empty the tank. It is a successful way to lead a group of individuals to focus on major goals.

There are other ‘fourth quarters’ besides football games or businesses. What about the fourth quarter of life? Based on life expectancy in the United States, I am already in my fourth quarter. How many minutes do I have left?

I enter this quarter with much hope and expectation. I want this to be my best quarter. I want to leave behind a legacy for others. I want it to count!

I want my final hour to represent my best effort. I want to be successful, which for me, is defined as being and becoming the best at what I was always meant to be and do in life. Even if you are not in the fourth quarter of your physical life, you are in the fourth quarter in some area of your life.

How about these fourth quarters?

• The fourth quarter of your special project
• The fourth quarter of your strategic plan
• The fourth quarter of your “Get in Shape” plan
• The fourth quarter of a major goal
• The fourth quarter of your college education
• The fourth quarter of resolving that important relationship
• The fourth quarter of becoming the person you were always meant to be.

What fourth quarter are you in? And in what fourth quarter are the most important people in your life? Are you helping others at a time when they most need your assistance?

Fourth quarters are also known for the toughest challenges. Opportunity and risk are always a factor. These are the times that test one’s soul. We find out what we truly believe when the final outcome is on the line. When the clock indicates we are now executing our last plays . . . when the decisions we make will matter most. In the midst of our effort and struggle, we receive a wonderful and often underappreciated gift – we find out what we are truly made of. We discover who we are at our very core.

If you could select just one thing you most want to accomplish before the end of whatever fourth quarter you are now in, what is that one thing? How would you rate your progress? What do you most need to do right now?

Is it time to put four fingers in the air and give it your all?!