Your Fall Freedom Plan: Reclaiming the Leader Within

Today, we're talking about your fall freedom plan. You may have thought you just had freedom in the summer, wanting to stay in July and August forever. But we're coming into fall, September, a fresh start. It's time to reclaim that leader within you.

If you’re lucky you got to be a bit of a follower over the summer with others making the plans. I'm hoping you were able to balance both productivity and fun. (If you grabbed the Summer Productivity Playbook, it would have helped you to be balanced, and it’s good for any time of year. If you haven’t yet, grab your access to the mini course here.)

Summer Shows Us Where We've Been Surviving

Summer often shows us where we've been surviving. We finally get a break. A lot of things finish up. Maybe sports are slowing down or finishing, volunteering commitments wind down, networking groups take a hiatus. There's often a lot more breathing room when you don't have everything happening at once.

First, celebrate that you made it through summer! Whether it was hard with kids at home, bouncing from place to place, or maybe you didn't really get a summer break and worked through the whole thing. Now you get a chance to lead on purpose.

The Back-to-School Energy

Yes, we have the back-to-school chaos that happens. Even if you're not part of it because you're not going back to school or don't have kids, there's still that energy in the air. All the back-to-school sales, the streets getting busier when school starts. It's a time when everybody talks about fresh starts and renewed ambition.

I want you to tap into that energy, but pay attention to any lingering burnout. If you didn't get a chance to have a proper summer break, you might still have some burnout lingering, or maybe you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. That's totally possible, too.

The Fresh Start Myth

September can feel like a fresh start or give you pressure of a fresh start, but there's a myth here. Just because it's a new season doesn't mean you have to start fresh, unless you want that and you're going to make space for it to happen.

Too many leaders just jump into fall saying, "Let's go! Let's go!" without resetting. I did another blog about having a look at what you're keeping, what you're cutting, and what you're creating, I encourage you to check that out.

But as a leader, you need to jump into fall only after resetting. Are you planning from the intention of "This is actually what I want to happen in the fall" or are you planning from burnout? Where are you right now? Are you really ready to plan with intention, or do you not have the bandwidth to make that happen?

It's okay to wait to fully jump in and make sure you get the rest you need so you can have that fresh start and tap into the excitement of the new season.

Your Three-Area Fall Freedom Plan

There's inner work that can happen as part of your fall freedom plan. Let's look at three key areas:

1. Time

What does freedom look like in your calendar? For me, I don't like to book meetings, coaching clients, or sessions until 10 AM. That's because the chaos of my kids going to school ends just before nine, and that gives me time to ease into my day, do my devotion, have a walk in the forest, or go to Pilates twice a week in the morning.

What would ideal freedom look like for you? Not just "maybe I could do this" realistic thinking, but really, what's the ideal? Then work backwards from there.

Ask yourself: Is your schedule serving you, or are you serving it? Do you feel like you're running from one thing to another or flipping from meeting to meeting without any space for yourself?

2. Team

Are you supported in a way that actually lifts you up? Does your support help you reach your goals and move the needle toward time freedom, work freedom, and financial freedom? Or is it just keeping your head above water, just enough support, but not getting the results you need? (If that’s the case, reach out to me and let’s talk about how my program Virtual Assistant Made Easy can help you.)

If you have better people on your team, it's going to give you freedom to work on high-impact, high-quality, high-income-producing tasks. That's what I want for you in Q4.

3. Energy

Where do you leak energy? Look at your upcoming calendar or think back to April and May (since June might have slowed down). Are you leaking energy with a person you don't want to work with, a client, a project, volunteering commitment? It might even be scrolling social media.

On the flip side, what's trying to come back in? Remember, a lot of things take a break for summer, like networking groups, volunteering commitments, and sports. What's trying to come back in that you need to create space for, and which things do you just need to let go of?

Focus on Being, Not Just Doing

By examining your time, team, and energy, you'll have a better idea of how to create more freedom. This is a time for personal reflection, not just diving into list-checking mode. It's about tuning into your own alignment this fall with where your resonance is, rather than dissonance.

It's less about the logistics of what you're doing and more about who you're being and how it feels. I want you to always feel like you can just breathe, that there's space for you.

There's a difference between filling your calendar with busy work and fueling your mission. You have a mission. You have an impact you want to make in the world.

Avoid the Burnout Warning Light

We don't want the burnout warning light coming on before you've even really started. You want to be able to end the year strong.

If you're already burnt out before fall begins, your system isn't broken. It's just begging for a rest. Have a rest before you say yes to bringing everything back in.

You're also out of practice. Over the summer, you've had a slower pace, and now you can't just go from zero to 60. You don't want to white-knuckle your way through, thinking "I'll just get through this until Thanksgiving," and then white-knuckle it again until Christmas. That's not how we want to finish the year.

Create Something Sustainable and Soul-Led

Instead, let's make something that feels stronger, more sustainable, and more soul-led. When you're in resonance and alignment with your soul, you're going to have more energy. That's a given. It might mean passing things off so you can stay in that great place and have more time freedom, work freedom, and financial freedom.

What Resonates with You?

What from today's message most resonates with you? Is it looking at your time, team, and energy to figure out where your fall freedom plan will come from? Is it focusing on being rather than just doing? Maybe you are realizing you actually need a rest before starting fall.

Just because society is pushing that September means "hit the ground running" it doesn't mean you have to follow that timeline. You get to lead your own life. You get to decide and then lead as that confident, rested, soul-led leader come fall.

I'm curious what has resonated with you. Feel free to email me at [email protected] or send me a message on your favorite social platform.

Remember, we have Virtual Assistant Made Easy where we can match you with one of our vetted, experienced VAs so they can take a load off and give you the freedom you deserve.

Until next time, stay dynamic!