I experience an energy surge every September.
Does it have anything to do with the excitement and anticipation of the back-to-school season?
Maybe!
Perhaps this heightened vigor is left over from childhood memories of restarting every school year, or maybe it was acquired as my own two children, now adults, advanced through the paces of every grade. Undeniably it exists, and this year this “what’s next anticipation” has been elevated a notch as my youngest left for his freshman year of college.
I now realize that the back-to-school ritual that is so ingrained in us in our formative years, and then reinforced for us again when we become parents ourselves, is actually a gift when applied in our adult lives. Honing a back-to-school mindset can actually drive your choices and impact and change your life.
The magic of a back-to-school mindset keeps 4 game-changing rituals front of mind:
Learning is a Lifelong Commitment:
Learning and self-discovery do not stop when you graduate. Being a lifelong learner means that you continue to challenge and up level your own growth. Learning in your post grad years does not have to include a classroom or a teacher.
Your classroom is the world around you, and in an odd twist, YOU are both teacher and student!
Where can you acquire new skills, try something new, or explore the unknown this fall? Make September a laboratory to try it out and try it on. Find one thing that you have always wanted to learn or do and make it happen. Commit to that discovery. Research it and put it on your calendar NOW.
Recess Rules:
Recess is built into your childhood schedule not only because it breaks up the day, but because recess allows in creativity and a separation from the stressors of life.
Bring recess back into your life.
Give yourself back 30-60 minutes EVERY DAY to reconnect
or
disconnect. Plan a walk, a personal trainer, a run, time to write, moments to daydream (remember how to daydream?) right into the business of your day. Consider this a little gift that you give to yourself.
Oh…and recess is also about playing with others…so where can you grab a racket, take an art class, sign up for yoga sessions, or skip rope with your best friend? Play brings clarity and fun into our lives. Recess is a great reminder to pause busy.
At its core, recess is about freedom.
What are you giving yourself freedom to do?
Community is THE Connection:
The sense of belonging and community that is present throughout our school years is more challenging to replicate later in life. For the better part of our first 22+ years, our daily existence incorporates a like-minded community of people, coming together for 100’s of days a year and bonding over classes, sports, recreation and friendships. For most of us, especially those of us who are solo entreprenuers…community can be challenging as we age.
Let a back-to-school mindset reset your interest in being a part of something bigger!
How can you use September to reconnect to old friends and make a few new ones? While you are busy texting your high school and college buddies, don’t forget about new business networks, meeting connections for coffee, joining and participating in Facebook or LinkedIn Groups, or joining a classroom setting via exercise, community college, or a monthly mastermind. Did someone say volunteer?
Be the link that unites people. Plan the block party, connect business acquaintances, schedule a lunch with your team. Community is what YOU make it, where you show up for it!
Own More Highlighters Then Erasers:
On the school supply list of life, put highlighters at the top of the list and erasers at the bottom. Here is why…
Every success and every fail brought you to today. If you erased the fails and only looked at the wins…there would be no story of YOU. If your life were a book and a few chapters were omitted, would anyone reading the book understand the story? You need grit. Grit comes from navigating your life not erasing it.
Now that you have dropped the erasers, pick up the highlighters. Celebrate and remember the wins, the successes, often born from the fails, that strung together, make you unique and legendary. We highlight to remember, to pull forward the essence of something, to hold it out as important.
What could be more important or more magical than YOU?
A fresh mindset deserves a refreshed conversation,
let's talk
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