Nature has the Best Ideas
As we head into the fall in the Northern Hemisphere, the natural world moves towards sleep.
I think of it as nature’s way of taking a timeout - time to renew and prepare for a splashy spring.
You can apply the same principle to your business. Before making a big change or diving into a growth phase, take a timeout.
A timeout gives you the space and freedom to assess your current situation and to dream about what you want the business to be
It may feel like you don’t have time for a timeout, but the alternative could take much more time to get where you are going. How do you take a timeout? First, avoid launching anything at this time. Don’t schedule piles and piles of podcast guest spots unless you are discussing your primary message with a simple lead magnet. Ideally, you want some time for yourself and your team.
Key team members need to get together and brainstorm about your current status. Honestly evaluate where you are. This is the time to put anything on the table that you believe should be changed, repurposed, redesigned, or redefined
All of this will influence and generate ideas for your next steps. If the processes and systems you need to redefine and recreate are critical to the outcome of your next phase, you must include time to do that work.
Many people refer to this as slowing down before you speed up. A timeout doesn’t have to be lengthy; it can be two days or two weeks. Remove distracts. A great opportunity for this is during a team retreat.
Dedicate an entire day during the retreat to gain clarity. Then, do some dreaming. When you start discussing the present state, particularly aspects you want to update or edit, new ideas for growth present themselves.
Capture the ideas because they may be the very things that propel you into the next version of your business. Don’t view a timeout as something you don’t have time for; a valuable period that will propel you forward.
Just like nature takes time to regroup before blooming in the spring, so too should your business.