Well the end of September is upon us, and that means we’re wrapping up the end of Quarter 3 and heading into the final part of the year.
These quarterly wrap ups have become important to me. As time flies by, they are a timely reminder for me to stop for a moment and reflect. They force me to look at what worked for me and what didn’t, rather than just continuing to do what I’ve always done.
I love this time of the year. Here in Australia we’ve left winter behind us and are well into Spring. The days are much warmer (not that it really got very cold this year) and everything feels like it is waking up.
For those of you in the northern hemisphere (where I spent the first 16 years of my life) you’ll be done with school holidays and getting back into the swing of things.
North or South hemisphere, it’s the perfect time to shake things up a bit and have a big final push.
What worked:
Finding new normals
I’m officially finished on maternity leave and back at work. It’s been a crazy period of time as the boys are just 13 months apart, and I feel like I’ve been heavily pregnant or on maternity leave for the past 2 years!
But I’m back… well kinda. I’ve been working around a toddler who only does day care 2 days a week and having a baby at home full time.
Which means I had to find a new normal for how many hours I work.
It hasn’t been easy, in fact, it’s been very frustrating. I’m chomping at the bit to get back into things properly, and have so many things I want to create and launch… but I’ll get there. And for the moment, we’ve found our new normal routine.
Moral of the story: I’ve learnt that I either have to change something, or find acceptance. There is no point being frustrated about things. Change it or move on.
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. This has saved my arse more times than I can count, as releasing new blog content weekly can be a lot of work when I’ve got limited time.
Moral of the story: 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 my quiet maternity leave (because it’s quiet, right?!!) 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.
I didn’t finish it all… in fact, I’ve probably finished half of the bits properly, and I still have a long list of “one day I’ll go back and fix that”.
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.
Moral of the story: I never feel “ready” and you probably won’t either. Make it workable and then press go. You’ve got big things to achieve, and fiddling for months isn’t going to get you there.
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 become a madhouse of the school run, feeding, changing, and toddler naps.
Now, if I want to get things done, then I have to use the time wisely when the toddler goes to day care, or I’m stuck trying to do everything 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?
Honestly, this question stumped me this time… not because I don’t know what to do next, but because I have too many things. I have a tendency to over estimate how much I can get done… and I want to achieve everything now (one day I’ll learn to patience… maybe).
Over the next quarter I’ll be completely changing the way people can work with me.
I’ll be releasing some new DIY workbooks, so that you can just follow the process step by step.
I’ll continue to offer small reviews and planning sessions for if you just need a nudge.
And I’m going to offer limited Done For You spots (know that you need to get your course out to the world, but don’t have the time? I can take care of it for you)
How about you?
How was the last quarter? What have you got planned next?