Have you ever faced the “August Blues”?

There is a lot of “Momentum” to drive business owners through June and July but when August hits, many business owners hit the August “Blues and Blahs”. 

In June we are caught up in “Landing” our financial year well and in July “Launching”  the new one. Now in August, the goals we have set for the new financial year are challenging, fresh and uncharted, and sometimes we can feel like we have a burden on our shoulders rather than a spring in our step. 

1. So why does this happen? 

Well, our life or our year runs in seasons. We have ebbs and flows in our momentum, enthusiasm and even our enjoyment in our business. We don’t have a flat curve of emotions towards our business. We will have highs and lows. Times where we feel undefeatable and times where we don’t feel like we can’t take a trick! It doesn’t need to be a rollercoaster to feel unbalanced but we will have fluctuations in our emotions and energy. 

These fluctuations ride on perceived stress and our current successes and failure to achieve our desired results. Some of our previous goals we have set and we are now living through. Our expectations for our dreams to become a reality and not a nightmare are very strong. The current circumstances we feel we are living under and our ability to keep a positive attitude all contribute to stress levels in the business. The contributing factors to that stress mentioned above can affect our engagement with our current business plan and finally whether we feel like we have been invited into the potential of a “new year” and this then excites us or, whether we are feeling forced into our future by obligation and agenda. 

If we feel encouraged about entering a new financial year, with a spring in our step, when we arrive in August we will have, “Excitement, Enthusiasm and Engagement". If we feel like we are being forced into a new financial year and our vision feels more like an agenda then we may feel "Resistance, Reluctance and Resentment". 

So, I would love for you to email me and let me know what you are feeling at the moment? Are you excited and engaged with enthusiasm for your future or are you dragging your feet feeling Resistance, Reluctance and Resentment? 

Are your feelings valid or really that important anyway? 

Absolutely they are! Now, I don’t believe for a second that we should only do what it is we feel like doing and ignore the hard bits. In fact, I believe more that you should rarely ask yourself what to do because you are checking in with your feeling first. We need to be telling ourselves what it is we are going to do. Feelings are a great servant but a terrible master. Feelings unchecked are unhealthy. Feeling over-checked creates confusion and reduces consistency.

For all the critical decisions I make I never ask myself, “What do I feel like doing today?”. Rather I tell myself, and my excitement to “Planalife I want to live in” follows my commitment to decisions, not my feelings for decisions. Consistency has power and much of the power we have in life leaks and creeps from inconsistency. 

2. So what can I do about the August Blues and Blahs? 

Professionally you firstly have to be determined in order to succeed. Set a 4 quarter plan for the year and remove the overwhelm of facing too many things at once in the first quarter. 

Set your proposed or Amelioration Growth Plan AGP around traditional and historical strong months and ameliorate your business to see sustainable and strategically designed growth. 

You will also need to have a parallel personal growth plan so you grow as your business grows A critical ingredient in personal and professional harmony is planned fun. Intentionally design enough replenishment, enjoyment and renewal so you can be sure you don’t get sick and tired of being sick and tired. 

If you are having difficulty in doing this, it is time to change. Coaching is a great way to help you initiate this change. When you live a life that is running on empty or overload, you won't have the energy you need for the journey ahead. This is where many people begin to look for shortcuts or cut corners that leave them in very dangerous situations with poor outcomes not faster results. Success is connected to a progressive realisation strategic plan staged and scaled, not a quick fix. 

Something Changes WHEN something Changes. 

• What is the first something you need to change, right now that will help you feel confident and restore courage for your challenges ahead? 
• When can you begin implementing this into your life? 
• What do you need to begin and grow now? 
• What do you need to reduce and stop now? 
• What are you celebrating and what are you separating? 

If you want to, “Planalife live in through a Business on Purpose” please give me a call or email and I would love to share some tips with you to help you get started right away.

I would love your feedback and thoughts. Have a great week and until next week remember, this is your life, are you who you want to be? If not … Change!
I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers Ian