September 2022 Plans & Goals

This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 8/29/22.

Labor Day Weekend is this weekend! Wow. Per usual, summer has felt long and has gone by in a flash. 

I always get a bit sad when summer ends. But something that helps?

Planning! 🙂 

Because really, there is a lot about the start of fall that I love and want to cherish, especially this year. 

At the end of last month, I wrote out some goals and intentions for the month ahead, inspired by the fact August 1 fell on a Monday. September 1 isn’t on a Monday, but I enjoyed the practice so much that I thought I would repeat for next month too. 

I started by first asking myself some planning questions, which in turn led to me identifying some goals I hope to accomplish. Sharing in case you decide you want to plan your month too! I think it makes for a fun Monday morning activity 🙂 

What do I love about the month of September? 

• College football is BACK. Best time of year!!! 
• The weather. One more month of consistently warm weather and ample amount of daylight.   
• There’s a collective “back-to-routine” vibe in the air. As shared last week, big fan of the fresh-start feeling of September.  
• A lot of friends’ birthdays! FIVE of my friends’ birthdays fall during a week-span at the end of September. It’s the best. (Love birthdays) 

Anything unique about this September? 

• My brothers are coming to visit! I am SO excited to have them both here for a weekend!
• I’m going on a business trip… first one in a few years! Excited for the opportunity. 
• Spending a weekend in Nashville for a wedding. Love that city and love weddings. Can’t wait. 

How do I want to feel at the end of September? 

• I know I’ll feel tired, but I also want to have a general feeling of content. Between my brothers visiting, heading out of town for a business trip, a football game and a wedding weekend, and work priorities, my schedule is more packed than it has been the past couple months. ALL good things and so many things I’m excited about, but want to make sure I’m proactively managing my energy so I can fully enjoy and be present for these fun things. 

Goals for September 2022

• Plan my weeks on Friday. I think taking a moment Fridays to plot out my meetings, commitments and to-dos will pay dividends this month. It will limit planning time (or thinking about when to plan) on weekends and allow me to hit the ground running Monday, even after fun weekends. 😉
• Journal in the morning (when possible). I go in waves with journaling. But I love journaling because it helps me to: 1) remember things better (and there is a lot I want to remember from September!) and 2) sort through my feelings. (A favorite Joan Didion quote: “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.”) I recently had a bout of not-so-great feelings hit me completely by surprise. Usually when I’m in sync with a journaling routine, I’m able to catch something like that earlier and work through it as needed vs. having it bubble up on its own. All for feeling your feelings, but I know myself… and when life gets busy, it’s one of first things to go on the backburner (“just power through!”). So, think establishing some kind of journaling routine will be perfect for this month. 🙂 
• Go on walks after work (when possible). Need to take advantage of warm temps and it staying light late! 
• Read books that easily capture my attention. Jumping to the top of my to-be-read list: Book Lovers, Olga Dies Dreaming, The Paris Apartment and Stumbling Upon Happiness (always like having a non-fiction in the mix for morning reading). Don’t know if I’ll get to all of them but love having “the lineup” established.