Summer - it's a time to slow down

I love summer.  Partly because the pace is slower (and I have very few events) but also because for me, it’s a time for reflection, restoration and rejuvenation – so come the fall I am ready to take on another year.

At a recent Company of Women meeting we explored how we used our summer time. For many there were plans, loose at times depending on what industry you are in, but definitely time to slow down.

But few of us can afford to take the months of July and August completely off and we chatted about what you can do so you focus on your business, but not so intensely.

Certainly with reflection, you can look back on the year to date and ask yourself what has worked, what hasn’t and where do you need to focus your energies in the months ahead. Megan and I used to always do a Stop. Start. Continue. exercise which made us analyze what we needed to do and change. 

One year we questioned whether we really needed members, now that was the year I knew we needed a break!  Clearly that was one stop that we didn’t implement.  But I do think it is important to be open to dramatic changes, and not to feel locked in because you’ve always done it this way.

Getting your systems and files in order is another task I often assign to the summer months.  Each year I try to accumulate less paper.  I look forward to the time that I can boast having a paperless office.

I don’t know about you, but I like to use my time in the summer months to catch up with friends and meet with people I want to see, but have not been able to squeeze into my busy schedule.  Sadly it is often our friendships that get put on the back burner, and yet our girlfriend time is what can revitalize us.  There is nothing quite like a good laugh with girlfriends over a glass of wine. 

Our time on the slow lane also allows us to pause and determine if we are in fact heading in the right direction.  I find during the hectic months of my year, I am almost on auto-pilot, and it is good just to cruise for a while and explore the side roads, instead of just tearing down the highway, both literally and figuratively speaking.

Whatever you do this summer, I hope you have a good one and come back in the fall, rested and raring to go.