Why I don’t take August off

Do you take a long summer holiday?

Mint is my favourite flavour of Cornetto, and you can’t convince me any other flavour is even half as good.

As someone working with the NHS, I revel in the relative quiet of the summer months. People go on leave, out of offices are on, and we sometimes have ice cream for lunch. I used to use it as a chance to catch up on admin, sort out my inbox, and take a bit of a breather.

But then a few years ago, I read a blog post - probably from some inspirational hustle guy that made their first million by fifteen and says things like "we all have the same 24 hours in a day" - that said August was their absolute best time to get their head down on key projects they were often being distracted from but were really important. The office was quiet, email volume was low, and they had more headspace. While everyone else is on holiday, he said, "I'm hustling".

Putting aside the no excuses vibe of the original post, as someone who doesn't have dependents and whose bread and butter is EXACTLY this kind of project, I decided to give his core suggestion a go. Now, every August, I focus as hard as I can on key strategic work that will set me up for a running start in September when people come back from leave. I've found it quite transformational, and an excellent time to reset, plan, and get moving again.

In the past I've used the summer to plan impactful events, revamp a website that wasn't working for the company anymore, reposition an organisation in a way that resonates with their customers much more clearly, and plan strategic campaigns to launch a company onto the healthtech map. More recently, I used it to rethink my *entire career* and relaunch myself as a freelancer. Then I go on holiday in October, when the weather is still good and the beaches are empty.

Now, this is DEFINITELY not a post advocating for no breaks, no excuses, no *insert thing we all need but robots wouldn't*, and I'm not throwing shade on anyone that takes a well deserved summer break --- but if you feel like you'd like to use the summer to get your comms into line so your business is better prepped for impact come autumn - I'm your woman.

I've got a couple of spaces for new clients coming up, and I'd love to use them for this.