Every year, I look forward to summer to refresh and reboot my entire life and work. One, I’m a summer baby, so entering into a new birthday cycle is always a source of joy and gratitude (plus the occasional “grey hair” panic). Second, like for many, it’s a time to pause mid-year, wind down, and observe a bit of a break, whether we do it through some well-deserved vacation time, a welcome staycation, or just weekends at the beach.   These past few summers, I’ve made it a point to really stop, reflect and use this time as an effective life and work reboot system.

Reflecting on the first half of the year can bring major positive insights into the direction you’re taking going forward. One of the biggest misconceptions so many have is that we, along with our circumstances and the environments around us, do not change. Once we begin to realize that we’re in constant flux, down to our very beliefs and thought processes, it becomes crucial to observe a much-needed pause and evaluate where we stand, especially mid-year. It’s when we fail to do this that we tend to find ourselves stagnant, lagging behind, and ultimately frustrated at our lack of progress. 

If you’ve been considering your progress so far, and have been looking to refresh yourself over the summer, literally and figuratively, there are a few ways to get started, even as you’re sipping a margarita on the beach or lounging poolside:

• Re-visit your why

You’re not the same person you were when you began this year, or even this week. You’re constantly evolving and growing. Your perspective is changing, and so are your motives, and rightfully so. No one stays the same, it’s called growth!

Has the why behind your life and work changed? Maybe you were motivated by the thought of starting your own business, and have realized it’s no longer for you. You may have experienced some drastic changes in your personal life, such as a divorce or the loss of a loved one, which may make you reconsider your entire life goals. Whatever it may be and at whatever stage of growth you may find yourself, stopping to re-visit your why can help you refresh and reboot your life and work. 

• Re-evaluate your goals

If you’ve set goals or intentions at the beginning of the year, you may want to re-evaluate them again. Have you progressed towards getting that degree or certification? Are you any closer to getting the promotion? Have you started writing the book, or setting up the business? 

Re-evaluating your goals allows you to measure your progress, and adjust your target for the remainder of the year. It can also help you assess if your goals still make sense for you. Maybe the promotion is no longer in the cards now that you’ve decided to quit the job and start your own firm. You may need to adjust your expectations when it comes to some of the intentions you set, so you don’t have to sacrifice your sanity at the expense of achievement.  Or you may just need a reminder that you still have work to do for the rest of the year. 

• Refresh your skills

Take some time this summer to assess where you are in terms of your skills. You may have to complete a Skills Gap Analysis, whereby you evaluate whether the skills you have are still the skills that employers and businesses are requiring. Technology and ideas are advancing at a mind-numbingly rapid pace, which also means that what you may have learnt in school and at the start of your career may be seriously outdated. 

Schedule a meeting with your manager as part of your performance review or just on an informal basis to get some feedback. This is also a good way to update the powers that be of any new courses, certifications or experiences you may have had and get the credit you deserve. Look up some current work descriptions in your field to compare the skills required to yours. Study successful entrepreneurs in your area of business and learn from them. There are many ways to reboot your skills, and they don’t necessarily require you to exhaust yourself. 

• Learn something new and practice it

Summers are a great time to invest in your learning.  You don’t have to sit in an air-conditioned classroom to do so either. Grabbing a self-help book, listening to an informative podcast or an audible book on-the-go, attending a couple of outside networking events, or visiting a new place are great ways to increase your learning capital.  Invest in mentorship resources by asking someone to be your mentor, or mentoring someone else. 

Yet, you don’t just want to accumulate knowledge without the hands-on practice part. Try and put at least one thing you learn this summer in practice. It could be a new mindfulness practice, some great networking tips, or a new recipe from that new place you checked out last week. The point is to dust up your knowledge bank and refresh it as much as you can.

• Take care of your body

We get so busy most of the time, especially as working women and working moms, that taking care of our bodies tends to fall by the wayside. Observing a pause in the summer to refresh our self-care routine makes a world of difference. 

This is not so much about getting the proverbial “beach body”, but more so about re-connecting with ourselves and our sense of self-love and self-esteem. It’s also a great way to set the tone for the rest of the year when it comes to our health. 

How are you rebooting and refreshing this summer?

The Corporate Sister