A Foot in Two Worlds — Coping with the Last Weeks of Summer: August 2024 Tips
It's a good moment to humbly acknowledge our limits, manage expectations, and focus on our most important work
August is one of those months of change for most of us and it’s usually a big one.
This time of the year tends to be full of mixed messages. Go into any store, and you’ll see beach balls, swimsuits, and coolers competing next to notebooks, backpacks, and back-to-school supplies. At least here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve got one foot in summer and the other in back-to-school and -work.
You might have one last trip planned, which you’re juggling around the start of the kids' band or sports practice, or the return of service work and clubs. And never mind work, where it’s time to "get down to business” and start pushing towards those year-end goals.
Which leaves many of us trying to figure out how we balance these two (often, competing) spheres of life. (Add to that any creative work we’re trying to squeeze or shoehorn in — often on the margins of an already-full schedule — and the balancing act becomes even trickier.)
And while we may consider ourselves effective jugglers and multi-taskers, all of us have limits we must consider.
August Planning Tips
Here are tips for this August if you’ve been hitting upon (or are already far past) some personal limits, and need to reset before diving in for fall:
You wouldn’t be alone in struggling to bounce back from relaxation to intensity. But it is possible to adjust your schedule to honor your energy levels, incorporate more breaks, and create more reasonable and realistic timelines.
Do you suddenly feel as if you have a million projects in your head — and now don’t know how to make space for them? You may need to set some boundaries (particularly around OPP, i.e. other people’s priorities).
As we hit our stride in Q3, we may be confronted with new opportunities, and as a result decisions to be made. Focus on your whys and future vision to help prioritize, adjust, or eliminate projects — by reducing load, we can lower the whelm (as in overwhelm).
Still discouraged about the projects you know you just can’t get to? Blocking out your time to make sure you can adjust to what’s shifting and being displaced can help you find peace with your new schedule as we come into the fall.
Now’s a good time to check in with yourself as to how you’re really feeling with all the demands of summer — a time when work and personal life often compete. Do you feel rejuvenated and energized? If not, reboot with some self-care. Deep down you know which thing will most help. Honor that knowing.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember as we transition from the summer slows to go-go-go is to manage our expectations and give ourselves some grace.
We won’t get everything right and we won’t get everything done, but that’s true at any time of the year. Still if we manage our expectations and our energy around our priorities — and reset when we need to — we can always make room for what’s most important to us.
After taking some downtime to recharge for the season ahead, recognize and honor your limits, download your free August weekly planners to work through the process of planning and prioritizing what matters most.
Premium subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇
In Case You Missed It
In July’s Monthly Community Coaching Call (MC3) we discussed how to manage expectations for Q3 as a “lopsided” quarter workload-wise, adjust to an irregular schedule, build trust and alignment, and bridge the gap between high-level goals and the steps it takes to get there. Pro and paid subscribers are welcome to watch the replay.
If you’re not a paid subscriber, but are interested in learning about what an MC3 feels like, check out Wayfinding the Future: Know Where You Are to Get Where You Want to Go (it includes some video excerpts of Charlie jamming on this topic at a recent MC3).
Back by popular demand! Our Momentum Planner Digital Pack is again available for individual purchase. If you haven’t picked up your 2024 planners yet, you can get the rest of 2024 (July-December) for a special price.
We’ve been experimenting with bringing back some old-school PF posts like:
Charlie shared an exclusive post for pro and paid subscribers on “How to Build Your Project Roadmap”, a modified chapter out of the Start Finishing Field Guide (SFFG) the companion workbook to the best-selling Start Finishing.
Coaching Support in August
Our next Monthly Community Coaching Call (MC3) will be on Wednesday, August 14, 2024 11:00 a.m. PDT (for Paid Subscribers). Join us for a 60-minute call that’s a mix of teaching,
hot-support-seat coaching, and Q&A.Need more direct support with your Q3 planning? If you'd like 1:1 help in navigating the shift from the summer slows back into "go-go-go" mode, consider PF Productivity Coaching with Maghan. For more details and to book a discovery session:
While we hope you find our free resources helpful and catalytic for your journey — if you become a paid subscriber, you are helping support our (all of us on team PF) ability to devote our time, energy, and attention to this enterprise. The work we do here wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
Premium PF subscribers get immediate access to the full year of the 2024 Digital Momentum Planners, which include not only the monthly, weekly, and daily views but yearly and quarterly planner pages.
Premium subscribers, your download links and additional content are below. If you don't see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.