What do you do when your plans are changed for you?

quickbooks cancelled

quickbooks cancelled

This week (as you’ll know unless you were living under a rock or not using the internet), QBC London was cancelled out of “an over abundance of caution” with the current #coronavirus situation. Protecting people, just in case.

Making that kind of decision in the first place has to be really hard.

I’m sure they were discussing it continually, hoping all the way up to the last minute the show could still go on. I don’t envy those who had to make the call, but i honour them for making it and communicating it well.

Naturally with an event and company of this size, you expect to see a variety of responses. Some understanding, some grumpy, some frustrated, some resigned.

When plans are changed for you – and there’s nothing you can do about it – your response to the changed plans says something.

If character is evidenced best in trouble, i think attitude is evidenced best in cancelled plans.

I thought about it later and realised my reactions went like this:

  1. Oh my word, that must have been such a hard decision to make. They’ll have so much work to do now cancelling and adjusting things.
  2. THREE DAYS WITH NO MEETINGS IN THEM I CAN GET SO MUCH DONE

What struck me was how many people’s reactions I saw and took note of without realising it. Reactions like…

  • This must have been such a hard decision
  • We support you in a really tough time
  • Ugh, this is so annoying, what about me?
  • I don’t agree / it’s not what i would have done
  • Can I get my money back? Can I cancel things or get refunds?

In a sense any of these reactions are normal. But what we do with them, how we communicate them, and what it tells us about ourselves, is really important.

One of PF’s internal values is “Stay positive”, which we define as “We look for the good, and believe there’s always a blessing”.

Everything felt chaotic for a day or two, I’ll admit.

Most of you know Sundays are my rest day – no emails, no social, no working. But the announcement was made on a Sunday, so some of my team (very kindly) messaged me to make sure i saw it, and i checked emails to see if there was anything i needed to know or do. There wasn’t much to deal with straight away, so I left it for Monday and tried to go back to resting, but it felt really weird and off-pattern.

Mondays are usually my quiet day – no appointments, keeping email and slack to a minimum, getting content written or books read or plans made. This particular Monday i was supposed to be flying down to London, so that was off, but i spent the morning cancelling travel plans and communicating with the team and looking at how we could Tuesday & Wednesday well (not just replace those now-blank days with regular ol work).

But as Monday settled into itself, I began to see blessings from the cancelled plans.

I was reminded not to hold plans too closely or too dearly.

Anything can change at any moment, and I have to be ready to respond.

It’s been a good reminder and for a planner like me has oddly enough given me more peace.

We had two full days (me and the PF team members who would have been at the conference) to work on things we don’t usually have time for. We are always bemoaning the lack of time: what do we do when we are suddenly gifted that time? Do we use it well, or just fill it up with “stuff”? We held a call on Tuesday morning and agreed the areas all four of us (who would have spent two full days out of the office) would work on, with assigned deliverables by end of day Wednesday.

In this instance I decided we would replace one kind of planned work with another, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. When something is cancelled, you don’t necessarily have to fill up the time you got back. It’s also completely acceptable to (for the right reasons) use that space for quiet, or rest, or sleep, or holiday. Or reading a book or making dinner for friends or something restful. Either one is okay.

What plans (great or small) have you had cancelled recently? What did you do instead?

 

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ON THE GRAM

Popped into a fave local coffee shop in York this week and this was the mug they gave me. ❤️✨

Wasn’t feeling so superwomanny when I got it - this week was very full, plus period cramps and multiple migraines and my ankle being wonky and more travel than I’ve done in a while. I had intended to get coffee but the cramps were so bad I had to go for mint tea and just sit until they faded enough for me to walk again. 

At the same time, I also had an amazing time during this week with the @weare_pf Board meeting in person for the first time. Getting to know each other better as humans and sharing ideas and making plans and most of all appreciating that the weight of all the business decisions doesn’t rest solely on my shoulders. 

This is just one of your reminders that being a superwoman looks different at different times, and whether you’re striding along strongly or sitting weakly with mint tea, your superwoman status still applies. 

#justkeepgoing #superwoman #muglife #wegotthis #onedayatatime
Every single time I go sailing past this lighthouse on the mull-to-Oban ferry I think “this time I’ll just watch it and not take any pictures” 

And then something wild happens like A SAILBOAT GOES BY and of course I have to capture that, surely I haven’t taken that photo before (spoiler: I have), and then I have about seventeen lighthouse photos to add to my collection of seven thousand lighthouse photos from the last twenty years. 

But, I figure, what’s the harm anyway. It’s my photos and my memories and it brings me joy. I love the lighthouse as a visual of my journey from the mainland to the island (or a reminder I’ll be back soon). 

So, see you soon lighthouse. Thanks for standing there. 

#lismorelighthouse #eileanmusdile #lighthouse #lighthousesofinstagram #oban #ferry #calmac #isleofmull #sailaway #sailboat #scotland #travelscotland
I read. A lot. My list of “books to read” has over 100 titles listed, and every time I mention a book I’ve appreciated, I get another recommendation of a new one and the list gets longer. 

One of the books recommended to me years ago was “The Buddha in Me the Buddha in You”. She mentioned it had some helpful principles about how we navigate life - and whether you’re a buddhist or not, there are principles you can learn from and apply in life.

I wrote it down, forgot about it, and moved on with life. Read lots of other books.

And then when I broke my ankle, and was sitting and resting a LOT, with loads of time for reading, I went back to my list and started reconsidering some of the titles on it.

When I looked up “The Buddha in Me the Buddha in You”, the subtitle was “A Handbook for Happiness”, and that struck me.

Dealing with an injury is difficult. Sad. Wearying. It can be hard to find happiness and every day feels about the same. (Very Groundhog Day.)

So I bought the book, and put it by my bed. I started getting into a pattern of reading a chapter every morning with my coffee.

I thought I’d share some of the principles I appreciated and which are already helping me as I continue to navigate my life right now: 

[the full post on these is too long for an Insta post so click the link in bio or story if u want to read more!]

Thank the spoon - a spoon stirs up the mud in what had appeared to be clear water. Same with life: hard things stir up what you haven’t dealt with yet. So you thank them. “Thank you, spoon”

The Fundamental darkness (FD) - the “Survival Obsessed Self” who responds in a way based on survival but not growth

There’s a gift in the struggle - He describes it visually as “the lotus flower in the muddy pond”. You can focus on the mud, or on the flower, but they’re both there.

Nam - myo - ho - renge - kyo : The happiness soundtrack - I pulled out the core concepts of each of these words as they applied to me, and they are: 

Purpose
Mystery
Potential 
Bloom in the struggle
Flow of life

#karensnotes #buddhainmebuddhainyou #books #reading #happysaturday 

[full note link in bio!]
The snow is swirling the wind is howling IT’S FROZEN OUT THERE 
#snowing #happyspringeveryone #inlikealion