January is overrated. There’s so much pressure to set resolutions and goals. I’ve been saying for years that September is the new January, and I love this time of year for a fresh start!

You can take a fresh start whenever you need one or choose to have one, but September is a fabulous time to close out an old chapter and start a new one. This could be a great time to fall in love with your business (and life) again. 

Make the Most of Your Fresh Start

September has its own energy, and you may be tempted to dive into new projects and work on new goals. Before you do that, slow down, step back, and gain a little clarity. 

When we just do all the time, we can lose sight of why we are doing things. We can spend a lot of time, energy, even money, working on things that don’t actually serve us.

What matters most to you right now? Start there. What would make your life easier? Spend some time thinking about that too. Here are six things to try for your fresh start:

Reconnect to your values and purpose. 

Values and purpose tend to hold steady over the course of our life, but sometimes different parts rise to the surface. And reconnecting with your values and purpose and deciding what that looks like in your life and business now can be energizing. Let your values and purpose be a filter for your goals and actions. 

Do some visioning. 

We tend to get caught up in the day to day. Maybe we plan a quarter or a project or a week, but it’s the clarity on the big picture and tying your goals and projects to that bigger vision that really help move you forward. (Here are some ideas to hold a visioning session for yourself.)

Look at the whole picture. 

We talk about work-life balance, but our lives are made up of many different pieces, not just two. It’s about moving and flowing between all the different pieces of our life: work, family, health, personal development, relationships, and all the other things that make up your life. Notice which parts of your life need some attention or where there are things you could let go of. 

Revisit your routines. 

Routines make life easier. They mean fewer decisions and less to think about. Plus a good routine can signal to your brain to help start your day, find focus, or turn off your work brain for the night. When you hit a new season in the year or in your life, it’s a good idea to check in and see what’s working and what isn’t. Maybe your kids leave for school earlier, so you can start your day earlier or you realize you are more focused if you workout in the morning, so you start your workday routine a little later. 

Set up a new weekly workflow. 

Your weekly workflow or block schedule isn’t a detailed view of what you do. It’s a framework that helps you fit in all the things that are important to you. A good workflow decreases task switching and increases focus and productivity. 

You can start with blocks of work time and assign them to certain buckets — maybe you meet with clients in the afternoon and do deep work in the morning or schedule calls on Wednesdays and leave Mondays for planning. 

Notice what’s not working and what is. 

Your fresh start might mean cutting things you don’t want to do anymore. Maybe it’s time to close that Facebook group, outsource your bookkeeping, or stop seeing clients on Monday and Friday. What is working? Can you double down on that? 

At the end of every Focus Session, we check in to assess our focus. It’s not to shame anyone for having low focus (though virtual high five to anyone with excellent focus!). Instead it’s a chance to see what worked and what didn’t, so you can use that next time. Did you skip breakfast and get distracted by your growling belly? Reminder to self: eat before your next session. Did you stay focused because you didn’t check messages before the session? Do that next time too. Don’t keep doing what’s not working. Don’t fight what is working.   

With the big picture and some new structure guiding you, you’re ready to dive in.

Get Focused!

I get scattered in the summer, and I love the feeling of refocusing in the fall. The visioning and structure we talked about above help you get really clear on what matters most to you right now. Your bigger goals and vision help act as a filter so that you can set powerful goals, choose the right projects, and break everything down to get it done. 

Here’s the key: Schedule everything. Start with the most important things. 

Your schedule fills up fast. So before your client’s emergency, soccer pick up, that volunteer thing you said yes to even though you wanted to say no, and your inbox takes over your day again and again, schedule what matters. 

What’s the most important thing to do each day to move you toward your goals? It might be blocking out four hours to batch write content or 15 minutes to send some email invites. Schedule it. 

What’s the most important thing to keep your other plates spinning — your health, your family, your interests that fuel your energy for everything else? Schedule your run or barre class. Get Friday night pizza and game night on the calendar. Schedule lunch with a friend or that art class you’ve been dying to take. Less sexy, but important, schedule your mammogram, dentist appointment, or other healthcare stuff. 

Once the key stuff is done, look at the rest of the things on your list. Use your block schedule to create focus time for client calls, content creation, money matters, team check-ins. Claim your time to do the things you’ve decided are important. 

There will be things that legitimately throw you off your game — your kid falls off their bike and ends up in the ER or the roof in your building starts leaking. But can you learn to put aside the other fires (maybe realize they aren’t actually fires for you to put out)? You don’t have to respond to your client’s request immediately if you were planning to record videos for your course. You don’t have to keep Slack notifications on all day. You don’t have to give up your lunch to fit a client call in. You’re in charge of your business. You get to choose. 

If you’ve been pulled out of focus again and again, maybe that’s what you do with your fresh start. 

Plan. 

Practice boundaries. 

Focus. 

Do the thing you said you’d do. 

It feels good to have clarity on what’s most important. It feels really good to give yourself focus time for the most important things.  

What does your fresh start look like?