They say that time flies when you are having fun…
Well, if that is the case, then this first quarter must have been a real hoot, because it flew by in the blink of an eye. I swear it was just Christmas (surely it’s not just me that feels that way?!)
So, in the theme of #RealLifeBiz it’s time for an honest review.
What went well?
I used the first quarter to repurpose and revamp some older blog posts and content. This was a great way to revitalise some old stuff that wasn’t getting any traffic, and to save me reinventing the wheel again.
I will do the same for some more blog posts over the coming quarters.
I often talk to people about leveraging content that they already have, and not re-inventing the wheel every time, so it was time that I started doing it as well.
In the Academy:
Academy members spent the first couple of months getting their head around where they really wanted to head this year. We’ve all spent time planning, refocusing and restructuring.
This process has created some amazing clarity and “ah-ha” moments for people, and the momentum that follows those moments always brings a huge smile to my face.
What didn’t go well?
I had huge plans, but didn’t get around to a lot of it. In true “do as I say, not as I do” fashion, I expected far too much of myself and wasn’t realistic about the amount of time I had or my energy levels. To be fair, I spent the first 2 months of the quarter heavily pregnant, and the last month of the quarter with a new born baby… I had great expectations of myself, but this mere mortal needs to sleep.
I talk about this a lot with clients and Academy members. The biggest problem I see is that people are over optimistic, or simply unrealistic about what they can get done.
We all have busy lives. Maybe you work full time still, or even part time. Maybe you have family, kids or pets. Maybe you volunteer… or maybe you do all of those and more.
It’s fine to say that you have 168 hours in a week, but in truth, very few of those are available as productive business time. And even if you work out that you have 20 hours a week to spend on your business, you’ll find that you aren’t productive for all 20 of those hours.
So, instead, I’m working on being really productive for 1 hour… rather than trying to squeeze in 5 part productive hours.
What else happened?
Family life has been hectic so far this year. I am a big believer in #RealLifeBiz… in the fact that there is never a perfect balance, and that being in business for myself has always been about building a business around my family.
The kids went back to school at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb. I purposely put work on the back burner while they were here with me, so that we could spend some family time together. It was going to be our last school holiday together before the baby arrived.
I made a mini human. Baby Gus was born at the end of Feb. To be honest, I have been far more productive in the couple of weeks after he was born than in the whole of Feb. I was huge, he was over due, and we were having days in the high 30’s with 90% humidity. I wrote most of Feb off as a “laying on the couch” month.
As much as I took time off, I often find myself feeling guilty about the number of things I could be doing and the amount I expect of myself (re-read “What didn’t go so well”) so this whole period of time has been a really interesting process for me.
What comes next?
I’m technically on maternity leave until the end of June.
I say technically because I want to use the time behind the scenes to draft some long over due content and project work. The upside of this is that it can all be done at my own pace, at any time of day or night… and there is no looming deadline.
In addition to this, I’ll be transitioning to a new website (which is always fun!)
How about you?
Take a moment to reflect on how the first 3 months of the year have been for you.
What worked well? What didn’t work so well?
When did you have unrealistic expectations of yourself?
We are often our harshest critic and own worst enemy, it’s time to be a little nicer.