I hate to admit it but I missed my MoT date!
I don’t know what happened. I was so surprised to get the notification – my MoT was due and I hadn’t even registered it. If you’d asked me I’d have confidently told you it was due at the end of June. I simply didn’t realise it was already the end of June.
How did that happen? Where on earth did June go? Some weird time thief has been around. Thank goodness for electronic reminders in diaries!
So this week, the beginning of July, I’m busy sorting my priorities for the month.
I start each month by clarifying my intentions and deciding on a focus. Sometimes it’s a specific goal – a work-related example would be to create a new workshop or programme. That has elements that might include researching the needs of my audience, reading up on possible content, identifying the major themes, creating the slide deck, writing the sales page, creating a marketing email sequence… I typically commit each of these to a Post-It note so I can see the steps I need. This also gives me greater flexibility as I don’t always need to do the tasks in a specific linear order… I can respond more easily to my own mood, environment or sense of flow.
A personal project might be around clearing out the garage which over the winter seems to have become a general dumping ground for stuff I no longer want in the house. This will include some general sorting – is there any obvious “junk” that I simply need to get rid of? For things I want to keep I need to assess why they haven’t been stored? Is it a lack of storage space – do I need new shelves/boxes, to clear out the shelves/boxes to make space or tidy other stuff that stops me accessing the storage space that exists? I might finally need to admit that a deeper clean of my garage is needed and maybe it’s even time to let go of the bicycle that I haven’t ridden once in the last 10 years… Some decisions are harder than others.
I find that having and naming a focus project means it is much more likely that project will be completed. It’s not necessarily the only thing I will do for the month but it becomes a conscious priority. Whenever I find myself thinking “So what shall I do?”, working towards that priority becomes a natural choice. It also feels really good to know a project has been completed, it’s an easy and visible measure of success.
For many people, July marks the time where we transition into a more holiday-oriented frame of mind. Some of you with school-aged children will be looking to take that holiday. Not having children, this is the time I avoid going on holiday as prices spike so rapidly! The fact that much of my business is based around university term times means I suddenly have much more flexibility in my diary – time for creative projects, doing something new and scheduling more personal coaching clients.
And in the back of my mind there are already the seeds of “How will I start the next phase?”. Thinking three months ahead to the start of the new term… what might I need to think about? I don’t need to action this just yet but the possible projects I need to be aware of are often committed to paper so that my unconscious mind can begin to collect and order the resources I will need when the time comes for an explicit focussed intention.
So, how about you? How do you go about planning? Is there something specific that you’d like to tackle over the summer?
Do let me know. I think I’ve discovered that it will be more likely to be done if we actually talk about it!
Take care!
Margaret
PS: I do have space for one to one coaching conversations. If you’d like a free 30 minute coaching conversation to sort out some of your priorities for the next month or two I would be delighted to help. Let’s get something in the diary!