My Labor Day Rituals
By Michael Sicuranza
I love Labor Day weekend. It is the last bit of summer fun before the madness of the school/sports schedules take hold fully. For me, and for most business owners, it is a time for reflection on how the year is going and what changes can we make now in order to make the 4th quarter of the year excellent for the entire organization. Here are some things that I do over the long weekend between family time, parties, BBQs and back to school shopping.
Taking Stock - How have you done so far relative to the most important goals set out in the beginning of the year? Are you on track? Did you stay focused? How can you right the ship? How can you accelerate if things are going well? I also take a look at the financials and compare them to the prior year and against our initial projections.
What Unexpected Things Have Occurred? - Change and randomness creep into every business or life. How have you handled them so far? What can be done better in the last half of the year to mitigate negative impacts or take advantage of positive ones?
Growth Tool Work - This one comes from my coach, Angie Herbers. My partners and I lay out quarterly objectives that compliment our annual WIGS (wildly important goals). This weekend, I will begin to make my list to discuss with them at our next meeting. We will then breakdown those goals into bi-weekly action items holding each other accountable. It makes the very daunting more manageable.
Read, Write and Listen - I will spend a lot of time over the weekend catching up on my reading (the list is long), doing some journaling (I should do more of this) and listening (podcasts, audible books etc).
Appreciate Life – Being thankful for a live that is full. Focusing on all the positives – my health, my family, my friends and all the great things in my life. Practicing gratitude is a skill and will help with all the other “to dos” in your life and make them more manageable.
Be active – Labor Day weekend is a great way to get back on track or continue with a workout routine. I personally make sure I hit the gym at least 2 of those days and play golf at least once.
Labor Day is the pause that refreshed. The list above can be applied not only to business owners but also families and their personal finances. If you are having difficulty with some big decisions, take a look at my Safe Space blog post. In between bbq’s and pool parties, try a few of these ideas and let me know how they went.