Emma Cragg

What happened this week…

📋 I took a new approach to setting my intentions for the week using three themes; things to finish, things to progress, things to think about. It turned out I had three items under each of the things (I didn’t set myself a limit, but I think that’s something to consider). When it came to review the week I found I’d checked off all the things I needed to finish and spent time working on or thinking about everything else. So I’ll keep going with this approach during September and see how it works out.

✅ A bit slow out of the blocks but we finally got everything set up for our next accountability group which starts on 2 September. We’ve switched from monthly intakes to quarterly and are going to spend the rest of this year looking at developments for a relaunch/refresh coming in 2023.

🛬 I ran the final session of my group coaching pilot on Tuesday. Now I need to collate feedback from the participants and consider how I want to develop the programme for the next group.

🤔 I spent two days in my co-working space… but was the only one in. considering what to rename it. Suggestions from mastodon: a singularity; a lair or den.

🔌 We had no Internet at home for most of the day on Friday which threw the end of my working week off course. I’ve done a little bit of catch up this morning (Saturday) to make sure I’m ready for next week as I’ll only be working three days.

🍻 I’ve found myself drawn into over socialising this summer. This week I’ve been grateful that I’ve rediscovered my ability to politely decline when invited out. I’ve learned my capacity is having things booked for a maximum of two evenings during the week and once at the weekend. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule; hanging out with my buddy and dates with my wife.

🏑 There’s been a lot of hockey admin this week ahead of the new season. Some people stuff too as we start to consider who will be in what squad.

🚘 I’m early with my weeknote because this evening we’re hopping in the car to head south and spend the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend with my sister and family.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted a weeknote. You missed out on:

• a second week of COVID blues
• a holiday in Scotland
• the blur of returning to work after nearly three weeks off

I’m ready to write again now! Here’s the week that was…

💻 On Monday I got up and hosted/joined my weekly calls to start the week. All was well. Afterwards I hopped on the bus to go into my co-working space. It was the first day in a long time when I felt full of energy and looking forward to getting stuck in to my work. My laptop felt different and when I arrived at my desk it refused to turn on. So I immediately turned around and headed home. The rest of the day was a right off.

💰 With the help of an IT guy I know, I managed to get the laptop fixed pretty quickly and without breaking the bank. He has recommended that I think about making plans to replace it. Any recommendations welcome!

✅ Without my laptop I didn’t get a huge amount done, choosing to focus only on the essentials — calls with potential clients and coaching sessions.

💡 Spending less time at a screen gave me some space to think about some projects I’ve got on the horizon for freelancer strategy days and a full launch of my group coaching programme.

📋 I caught up with my co-host of the accountability group to run through our plans for the rest of the year and any potential changes to how we run things. We’re also in talks to develop something similar for another community.

🏑 On Wednesday I went to my first pre-season hockey training. I’m captaining a side this season and with that comes a lot of behind the scenes work. This week that involved coming up with a solution for pre-season trial games that suited all teams and coaches, and worked with the pitches we have available.

⚽️ I played my first wildcard to reset my fantasy football team. While that hasn’t proved successful for this gameweek, I am in a much better place going forward.

🍻 Now that I’m over covid and my pal is back from her holidays we spent Friday afternoon/evening trying out a couple of nearby taprooms and playing darts (badly).

🤞 I’m keeping my finger’s crossed that the week ahead holds no surprises or set backs!

✅ With a grand total of two working days over the past two weeks my focus has been on the absolute essentials; planning activities for my next group coaching sessions, creating worksheets for said activities and preparing to launch my next group programme.

⚽ We took a trip to London to see Germany v Spain at the Women’s Euros. While in London we caught up with friends and dropped in to see the Cornelia Parker exhibition at Tate Britain.

🧟 Izzy came back from a big church event (~400 people on a university campus for four days) and tested positive for Covid. I followed suit a couple of days later. We’ve both had pretty bad cold and flu symptoms and been like zombies for a full seven days. I’m feeling much better (though lacking energy) as we start a new week.

☀️ What’s worse than 48 hours of unbearable heat? 48 hours of unbearable heat when you’ve got Covid! Somehow we got through it.

🎂 We celebrated Izzy’s big birthday in a very low key style — doing our weekly crossword on FaceTime with my parents and eating cake. All other celebrations postponed until we’re feeling better.

📺 While I’ve been ill I’ve struggled to read for any length of time so have watched a lot of not very taxing series on Netflix; two seasons of Chicago Fire and the first season of Heartstopper.

🛒 With plenty of friends on our doorstep we’ve had regular food deliveries but haven’t wanted to cook or eat much. Pretty sure I’ve survived on toast, biscuits, ice cream and lemonade.

🗓️ I’ve been feeling slightly apprehensive about the amount of work I have on and the limited days I have available in July. So I was pleased to hear a content migration job I’ve been waiting to get scheduled has been pushed back again. It gives me a bit of breathing room.

📑 Had a good meeting with a collaborator about pitching a project similar to the accountability groups we already run to another community.

💭 Ran session three of the group coaching pilot this week on the theme of boundaries. We’re now half way through the programme and I’m starting to think ahead to opening bookings for the next group starting in the autumn.

☕ One of the coaching group had to miss a recent session and as she lives nearby we met for coffee and a recap. Made me realise although there are great benefits to being able to run events online it is good to sit alongside someone.

📋 My main tasks outside of coaching this week have been making sure I’m prepared for the next few weeks where I’ve only got a maximum of two working days per week. I got my newsletter scheduled as well as completing some prep work for other up coming events.

🦋 I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behaviour.

👀 I watched a lot of sport this week (aided by arriving at my parents who have both Sky and BT); most Wimbledon matches, most Women’s Euros matches, England v India T20s and the home nations southern hemisphere rugby tour matches.

🏏 While I’ve been home, we also went for a day trip to Nottingham to watch my eldest nephew play cricket and I’ve been helping my Dad with various labour intensive two-person jobs in the garden.