Every Monday I toss out a challenge to derail readers from the norm and get their heads into a different mindset. This week: find a Q4 mindset in Q1.

The first quarter of the year is always so fascinating in the wine business. Sales people relax and get back into their routines. Buyers are off to Europe and California for meetings and ordering. Vacations to Mexico are enjoyed, with a margarita in hand and no chardonnay in sight.

Retailers start rebuilding from a big final push during the Christmas season, often complaining about how slow business is. Restaurants are seeing how many of those holiday season gift cards sales actually come back to be redeemed (the foolish ones say “I hope not many” and the smart ones say “I can’t wait to see new customers and prove how good we are.”)

Everybody, it seems, falls back into familiar patterns. And that’s human nature. And that also means it’s what your competition is doing, and that’s the basis of this week’s challenge.

Starting now, not later today, not tomorrow … NOW … get back into a Q4 mindset. Think back to what you were doing the middle of November or December. Looking at your numbers. Looking at the goals. Planning the week. Running hard. No stone unturned. Hustle. Communication. Speed. Will calls, deliveries, samples, sell sheets, the whole works.

Find it again, if just for the next four days. Just until Thursday. Hustle faster than your competition. Contact more clients than your competition. Simply work harder. It’s not a complicated formula.

Now is the time to turn up the gas, when your competition is getting complacent. Let them enjoy the comfortable lounge chair in Cancun. You’re here to worker harder and kick their ass. 

Find that spot you were mentally in during the busy season, get back there, and push and push and push. Now is the time to do it. Now, not later.