We’ve almost reached the end of June already, which puts us at the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2019.
These quarterly wrap ups have become important to me. As time flies by, they become a timely reminder for me to stop for a moment and reflect.
It is so easy to get caught up just “doing”, that sometimes I forget to stop and work out if an activity is actually worth doing. Sounds silly right, but you’d be surprised how often it happens.
We fall into the same old habits and routines, we get busy, and we fill our days with stuff… but is that stuff actually doing any good?
I’ve been on maternity leave for Quarter 2, and still have about 4 weeks left to enjoy. I haven’t taken any 1 on 1 clients during this time, so it’s given me some time to look at other projects, and to do some behind the scenes work instead.
What worked:
Taking some time to re-think
I’ve often said that I didn’t really do any long term planning for my business, I just take what seems to be the next logical step each time. Sometimes that has worked for me (I mean, it’s got me to where I am today) but sometimes it hasn’t (I ended up becoming a Registered Training Organisation, which in hindsight was a terrible idea)
This has been the first time in a long time that I’ve really thought about my direction, rather than just doing and ending up somewhere.
I’d love to tell you that all of this thinking has bought me some great clarity… but it hasn’t. It has forced me to ask myself some difficult questions though, and that is always worthwhile.
Planning content in advance
Earlier in the year I took a weekend to plan out a structure for my blog posts for the year. and a pattern for my upcoming blog posts. I even came up with titles or concepts for about half of them.
This planning in advance makes putting out content each week much quicker and easier.
I used June to go through and expand on each of those concepts where possible, making content production for the rest of the year easier again.
If you can make time to batch some of your content, do it! It is well worth the effort.
Focusing on done rather than perfect
I wanted to use some of this quieter time to make some changes to my website (you may have noticed a new look). I had grand plans (as always) and a big list of things I wanted to change.
But rather than getting caught up with making it all perfect, I focused on finishing a few key bits and made it live.
Why? Why push it through? Because I could fiddle with something for forever… and never be done. But I’ve got bigger fish to fry and I can always continue to change things along the way.
What didn’t work:
Having big to do lists
I know this, I really do… yet somehow I end up saying this every quarter. Between looking after 2 under 18 months, doing the school runs and everything else going on… I just don’t have the time (or the free hands) to get through huge to do lists each day.
Yet, somehow…. I still have huge expectations of what I can do, should do… and want to do.
One day I’ll be a little gentler on myself.
Being a morning person
I used to be a morning person. I got my best work done early.
If I could, I’d be at my laptop by 6am or so, and I’d smash out several hours of work to get the day off to a great start.
On days where I had to do the school run, the hours between 9 and 11 would be the most productive time I had instead.
Life just doesn’t work that way right now. The baby often doesn’t settle until midnight, and the toddler is up at 4am or 5am… so I just don’t get enough sleep to get up before them and get some work done. Then the mornings are dedicated to the school run, feeding, changing, and toddler naps.
Now, if I want to get things done, then I have to use the time between 7pm and 9pm, while feeding the baby as well.
I’ve been fighting this, as it doesn’t seem to go with my natural tendencies…. but fighting it is just making it harder.
What comes next?
Great question, and I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure.
To start with, I’m going to enjoy the last couple of weeks maternity leave. The kids are on winter school holidays over the next couple of weeks too, and we’ve got a big family trip to the snow planned (I may regret trying to take a family of 6 on holiday… I’ll let you know how it goes).
After that, I’ll open up my books again and start building and reviewing courses for some clients who have been waiting.
Beyond that… I’m not sure yet.
I’ve got a couple of ideas in the background that I want to put some more time into… but I’m also open to ideas. I want these next couple of months to include some new and exciting collaborations – so we’ll see where that takes me.
How about you?
How was the last quarter? What have you got planned next?