Autumn Equinox: Finding Balance in Business and Life
First up, before we even get into how to find balance, let’s first talk about what on earth is Autumn Equinox and what does that have to do with your business.
The Autumn Equinox, which falls around 22nd September in the Northern Hemisphere, marks the moment when day and night are almost exactly equal in length. It’s one of two points in the year (the other being the Spring Equinox) when the sun sits directly above the equator, bringing us into a state of natural balance.
In many cultures, the Autumn Equinox is seen as a threshold. It’s a moment to pause, breathe and rebalance and an opportunity to look at what your life (or business) currently looks like and choose, with intention, what to carry forward into the next season and what it’s time to put to rest.
Reflecting on your business season:
It’s a wonderful time to take a pause and look back on the past few months. Think about your business but also take a moment to consider your life and how the two are interacting. Think about what has blossomed for you lately, the things you’ve felt were successes, moments that gave you a sense of fulfilment or anything that no longer feels like it’s serving you.
It can be helpful to write these things down or have a conversation with someone to help you really understand your answers for this. Here are a few journal prompts that might be helpful:
What am I proud of in this past season?
What has felt heavy or unfulfilling?
What areas do I crave more simplicity?
Take a seasonal deep breath - it’s time to prioritise rest and rhythm
Now you’ve taken a moment to truthfully reflect on your business, this is a great opportunity to gently realign your business goals with your personal values (and capacity.) If you’re finding yourself working every hour of the day, but you value quality time with your family, something isn’t lining up and it’s time to reset. In order to achieve sustainable growth in your business, it’s important to prioritise time for rest and breaks. Life works in seasons and cycles and it’s never a bad thing to allow yourself, your body and your business to listen to these. Sometimes slowing down is exactly what you need, not to step back but to prepare for future growth. Here’s some tips for building rest into your schedule:
Schedule in your breaks: If you don’t allow yourself the opportunity to take breaks, you won’t be working at your full capacity. Make sure to put your lunch break in your diary and find a system that works for you to make sure you take regular breaks. I like a physical 45 minute timer but you might prefer to use a pomodoro video or a system of your own.
Buffer weeks: Sometimes you need more time than you think you’ll need to achieve something or maybe you just need to give yourself a buffer week after a big launch or period of heavy workload to allow yourself the time to rest and recharge.
Automations: There are so many ways to save yourself time now, and not always just so you can fill it with other things. If there’s a task that you repeat every day, maybe you could set it up to do itself but still take the 10 minutes you would have spent to enjoy a cup of tea or do a spot of journalling.
Ideas for sustainable growth that you can action now
With the Autumn Equinox in mind, there’s a few simple things you can put in place now during this season of change that will lead to space and clarity at a later date in your business.
Planning your content calendar for the next quarter: Planning ahead will always save you time in the future. Planning your content ahead actually takes less time than you would expect but will save you so much time down the line. If you find coming up with ideas challenging, here’s a free content plan that you can adapt and make your own for the rest of the year.
Reviewing or refining your client onboarding process: Now is a great time to review and make any changes to your client onboarding process. It’s one of the first impressions your clients get of working with you so you want it to be smooth, functional and a positive experience. You could always ask existing clients for feedback to help your refine it if you’re not sure what changes need to be made.
Automating one small task: Think about your most commonly performed tasks and which ones are repetitive and time consuming. These are the tasks that can be automated and save yourself some time. It’s likely that your existing systems will already do more than you’re using them for.
Living while you work
Remember, it’s always okay (and actually quite important) to make space for joy that doesn’t come from your work. Whether for you that looks like walking through crisp leaves or baking on a slow Sunday morning, you should allow yourself that time and your business will thank you for it. If you find it hard to include these kind of things in your day to day, making a personal seasonal bucket list could be a great way to focus on giving yourself the time.
If you’ve made it this far, don’t forget to take a moment to write down what you want to let go of this season and how you plan to create more balance. Take the time to plan ahead to give yourself space later and while you’re at it, remember to make a copy of my free content plan to take another task of your to do list this season.
