It’s mid-September. The leaves are starting to turn, and the days are growing shorter. The nights are already colder in my neck of the woods (Oregon).
Many people take time for a fall reset or quarterly plan. Is this something you’ve found valuable?
Have you looked back at the goals you set at the beginning of the year and made sure you are progressing toward your vision and big goals? I recently participated in a webinar for NAPO to discuss this with two other coaches, Carol Williams and Cathy Richards.
We talked about what works for us regarding a reset including some specific suggestions. We gave some great ideas to motivate yourself that you can use right now! The three of us brought 53+ years of combined experience as entrepreneurs to this webinar.
Why do a Reset?
Have you revisited your goals in the summer or early fall? Why would this be important, and how would it help you to finish the year strong?
Is it important to look back, take stock and then look ahead to plan the rest of the year?
What would you gain? What would you learn about your practices and your own motivation?
What you stand to gain
Before you do a mid-year or fall reset, it’s important to decide what you want out of it. Are these important to you?
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- Motivation to rededicate yourself to your goals
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- Understanding where you are in your progress
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- Deciding the important steps for the remainder of the year
It’s easy to go through the year and see your clients, do your work, nose to the grindstone, and not look up to see where you really are. You can get lost in the day-to-day and forget about the big picture.
This is OK and we all do it. What the reset gets you to do is to LOOK UP, look around and see where you are. You can see and celebrate your progress and accomplishments. And you can see what is possible to achieve for the last part of the year.
The great thing about this is it is not too late! You still have several months to focus on what matters most.
Don’t be scared off—revisiting your goals doesn’t have to be a huge mammoth time commitment.
You could honestly take stock of where you are, your progress this year, and what you want to accomplish before the end of the year within half a day or a few 90-minute focus blocks.
The main thing you need is true focus. That means turning off the phone, leaving it in another room, closing your door and silencing email notifications. As an executive and time management coach, I recommend going offsite, even if it’s just to a coffee shop or local library.
Sure, some people take several days for a deep dive. Especially entrepreneurs like my colleague Carol Williams, who took part in the webinar. (link here) She steps away for quarterly retreats to refresh and refocus. And for her mid-year reset, she gets away from her office and goes to a quiet place for a week. She combines other activities in with it, relaxation and some recreation too. What Carol does is the ideal. It’s something entrepreneurs can aspire to if you can make it work.
Others, like me, usually take a day or a few mornings to do this mid-year reset. I like to take a whole day and retreat to my RV, where the cows and horses are my only neighbors. And I make sure my family and close friends know I am unavailable that day. That’s a key part of the focus, setting your boundaries around that important time to think deeply about the rest of the year.
And those who work for a company, quarterly planning in late August/September can take the form of a quarterly review (with your boss or team leader). Proactive people often take time at regular intervals to look back, take stock and look ahead to plan the rest of the year, especially goals they have for improving performance or specific projects they need to finish. The reset is part project management in many cases.
For me, a reset is important because I tend to forget some of my goals. Not my big overarching goal, mind you, but some of the good things I said I’d do at the beginning of the year.
Some of them will make my life easier, like outsourcing tasks. Some of them will propel my business—and profit—to the next level when done consistently. And some of them will provide more balance between work and relaxation.
Advance Preparation
What do you need to gather beforehand to prepare for a laser-focused reset? (So you can hit the ground running.)
You might want to consider what you need to prepare ahead of time. What do you need to have ready so you can focus on the vision and the big stuff? I usually do this the day before.
For example, your financial reports, the (hopefully) written goals you set at the beginning of the year, and the effectiveness of your marketing is a good start.
I said ‘hopefully’ written goals because, let’s be honest, not everyone writes down their vision and goals for the year.
I quote the wise Eleanor Roosevelt:
“A goal not written down is just a wish.”
How do we focus on what matters most and leave the ‘fluff’ (distractions, etc.) behind?
One answer we discussed is to write down your big WHY every single day—
Carol asked, “how often do you relentlessly write down your big why—every single day, to the point where you say: “are you kidding me, do I really have to write this again?” Yes, because (then) you remember it!
That is powerful. Carol mentioned a client of hers who writes her WHY relentlessly every day. If she does get pulled off track, she refocuses and brings herself back to her purpose.
It’s a powerful tool for focusing on what is most important.
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“We get down on ourselves when we go off track, but with the support & accountability of someone asking us what we did well, or what didn’t go well, {we can reflect}. Otherwise, we are flailing around by ourselves and not getting anywhere. Guilt doesn’t help us!” exclaimed Cathy.
She added, it’s so good when there is someone else to draw attention to when we go off track. I heartily agree. A coach can help you become more self-aware, more confident, and provide another perspective.
A coach or mentor often asks these key questions:
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- Are you doing what you said you wanted to do?
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- Is what you’re doing really working?
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- Are you honoring the values you said are important to you?
My Wakeup Call
I had a wakeup call several years ago. It was summer, all 4 kids were home, and in the afternoon they’d ask me to play or swim with them. I was always working. I participated in a demanding networking group and had a busy client schedule. So I told them I’d do it later. But ‘later’ rarely came.
Then one day my husband, who is normally very laid back, accused me of being a workaholic. It was like a slap in the face. I was shocked. My Dad was a workaholic and I had promised myself I would never do that to my kids. That made me take a step back, think, and promise him and my kids that I would stop work at 3 p.m. every day to hang out with them and swim, or play.
And that’s how I restored balance to my life. I wasn’t perfect at it, and I messed up sometimes, but that wakeup call was just what I needed to realize, hey—my children are growing up fast and I need to take time with them now.
Then I asked the question:
What if it’s time to do your summer/fall reset and you don’t feel like it?
“Discipline trumps motivation every time,” quipped Cathy Richards.
With discipline, you do the important tasks, including planning, that need to be done even when you don’t feel like it.
Discipline, Habit, Routine
Carol emphasized this powerhouse trio that takes us from the desire to perform the action to actually working on what we said we would at the beginning of the year. In other words, working toward a vision and keeping commitments to ourselves.
For example, discipline to do the reset, the habit to write your why daily, then refocus when getting off track. Another useful habit is writing your goals at the beginning of each month, coupled with the routine of filling out a focus form every day. Other helpful routines include recording your numbers every Friday, reaching out to clients every Monday, or planning your week on a certain day.
Conclusion
Set yourself up for success with a fall reset. It’s important to know WHY you are doing this, and what you want to accomplish. Discipline is a huge part of getting around to the reset even if you do not feel like it. To gain that needed motivation, look at what is possible to achieve for the last part of the year. Focus on the positive things, look for the good you’ve accomplished so far, and celebrate your successes. Rewarding yourself is a huge part of maintaining your drive.
This article represents just a slice of the wit and wisdom we shared in the webinar. For all three of us, I will say, we want to see you succeed, and we’re so glad we could share our collective knowledge with you.
Resources
For more info on coaching with Jenny Morin: https://www.jmcoaching.org/
To get your free guide: Business Confidence for Overwhelmed -and Distracted- Entrepreneurs,
Click here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/p8aozc5o5e
Watch webinar now in NAPO University: https://www.pathlms.com/napo/courses/109985
Carol’s About me page: https://www.eps-time.com/about-carol.html
Cathy’s About me page: https://www.cathyrichards.net/about.html
Webinar is Free for NAPO members, $20 for guests.
NAPO: National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals.
