sjsmith

+61-7-3348 4151

Beautiful watercolour prints from Australia

Unique Beautiful Fun

       04 November 2016 by Sarah-Jane Smith

sjsmith.com.au - blog

It's all relative

The Perfect Time

A few weeks ago I talked about making the most of whats left of the year (Blog 66 - A Strong Finish) and it got me to thinking about how we perceive time.  If we were two months into the year we would feel the year had just begun but if we have two months till the end of the year we feel that the year is nearly over.  Thats because we are thinking of an ending on December 31st.  Theres ten months left as opposed to two months left.  But this is the wrong way to think about it.  We use the year as a yardstick to measure success and accomplishment.  While it is useful to have a timeframe to look at increases (or decreases) in sales or customers or social media engagement it's only one way to measure success.

What if, instead we used the year as a measure of learning and advancement.  This year I learnt how to schedule Facebook posts and have been able to utilise this for a number of my businesses, I've been better at regular posting on instagram (and this is shown in my increased followers) and, I've learnt how to share instagram posts to my Facebook page.  I've also increased my social media following across all of my social media platforms, increased the number  listings in my Etsy shop and, developed a more cohesive method for packaging and postage.  There's still a lot to do but when I think in those terms I really feel like I've already seen some real progress. That also spurs me on to continue with some momentum towards the end of the year.

Another way is not to consider all processes of your business as being measured in a 12 month, linear time line.  Maybe you want to set up reviews for your product development or your web-site.  Maybe you don't need to do that every twelve month but as it's on you radar why not pencil in a date - even if it's next year!

Finally, I think it's important to take a measure of your enjoyment.  Have you had fun this year? If not, what specifically are you struggling with.  Could you make a plan to outsource that next year?  Do you need to schedule more breaks and vacations?  If you do need more down time, get it in the calendar now!  We all have a finite amount of time but December 31st is only the end of the year.  It doesn't have to be the end of the world!



Till next time,


Sarah-Jane X


Macy

Previous Blog

Next Blog