SEPTEMBER
A new beginning...?
Hello there, lovely members
I hope this newsletter finds you all well and enjoying this what seems to be a last blast of summer? In the North West of England where I live, Saturday was scorching! Far sunnier and hotter than most days in the summer. Who knew?
But September brings with it a sort of a new beginning.
Let me explain:
People are back from their holidays refreshed, focused and raring to go
Children being back at school and with that, a return to a familiar routine
And because of these and the change in the “vibe” of the place, it always seems to me like something of a fresh start. A kind of mini New Year, if you get my drift. And very subconsciously, I’ve made quite a few changes which I didn’t realise synched with this “fresh start”.
I’ve finally moved my home office to what was a spare bedroom when my eldest daughter left home some years ago. I’ve never really liked the converted garage I used when I first set up my business, but it was necessary as we didn’t have a spare bedroom as both my daughters were at home. But even when they both left home, I continued to use it as my home office - I do work a fair bit from home.
But, as my eldest daughter is well down the road to buying her own home now, we had a talk and agreed that I would move my working space to her old room. And it’s been a total delight.
The converted garage I had used previously wasn’t heated, so in winter I had to pile on the jumpers and use an expensive electric heater. And because it only had one window in what is a long narrow space, frequently I had use a table lamp to see properly.
Compare this, in my new location, with a west facing window, overlooking our slightly overgrown garden, and if warmth is needed once the temperature drops, it will be warmed as part of the heating system we have in the rest of the house.
So there’s a financial saving in it too.
But, it’s brought along a change of mindset on my part. I’m more focused on what I want and what I need to do - at least for the remaining months of the year - and the atmosphere seems “lighter” somehow.
And one of the benefits, which I didn’t think of, is that my husband has acquired a man cave with the old space I used as my office. He can listen to his very eclectic music collection in there, he can read about his beloved custom motorbikes and generally have some space when he needs it.
And another thing that’s happened that I think is a bit of the universe giving me a nudge. The notebook that I started using Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s outline for daily journaling ran out at the end of August! How spooky is that? It’s like the universe or whatever telling me to make a new start. Which I have.
I have been doing his formula for most of this year - I admit I haven’t been as regular as I should have been - but it has made a big difference to how I think and feel. And if I forget to do it for a few days, I can feel myself sliding a bit.
Incidentally, I covered the Dr Chatterjee’s podcast episode about his formula for an effective journaling practice in an earlier newsletter. You can find that one here
So, with these two shifts happening, I think that equals a bit of a mini re-start. What about you?
One of the other things I intend to do, but haven’t managed to get round to it just yet, is to do a “More Of/Less Of” exercise.
This is a bit of a brain exercise to help you drain all the stuff you don’t need to be floating about your brain and to bring in the stuff you do need. And it’s a very effective exercise that was taught to me by business coach Andy Guile .
It works like this:
You get a piece of A4 paper (portrait) and split it into four sections equally.
You mark the top right section WHAT I NEED TO START DOING
You mark the top left section WHAT I NEED TO STOP DOING
You mark the bottom right section WHAT I NEED TO DO LESS OFF
You mark the bottom left section WHAT I NEED TO DO MORE OF
And these four simple questions will help you to dump your brain load and make more sense of it and construct a new strategy in the coming months.
Incidentally, Andy’s advice was to carve out time to do this every 3 months, but of course I haven’t done it for a while now, and am very overdue in completing it. And, as you will see if you do it yourself, you do need to carve out about an hour or so when you can be alone and have the time to think through the process. So, I’ve carved myself time out tomorrow (Thursday) knowing I will have the time and the privacy to do this without feeling overwhelmed etc.
Big thanks to Andy for showing this fab little hack (and many more of them!). If you try it, let me know how it works for you :)
So, here’s to a stonking September and the remainder of the year. I hope it lets you achieve what you want to achieve.
Take care until next time
Una x