5 Tips And Habits For An Autumn Of Action

I know it’s not officially autumn for another 20 or so days, but for me it really ceases to be summer on September 1st. As I look out of my window I can see the first hints of auburn in the leaves, and yesterday I wore woolly socks. Certainly here in the UK for the first eighteen years of your life summer freedom ends as the calendar hits September, and that’s some pretty hard conditioning to shake off. Not in a bad way; just that come September I’m ready for routine, for work.Around us in nature everything is rushing to be ready for the sleep of winter and this energy certainly rubs off on us. September is the gateway to the last chance saloon – all those goals and expectations for the year expire in four months and now is the time to get our shit together if we’re going to reach our December 31st deadline. But it is still September, which means there is still time as long as we get busy alongside the squirrels and the dormice.

So how are we going to capitalise on this energy? What can we put in place to actually get to work on those goals and achieve them before winter closes in?

Reset the intention

The new school year always brought with it clean slates and fresh goals, although now in adulthood we have to temper that with the happenings of the previous eight months. But still, now is a good time to reset and revisit goals, and maybe set some new ones.So if you’d intended to make a £1000 this year but got no further than that then it might not be realistic to hang on to that goal – but I bet you could make £100. Or if your plan was to get your business up and running by now, you can still get it up, if not quite running yet.

What do you want to achieve before the end of the year? Start with the clear, specific intention of getting there.

Where are the blocks?

And when you know where you want to get to, what are the things stopping you? What has held you back from achieving the goals you wanted this year, and what are things that are making you add a ‘but’ onto the end of your intention?If it’s that ‘I won’t find the time’, then look honestly at where your time is currently going and find swaps – rather than spend every evening on Instagram, cut down the number of days you post so you can spend a couple of evenings a week working towards your goal, and get an accountability buddy to help you stick to it.Perhaps if you’re worried that you don’t have the know-how or the confidence to pull it off, then look for external support either from online friends or programmes like mine.

Set mini deadlines

For me, deadlines are crucial for momentum as they stop me from putting things off. They form a roadmap of milestones I need to hit which not only keep me on track with my work, but help prevent total overwhelm with the job in hand. With big projects or goals, I think about climbing a mountain – you try not to look at the summit too much as it always feels so far away; you just keep your eye on the metre in front of you and it all feels so much more possible.Not only do they keep you on track, but having lots of little deadlines gives you the opportunity to win. It can be a really hard slog when you’re working on something alone and they only thing you have to look forward to is finishing the damn thing. Giving yourself little deadlines to hit each month means that you can succeed each month.

Check in with yourself regularly

I spoke about this in this week’s podcast episode. I’ve found it so useful to have weekly check ins where I think for a minute about how the week went and stop any bad habits before they form and also to better recognise and lean in to my strengths.I have a planner that gives me prompts, but you can do just as well by asking:

What went well this week?
What did I find challenging?
How did I manage my time?
What did I learn this week?

Let go of what’s not serving you

I’ve had a couple of conversations over the last couple of days with people who are finally ready to turn their backs on the should dos in their lives - whether they were pursuing a business idea they didn’t love because they thought they should monetise their skills, or simply decided to block out the voices that didn’t have their best interest at heart.Letting go of what’s not serving you is hard, because you first have to identify it and then be brave enough to say ‘enough’. In the first place, tune in to your feelings around certain activities, ideas and people – what do you dread doing, what feels like a weight when you think about it, who and what make you feel less than the heroine in your own life?Then, you have to step into your light – you are the star of this show so act like it. You deserve to do work that fills you up and are too darn important to be weighed down by the opinions and expectations of others.

The Autumn Of Action

So I think we're agreed that autumn is a time for taking action on your intentions, capitalising on natural energy and stepping into your light. In order to help you take the action you need I've created a programme of opportunities to get you to the place you want to be:

Make It Real Group Coaching

A 15 week intimate group programme designed to take your big idea and make it real by Christmas. This is for you if you finally want to get started on that side hustle or start to monetise that new idea you’ve been nurturing

Cost: £650

No. of places: 15

Programme starts: 17th September