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This is a link up to Emily Freeman’s quarterly series called, ‘What we Learned.’ I’ve loved reading those on both Emily and also Anne Bogel (of Modern Mrs. Darcy) so I thought I would join in. So, here are a few things that I’ve been loving this fall.
1. Reading a novel before bed makes hard days so much better
I’ve gotten back into the habit of reading a novel before bed, and it’s made a world of difference. I’d forgotten how good it feels to switch off your brain and just let it wander and flow while reading. As someone who reads a LOT of non-fiction (and truly loves it) it’s just a nice change of pace.
If you’re looking for recommendations, I have those too! If you like historical fiction, Lilac Girls is amazing! It’s a long one, but worth it and definitely a page turner. I just finished it and would HIGHLY recommend it.
I’m also re-reading, Anne of Green Gables. My Mom, sister, and I went to Prince Edward Island in Canada earlier this year and it made us all fall in love with the Anne series all over again. We’ve even started our own little ‘family book club’ as we re-read all of the books together.
2. Worry lists are AMAZING
I tend to be a somewhat anxious person, and often have a million problems and worries racing through my mind, especially as the weather starts to cool down (even in central Florida).
Just the simple act of writing down my thoughts and concerns has alleviated a lot of my worries. Even better, I’ve also discovered that it’s so much fun to re-visit a worry list a few months later and to see that I either took action to eliminate the fear, or nothing ever came of it. It’s definitely a work in progress.
But, if you’re like me and struggle in this way, I would suggest creating a worry list of your own. Whether your concerns are valid or ridiculous, just putting them to paper makes a big difference in at least getting them out of your mind.
3. So many people work remotely or from home
I’ve been working remotely now for 6 years and recently made a big change to focus on remote/work from home workers on my blog. For the longest time I felt like I would be limiting myself if I did this, and was honestly scared that I wouldn’t have any readers.
However, this is not at all true. About half of Americans now work from home or remotely and this is a trend that is steadily increasing around the world. Working remotely is certainly a learned skill and I truly struggled my way through it for the first couple of years. Motivation, avoiding distractions, and loneliness are all big realities when making the transition to remote work and I’m excited to change directions to help make this easier for other women.
4. Focus on the outcome not the hours put in
When I used to make a to do list, I would outline everything that I wanted to do and would write things like, ‘Work on blog: 2 hours.’ While this might work for some people, I’ve found that there’s a better way, at least for me. Now I focus on the outcome or the result that I want to see.
For example, my new to do list items might look like, write and schedule 1 blog post, schedule 4 days worth of tailwind posts, and brainstorm 5 headline titles. With this new method, the time invested is irrelevant, it’s all about the results that I want to accomplish.
I also like that this new method is much more specific and focused. I don’t have to guess or wonder what tasks to work on related to my blog, because I already have it in writing.
If you haven’t tried this before, I would encourage you to at least give it a try. Start thinking about the results you want to see and focus less on the time invested. I first learned about this from Natalie Bacon, Brooke Castillo, and Sam Laura Brown, so shout out to each of them for introducing me to this concept.
5. You just need to move a little further along from where you are now
It’s often difficult to notice the little wins or the day to day progress. And sometimes it’s so slow that it takes weeks, months, or even years before we can clearly see the fruit of what we’re investing in.
On the best of days, it’s not a big deal, but on the worst of days, it definitely makes it hard to keep going. It’s easy to lose sight of what we’re working towards when don’t see the progress or momentum that we want to see.
Because of this, I’m trying really hard these days to track the little wins and daily progress. While it doesn’t seem like much, at least it’s something. And over the span of months and years, it’s actually pretty incredible.
So there you have it! Those are 5 Things That I Learned This Fall.
And in case you want to check out the books I recommended they were:
