Hey Reader,

As we shift to the new year this week, I want you to think about what it means to be still. Many of us rush straight through wrapping up end-of-year projects into new year goals and habits. How would your time, energy, and attention be served if you gave yourself permission for some “fallow” time?

🧑‍🌾 Connecting Farming and Creativity

When a farmer lets a plot of land lie fallow, it means the land is intentionally resting. This period of rest following a harvest allows the soil to replenish its nutrients so new crops can be planted and grow in the future.

Like that soil, our bodies and minds need times of rest and replenishment between seasons to restore our energy, setting us up for new creative growth next season.

⛏️ Fallow ≠ Unproductive

Sometimes the word fallow is associated with being unproductive: that to be productive you need to be in action, you need to be “doing.”

But what is the result of all that doing?

The truth is, taking time to stop and rest allows you to be more effective, have clearer thinking, and boosts your creativity.

When I hear my clients ask the question “What do I need to do?” I challenge them to drop the last two words and instead ask themselves “What do I need?”

When you pause to figure out what you need, it becomes clear what you need to do or not do.

😫 Prevent Project Fatigue with Transition Time

There’s a natural tendency to want to start the next thing right after finishing a major project — or at least plan that that’s what you’re going to do. This compulsion is especially strong at the beginning of a new year. Remember the self-care steps we shared a few weeks ago and check-in with yourself.

This project-to-project or year-to-year pressure is akin to finishing a marathon only to immediately start running another. We understand the toll a marathon takes on the body and mind. An athlete needs to rest, recover, and prepare for the next training cycle. If you’ve had a busy end to the year — personally or professionally — remember to give yourself space to transition.

The rule I give my clients (and they fight me all the time on it) is this: if it’s a quarter-sized project and it takes you most or all of those three months, give yourself at least a week of transition time.

This time allows you to:

• Do the necessary CAT work (Clean Up, Archive, and Trash) that lets you start clean with the next project.
• ​Celebrate finishing the project. Too often, we’re so busy catching our breath and catching up that we never actually allow for an “I/we did that!” moment.
• Catch up on some of the things you put off to finish your project. It could be the hobbies you put aside because you didn't have time to think about them or the get-togethers you had to reschedule during crunch-time.

I share more activities you can do during project transition time in Chapter 10 of Start Finishing, but those three are great starting points.

💚 Why It Matters

We often have to remind our goal-oriented brains that it’s not necessary to immediately start the next project. We’re tempted to push forward, even if we know deep down we need the break. Remember, this fallow time allows for greater abundance in the future.

No matter your work you can build in fallow recovery periods to prevent project fatigue. How can you give yourself rest time before starting your next project? What do you need?

Stand Tall,

Charlie

🕳️ Go Deeper

Here are a couple additional resources to assist with your practice of stillness and fallowing (in addition to the links above).

💪 Finishing Strong: Make Space and Time to Transition Between Projects​

🧑‍🌾 I started learning more about fallow cycles after a car accident back in 2013. The silver lining was understanding how to rest and be still, allowing my body to recover while my mind was working beneath the surface.

🧠 In her book, The Extended Mind*, Annie Murphy Paul makes the case that a major part of our cognition and awareness is located outside of our brain — in our environment. If your environment is all over the place then your mind, and the extended matrix of you, is most likely in disarray too.

Other News & Features

🎙️ Mark Drager interviewed Charlie for the We Do Hard Things podcast. 👍 While they started off discussing productivity, how to get more done and what kills progress — the standard topics Charlie is accustomed to — the talk quickly shifted to something more… uncomfortable. Charlie openly shares some hard truths about playing in a rigged system, how to take control, and live your life on your terms. Listen to the episode by clicking here.📱

🎙️ Charlie got together with two of his favorite people, collaborators, catalysts, and authors, Jenny Blake and Tara McMullin on Spotify Live to mull over a life-changing question: “Do We Really Have The Same 24 Hours As Beyonce?” Now this bonus episode is available on the Productive Flourishing Podcast, so we can all keep enjoying the content, and hearing its much needed messages. Listen again or enjoy it for the first time by clicking 👉 here.

*affiliate link