Month-in-Review Highlights: September 2020
A warning sign captured heading down into a basement on our Château de Chinon guided tablet tour. Probably in general, but especially this year, we all need to “beware of the darkness.” Chinon, France. September 12, 2020.
I postmortem each month shortly after it ends, reflecting on what happened in general and, more specifically, in the context of my goals. Though I don’t share all my insights here, I have made it a practice to share at least one key highlight or insight. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)
On balance, September 2020 made for a good month, with further adventures in France—a trip to the Loire Valley (stay tuned for posts on that experience)—and adventures at FrogDog with lining up the fourth quarter and feeling the pressure mount for a big-push sales effort to line up projects for the end of this year and the year ahead. The last quarter of the calendar year always brings a lot of work-related stress.
In reviewing my progress against 2020 goals at the top of October, I noticed a shift in my thinking. Whereas in past months I’ve tended to review successes and determine better how to catch up from or learn from losses, I’ve started to note which goals I won’t attain this year, to think through possible compromises (e.g., “Okay, I won’t manage XYZ, but perhaps if I cut my losses there and refocus my time over here, I’ll actually achieve that objective.”), and to better understand what I should have done differently over the course of 2020 to achieve what I’d meant to achieve at the beginning of the year.
Also, I’ve started to identify areas where the tasks I assigned to myself as steps toward achieving the overarching goal, even if I’d followed them, didn’t get me where I wanted to go. In these cases, what can I stop doing and start doing before the end of the year to make better progress? And if this goal stays on my list for the year ahead, even if it evolves a little, how should my activity change to better point me toward my target?
The activities and tasks I could have done, done differently, or done better always seem obvious when I identify them. How could I have thought that I should do A instead of B if I want to get to C? However, I wouldn’t have experienced the a-ha moment if I hadn’t scheduled the monthly postmortem. When we trudge forward each day, carried along by momentum, we rarely see the missed opportunities. We need a moment of true stasis for honest reflection and frank observation to see real possibilities.
And hereby I recall and remind myself of the importance of the monthly postmortem. Even when, each month, I must force myself to sit down and do it.
Happy Q4 2020, folks!