A Christmas card I mailed to Brazil—which historically will arrive in 1-2 weeks—didn’t arrive until February! This year my international cards will go out much earlier.

Good idea. One of the hard lessons of living on Cape is that air mail to Europe takes 3-6 weeks. Mailing from NY took 5 days or less.

So if the overseas cards don’t go out the weekend after Thanksgiving, they don’t arrive until Valentine’s Day.

Devon, great point. You may not be a match, but you’re now connected. And to me, those conversations give you name recognition. So valuable to what we do.

I have a few evenings free this week, and that’s going to be devoted to …. holiday cards. Yep, I’m going to get ahead of those this year. Really ahead. I’ll mail them the first week of December, but why not get them ready now, right?

Paula, for me, a plan for the month can be thrown a curveball! LOL Like you, I plan very little. I do the monthly, and I know what I’d like to earn every year. Sometimes I’ll state my wish list in public, which puts the pressure on, so I keep myself in check. I tend to want to plan and dream BIG. Just have to make sure it fits with my time and energy. 😉

I’ve had some excellent conversations with people I wound up not working with, because we weren’t the right fit. But those conversations usually lead to other connections down the line.

I’m prepping my big autumn post card mailing. Other than holiday cards, the post card mailings are my favorite outreaches. And usually have the best results.

But the doing always needs me to give myself an extra push. I love planning. (One reason I enjoy consulting — helping clients come up with a plan that THEY follow through).

I’m not what one might call a planner. Sure, I have general ideas and goals, but I have never a set strategic plan on how to attain them. I sort of figure things out as I go.

I’ve never understood people who live by their 5-year and 10-year plans. It’s as if they don’t realize life always throws curveballs that can thwart the best of plans. Of course, the few people I know who have made those types of plans are either lucky enough not to encounter any unexpected obstacles or surprises, OR those curveballs totally derailed their plans.