Transition Day

It’s time to move away from the “keep up, pivot and try to survive” to “reflect and define change” before you just get-back-into-the-groove as summer winds down and kids go back to school.

Here is the September Challenge –

Take a Transition Day

What is that?!? 

It is at least 6 hours of distraction free dedicated time for you to reflect, to define change, to wrap up a few loose ends, and to set your schedule and your direction on the right course.

Sometimes we need to call in “sick” to our endless places to be, clients to call and marketing to do lives so we can hire ourselves to work ON our business.  To do the thinking/creating/planning we know we need to do but never make time for. 

There is no better time then now.  Schedules are changing anyway.  Don’t by default just go back to doing things the way you did before school was out or summer-fever got ahold of you.  There may be a better way.  There may be a different way.

You owe it to yourself, your business, and your life to find out.  To contemplate, to eliminate, to analyze and possibly reorganize your priorities, your schedule and/or your activities.

But you have to have the time, you have to give yourself the time to focus and really dive in and think about it. 

Recently I had the pleasure of spending 12 hours with a client, at her home office, reworking her entire business plan.  It was exciting, it was productive, and I am sure to her, it was scary!  But we knocked it out that day.  The brainstorming, the planning, the scheduling, the deadline making, the email writing, the launch planning, the marketing strategies – all of it! 

Had we tried to work it around business as usual, squeeze it in here and there, it would have taken months!

Now, I am not saying that everyone needs to go to that extreme and rework or redefine your business.  However, many people just go along doing the same activities today as they did yesterday.  Ask yourself – is that working?  Is there something else that might have more impact?  What do I need to do or create in order to make that happen?

Not everyone has the ability to hire someone to come in and help them for 12 hours.  You don’t have to!  Hire yourself for a day, or 3-days, or a week.  Use the freedom away from client work to work ON your business.  What would you use it for?

Streamlining some processes or procedures?

Getting a solid marketing strategy off the ground?

Creative work or redefining your business?

Tying up a bunch of loose ends?

Hiring yourself is a big investment.  But look at it this way, YOU are your biggest asset.  You have all the risk and stand to benefit the most from your efforts.  You have the vision, the passion and the drive for your business like no one else does.  Only you can make the decision to move it forward.

TRUTH BOMB:  The life and business you have is a direct result of the choices you make and continue to make.  We must create the life we desire.

We see it all the time – people that bottleneck their business growth or stifle their creativity.  It could be for a variety of reasons:  mindset, fear of success, perspective, habits or status quo, lack of knowledge and experience, pride, fear…the list goes on.

Right now, take a minute to schedule your Transition Day.

Here are a few pointers to get you started on that day:

• Organize your workspace.  It doesn’t have to be color-coded or alphabetized but it needs to make sense to you.  Having things strewn about causes stress and anxiety and results in multitasking and task-switching…both of which are not effective, efficient, or productive!  If you work from home clearly define your space and communicate boundaries to others – and yourself!  Working from home can sometimes spill into your personal life – both mentally and physically.  Have personal work-from-home policies and stick to them! 

• Make a list of all the 5-10 minute “wrap it up” things you need to do.  You know, those nagging things you know will just take a few minutes (probably why you don’t do them – you think you can squeeze it in sometime but sometime never seems to come).  Then add up how long it will take to complete them ALL at one time and put it on the calendar.

• Braindump…take 4 pieces of paper (digital or actual) and write on the top these four words:
  • Now
  • Next
  • Later
  • Someday

Then write everything you can think of that you need to accomplish, want to do, have to do.  Think about what direction you want your business to go.  What is working, what is not.

Think about your schedule.  What is working, what is not. 

Think about what you want your life to look like.  What is serving you, what is not.

Resist old routines or the ‘way you have always done it’, think through a different lens, be innovative and creative.  Identify any dysfunctional yet deeply entrenched practices that may be inhibiting growth.  Habits and routines are familiar and comfortable – but some may need to be modified or even chucked.

What changes did you implement due to the pandemic that you should keep?  What changes didn’t work and need to be redefined?

Next time we will take a look at Calendar Blocking and setting your new schedule.  It has been shown that you can infuse motivation and energy into your business (or life) simply by taking a look at your “normal” schedule and shifting some things around.  We’ve got some tricks for you!

For now, put a Transition Day on your calendar and have fun thinking outside the box and creating the life that you want.