Happy Monday 🌞
In my last few newsletters and in several of my social posts, I’ve been pretty open that this has been a fairly challenging season of life. We recently moved with two young kids, which was exhausting in itself. Then we were very slow to unpack, and all the while we’re renovating the house (here’s a mid-construction photo of the flooring we’re installing).
With all of this, I’ve been thinking about different seasons of capacity as a concept. Last week I shared that time + consistency = results. Here’s another one for you: your available time × energy level = your season of capacity.
The reason this feels so powerful to me is that having clear language can be a shortcut. With personality tests, I feel they are a shortcut to better understanding yourself and so better achieving your goals and working with others.
I’m coming to think that season of capacity might be a similar shortcut for me. Depending on the season that I’m in can help me clearly identify whether I should be taking on new projects or scaling back in any areas.
With that, here’s a matrix for the seasons of capacity:
This has already been so helpful to me because I can start to see where I currently fall, and then where I want to be, and start to make a plan for how to get there.
Looking at this, I can see the states that we likely don’t want to be in: Survival and Minimum primarily. And then the states we do want to be in: Exploration, Flow, and Growth.
Here’s how I’m looking at this:
→ Where do you currently place yourself in this matrix?
Currently, I’d put myself in the Routine category. Time is scarce with schedule changes and especially doing home renovation on weekends. I’m not in survival mode anymore, thankfully, but I was there for a few weeks.
→ Where do you want to be?
If they are the same, great! Keep doing what you are doing. If not, it’s time to start to plan.
I’m in Routine, but I’d love to be in Flow. Having plenty of time feels unrealistic at this stage in life with two young kids, but having normal time and high energy is where I’d like to be.
→ Start to plan to move to the season you want to be in.
So now that I know I need to increase my time and my energy, I can start to plan. I generally find energy from doing things I love and from exercise. If you read “The Power of Full Engagement,” they talk about energy coming from many sources: physical capacity, emotional capacity, mental capacity, and spiritual capacity.
There are different ways to increase time as well, both at work and at home. I’m looking at where I’m spending time that feel unnecessary (like scrolling on my phone before bed), but also practical changes like hiring a house cleaner and adjusting after-school activities so I have a bit more childcare during the work week.
→ Know there may be stops in other seasons along the way.
Knowing I want to move from Routine to Flow means I might move into some of the other categories first — I might move into Maintenance or Drive — and now I can see that as progress instead of seeing that as failure to get to Flow.
I’ll stop there, but I could go on and on here. I’d love to hear from you. Does this resonate? What season are you in? Bonus points if you have specific strategies for navigating the seasons in your own life.
➡️ And if you want to read and share my full post on seasons of capacity, that would mean a lot!
I hope you have a lovely week ahead. 🌞
See you next Monday,
Hailley
- I love following people who can show how small things carry big meaning. Elisa Doucette does that beautifully in her newsletter — her recent essay on blue pencils reminded me that so much of creativity happens in the unseen layers.
- Something a little different from me: I shared a story on Threads about my car having issues. The situation led me to a mechanic shop, and I won’t spoil the ending but I was grateful that quite a few people came along for the ride.
- I’ll be attending the Business of Software conference October 6 to 8 in Raleigh, NC, and Buffer’s CEO Joel Gascoigne is one of the speakers. Let me know if you’ll be there too!
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