On a beautiful August morning, my husband had successfully finished school drop off and I was happily starting my work day from my home office desk, coffee in hand.
While kids are small, it seems the rhythm of everything changes every few weeks and I was struggling to keep up managing all the things. I wanted to be able to take care of little people well, have a semi-organized home, win at work, give in my marriage, start planning ahead and maybe have a free moment to myself. In order to do all that, I had developed processes to manage all the things.
My boys were both in full day school and I was thinking that we were getting the school morning routine down pretty well at home.
Then it hit me. I saw the date on my calendar and I had a panic moment. I thought, 'It's today! School picture day is today!'.
I couldn't even tell you what my boys were wearing and I KNOW that I didn't comb their hair. It felt like the biggest of all Mom fails, even though, let's be serious, it wasn't.
That was the year of the real life school picture - the year where my kids' school pictures represent what they looked like on a normal day, where they picked out their own clothes and got themselves dressed all on their own.
You can't see from this picture but my little guy is wearing his soccer socks and both boys were wearing play clothes and not the nice collared shirts that I would have dressed them in for school pictures.
Side note: how great that the school had the boys take a school picture together following their individual pictures?!
My panic moment passed almost immediately. I quickly texted my Mom and a few friends about what the pictures might look like this year and we laughed it off.
Truth be told, I love those pictures and I'm glad that I have them but I realized that day that it was time for me to adjust my systems.
I didn't scrap everything though and beat myself up for forgetting picture day. Instead, I just asked, "What is most important to me in this season? How can I pivot?".
We all have to do that at various points. New jobs, new routines, new seasons, new life circumstances all bring a point where we have to adjust.
We can be quick to toss a process out entirely, do a deep dive in researching all the tips and tricks and get overwhelmed with solutions. While sometimes we do have to make larger shifts but in most cases, a pivot will do.
That week, I applied a process that I have used for years in my work solving business problems. I got crystal clear on the most important thing for me (in that season) and then I was able to evaluate new solutions much more effectively keeping that in mind.
It was less overwhelming and I was able to choose an approach that was simple and systematic. A small change to my planning process got me back on track.
Have I had to pivot many times following that? Yes, definitely!
Maybe you didn't have a panic moment where you missed a date like I did though.
Maybe a pivot is needed when something just isn't fitting anymore or a change has already happened and you haven't adjusted just yet.
Have you ever run into scenarios like these before?
Have you gotten the out of the practice of journaling or reading that you enjoyed?
Are you finding that you have changed when you do a chore and it's not getting done at all now?
Have you found that you haven't connected with a friend that you used to be in touch with regularly?
Did you pair one habit with another and now they aren't coupled anymore so one isn't happening any longer?
A season is changing - do you stop doing something during the summer or start something new, just for the season?
Many times, a small change to your system is all that is needed.
On this blog, I will share some things that have worked for me related to my systems but ultimately you can learn to ask the right questions to identify your need in the season and then move on a solution that works best for you - likely just a pivot.
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