A quiet week in Washington. Traffic is light. Email is manageable. The only place where I've seen intense activity is in the Staples store, where people are emptying the bins of school supplies! I hope you are savoring the last days of August.
Over the years, I've studied how the calendar year produces a consistent ebb and flow of activity. August is typically a month when the tides of work ebb. It is a quiet month, a month that always begins in deep summer and ends in early fall. This year, we have been blessed with a rare Blue Moon, the fourth moon of summer, making it a special time indeed!
In September, work flows again, though the back-to-school weeks stave off the full tide of work until mid-September, after the Jewish holidays and the intense start-up of school systems everywhere. It's hard to schedule coaching sessions with clients, plan big meetings or even just maintain a steady focus in the first weeks of September. We are all ramping up again, a pattern that will continue until the year's end, when, at last, we pause again.
Maybe because of this quiet moment, I am really enjoying the conversation about retreats that is taking place on Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life this month. Following on from our Frenchtown retreat show, Chris Wahl and I had such fun last week reflecting on the why's and hows of pausing and taking a retreat.
Next Monday, the theme continues with an interview with Karen Ely, a retreat facilitator who invites women to step off of the beaten path to benefit from reflection and a deep pause. I hope to attend one of Karen's retreats someday. In the meantime, I can't wait to learn from her personal journey and her expertise. Please take a break and join me!
