Fall Is Here. What Are You Making Room For?

I love Fall.

I love the changing leaves and the cooler temperatures. I love being able to get outside without melting. And it is absolutely my favorite fashion season. Bring on the boots and sweaters. 👢 I am ready.

I also love what happens in the kitchen this time of year. After months of avoiding the oven because the last thing anyone needs in the summer is more heat in the house, I am ready to turn it back on. This Sunday I am making The Pioneer Woman's Sunday Beef Stew, and I am already looking forward to how the house is going to smell.

I also want to get back to making sourdough. It has been way too long. There is something I really enjoy about the process, even though sourdough has absolutely no respect for your schedule. So, DC-area friends, consider this your warning. Once I get going again, some of you are going to be gifted bread. 🍞

These are the things I start thinking about when fall arrives. Walks when the leaves are changing. Cooking. Baking. Pulling out the sweaters and boots. Spending a little more time at home. I find myself genuinely excited about the change. 🍁

And this fall, I have something new to look forward to as well. Later this month, I am starting Tara Mohr's facilitator training. I have wanted to continue building this part of my work, and I am excited to be learning again, to see what the experience brings and to think about how I can use what I learn in the work ahead.

So there is a lot I want to make room for this fall. 💛

Which got me thinking. 🤔

Am I actually making room for it?

Because as much as I love the change in seasons, there is a very practical side to it. The days are getting shorter. The light is changing. The time I have to get outside after work is shrinking. Before long, deciding at the end of the day that I want to take a walk isn't going to work unless I want to take that walk in the dark.

At the same time, the things I want to do with my time are changing. I am much more likely to spend a Sunday cooking something that takes a few hours. I want to bake again. I want to work on creative projects. I want to take advantage of a beautiful fall afternoon because we all know those leaves aren't going to wait for my calendar to clear.

And yet my calendar doesn't magically change because the season does. 📅

That is the part I have been thinking about.

We spend a lot of time creating routines that work for us, and then we keep following them. Sometimes long after something around us has changed. We do it personally, and we definitely do it professionally.

I don't think the answer is to completely rearrange our lives every time the weather changes. I also don't think I need another exercise designed to help me optimize every hour of my day. That is not what this is about.

For me, it is much simpler.

How am I spending my time, and does that still make sense for the season I am in?

There are things that worked beautifully during the summer that may not work as well now. If getting outside is important to me, I may need to do it earlier. If I want to spend part of the weekend making sourdough, I need to leave some space for it. If I am investing in facilitator training, I want to give myself the time to really engage in it, not just add it to an already full calendar and hope for the best.

I think the same question is worth asking at work.

Our professional lives have seasons, even if they aren't as obvious as the leaves changing outside our windows. Priorities shift. Teams change. Projects begin and end. Something that needed a lot of our attention a few months ago may not need the same amount today.

But our calendars have a funny way of holding onto the past.

The meeting that was important six months ago is still there. The process we created for a particular moment becomes the process we always follow. We continue spending our time in certain ways because we haven't stopped to ask whether those things still deserve it.

I have learned over the years that leadership requires that kind of reassessment. Sometimes a team needs more of your time and attention. Sometimes they need you to step back. Sometimes the priority is execution. Sometimes you need to create enough space to think about what comes next.

The needs change. We need to be willing to change with them.

Maybe that is part of what I appreciate about fall. The change is right there in front of us. You can't look at a tree turning bright red and pretend everything is exactly the same as it was in July.

It is a reminder to notice. 🍂

What has changed? What is working? What isn't? What do I want more of right now? And what am I excited about? ✨

I especially like that last question because I don't want taking stock of my time to become an exercise in finding more things to eliminate. I want it to be about making room for the things I actually want in my life.

This fall, I want the walks. I want the boots and sweaters. I want Sundays with something good cooking in the kitchen. I want to make bread again and give it to friends. I want to learn. I want to see where this next part of my professional journey takes me.

And yes, making room for those things may mean something else gets less of my time.

I'm okay with that.

The season has changed. 🍁

Maybe my rhythm can change with it.

So as fall gets underway, I'm taking a look at how I am spending my time and asking myself a pretty simple question:

Does the way I am spending my time make room for what I want this season to hold? 🍂

Maybe it is a question worth asking yourself, too.

Now I need to find my sourdough starter. 😊🍞

Return to Your Wisdom.
Rose & Resolve