Emma Cragg

📋 We’re running an open week for our accountability group in the last week of March, so I spent some time setting up and planning sessions for that. We’ve doubled the number of participants, and added a couple of bonus sessions, so it requires a little more logistical effort than usual.

❓ I attended a Q&A about business insurance. Sounds dull but was actually super helpful (and not at all dry) thanks to the enthusiasm of the speaker.

👣 I also attended an onboarding session for an associate role I’m taking on through Barefoot Coaching. It was both helpful to walk through the various processes and good to meet my fellow associates.

💬 On Thursday evening, I ran my first Sobremesa Session where we explored the topic of compassion. Overall I was pleased with how it went and got some great feedback. There are a couple of tweaks to make for next time but nothing major.

📢 This week’s newsletter was about community. It clearly struck a chord as a few people immediately shared it with their networks. That was a nice reminder that if you write something that resonates other people will shout about it for you.

📖 During this week’s daily mindfulness sessions our prompts have all been about habits. Instead of journaling in response to these, I’ve chosen to start building a habit of 30 minutes non-fiction reading. It helped me to finally start reading Spring Cannot be Cancelled.

🍾 On Friday night we had our first takeaway in a while. And for no reason other than we wanted to, we shared a bottle of champagne with our fish and chip supper.

🏑 Saturday saw the last hockey match of the season. We made hard work of it during the first half which ended 1-1. Thankfully we found our stride for the second half and scored a further three goals with no reply; two of which are contenders for goal of the season.

⚽ To take advantage of the last of the sunshine before the weather turns we got the Metro up to near the airport to watch Newcastle United Women play Bradford City. Not the finest defensive performance from either team, it was 1-1 at half time. A penalty resulting from a foul by the last defender (who also received a red card) sealed the win for Newcastle, though they really should have had more after a couple of goal-line scrambles.

⚡ I spent a good chunk of my working time this week preparing for an event series I’m trialling. The first session is next week and I’m just ironing out the details ahead of that.

✉️ I delayed sending my newsletter and decided to switch to a new schedule of two emails per month. As work is getting busier I’ve noticed the quality diminishing as I try to keep up with the weekly schedule.

💰 Ahead of switching the structure of my business from a limited company to sole trader I’ve done a cashflow forecast and a load more financial admin.

📢 I’ve made the effort to continue consistent work on marketing. This has started with some thinking around what I’m trying to achieve and the different strategies that will get me there in a way that feels natural to me.

🔁 For a while I’ve been throwing ideas around with a colleague about how we can make our accountability groups a sustainable part of our businesses. This week I’ve been exploring memberships as a way of doing this.

✍️ Another decision, related to my goal of building a more consistent (non-work-related) writing habit is to restart the 100 days to offload challenge. I’ll post to my write.as blog a couple of time a week from the beginning of April.

🏑 Two big wins (and bonus clean sheets) for my hockey team this week. Mid-week we won 2-0 against a team who are right on our tail in the league. Then on Saturday we beat the team at the bottom of the table 5-0. The points and improved goal difference helped us leapfrog the team above us.

☀️ It’s really starting to feel like Spring. We’ve had sunshine all week, the daffs are blooming and I wore shorts all week (much to the consternation of some of my fellow freelance friends)!

🏰 I started reading Titus Alone and tried to explain the bonkers world of Gormenghast to some friends.

🗡️ And I binged season 3 of Killing Eve after realising I hadn’t seen it yet. I gave up after S2 which was more than a little ridiculous. Thankfully S3 gets back to basics.

🏃 Started the week running a sub 35-minute 5k. This is an achievement on two fronts 1) I’ve not run this far all year 2) I rarely run faster than 7 minutes per km (on average).

💻 Monday to Wednesday afternoons I attended virtual co-working sessions (one of which I hosted). I find these really helpful when I’ve got more routine tasks to work on as they both help me to focus on one thing at a time, and also give me a chance to chat during the breaks.

🐠 Over the past month or two we’ve been making plans to run an open week to share what goes on in our accountability group. We made the event live this week.

📝 I’ve created a more detailed outline for my first group coaching programme and have a couple of people signed up for a pilot to start in May.

📢 I made progress on the one area of the business that I really drag my feet over: marketing. This includes blocking time for it each week on my calendar and a list of tasks I can turn to to minimise decision making.

📰 This week’s newsletter was all about defining progress.

⏱️ I did an experiment tracking how I spend my time over a week, mostly out of curiosity and to see if there are any patterns or areas I want to change. To do this I assigned each 30 minute block to one of six broad categories: work, rest, exercise, morning routine, nourishment and other. My initial observations show that I’m pretty consistent every day of the week and I have no problems with prioritising rest! Next, I may take one of the categories and break it down to record more detailed level of activity.

🎳 Went bowling with my hockey team and then was encouraged to continue the fun with a few beers in town. Unexpectedly stayed out until 2AM… and then discovered after only 5 hours sleep why I don’t do that more often!

🏑 We managed to hold off the team at the top of the league for about 60 minutes before the deadlock was broken. The attack did their best to claw one back but the game ended in a 1-0 loss. There are definite positives to take away even though we might feel disappointed with the result. Just three matches left of the season.

🎆 Ended the week attending the festival finale of North of the Tyne Under the Stars. The projections were mixed but it was worth it just to see the Zoetrope on the Civic Centre (pictured below)

🤹 This week I’ve been working on four main projects and felt like I took significant steps forward in each of them. I generally find that having more to do makes me more efficient, plus there’s the benefit of being able to switch project when I’m bored/stuck/need some variety.

📆 I shared the details of an event I want to trial and got some immediate registrations. Although I was a little disappointed that there was zero response from one community I shared it with. There’s a lesson in that at least.

💰 I talked to a couple of new accountants about some upcoming changes to my business model and how they can support me.

💬 Conversations continued to get feedback on a new group coaching programme I’m working on. I’ve got enough to revise the offer ready to re-test with a wider audience.

📢 I joined a small group of fellow freelancers to chat about our approaches to and challenges with marketing. I came away with a load of ideas for how to make marketing work for me. And by that I mean make it something I actually do rather than indefinitely put off!

⏳ I’ve accepted that I only ever work a half-day on Friday. I’m actively trying not to become the freelancer in this web comic.

🏃 Pleased that I broadly kept to my exercise plan, including hockey training in the torrential rain on Wednesday. It was a small session but sometimes they’re the most fun.

🏑 We got a good result from Saturday’s hockey match. Another 0—0 draw with a local university team, that included surviving a penalty corner in the final seconds of the match. Oh and I was voted joint player of the match!

🥞 I hadn’t planned to have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. As it also fell on St David’s Day I decided to make Welsh Cakes instead.

🐦 My dusk walks continued, and included a longer one on Sunday evening. On the home stretch I spotted a treecreeper.

Rounding off the month with what was for me a really good week both personally and professionally.

🗓️ I ran the Feb/March monthly planning session on Monday. Each time I’m gradually refining my process and I’ve got an idea how to adapt my Notion setup to better link daily-weekly-monthly reviews together.

💫 The big thing work-wise this week was moving two future projects forward; one event and one group coaching programme. I’ve started conversations to get feedback on my initial ideas and am ready to open one up for bookings so I can run a pilots in March and April.

🧠 I met with the fellow directors of the company I work through and we’ve made some major decisions for how we’re going to do business in the future.

🍃 I helped to rebrand the community mindfulness group I’m part of. We’ve recently transitioned from being under the umbrella of a startup to be independent and community run, so a new identity was needed.

💰 I attended the IAF Northern Meetup on the theme of selling facilitation. It was a fun and informative session as always.

📶 We had wobbly Internet for a couple of days at the end of the week (possibly result of the weather, possibly people digging up fibre cables). It was frustrating but thankfully seems to have stabilised.

🌇 I shifted my daily walk to dusk. I witnessed more bird activity, as they settle down for the night, and some beautiful sunsets.

📺 I watched less TV than normal which meant more time for cooking, reading, playing board games, and conversation.

🏑 We tried a new formation at hockey. It’ll be a good move in the long-run but on this occasion we were out-played and lost 2-1.

🍻 Post-hockey, my wife (who was at work) asked what I had planned. My response: “Two rugby matches, a sausage roll and a beer (or two)”. We agreed this was my perfect afternoon.

🍗 And the week rounded off with a trip up the coast to visit a friend in her new home. We went for a walk in the woods nearby and to the local pub for Sunday lunch.

Photo of the week: Sunday night’s sunset

Let’s try this again. I drafted most of my weeknote yesterday but committed the cardinal error of doing so directly in the browser and then accidentally closed the tab before I was done!

I’m trying on a different structure inspired by maique’s ThingsThisWeek.

⏸️ I finished reading Do Pause by Robert Poynton. It was jam packed full of ideas that connect to my work and how I try to approach life in general. I wrote up some initial thoughts for my newsletter.

💡 I made some meaningful progress on a couple of projects I’m trying to get off the ground. First, I’ve set up some customer research conversations for a new group coaching programme. Then, I had an idea for a monthly conversation club which I’m going to develop and test over the next month.

❓ This week’s coaching involved exploring what it means to “be productive” and helping a client with prep for an interview.

💸 I did a long overdue financial review and made a plan for the rest of the year. I finally feel clear about where I am and what I need to do next.

💻 I got a lead on some possible desk space at a local content agency through a former colleague. I’ve been searching for some out of the house workspace since the end of lockdown but everything has been too cold (not temperature wise) and corporate. I’m optimistic about how this could work out.

🕘 I updated my /now page for the first time this year.

🥌 I spent a lot of time over the weekend watching curling and ice hockey on catch up. That doesn’t come without its challenges — I had two match results revealed to me before I could get around to them.

🛌🏽 We gave a bed to some friends while they were passing through town this weekend. I’ve only seen them briefly since I moved back up north and it was so good to have the opportunity to catch up properly.

👨🏼‍🍳 I’m feeling pretty smug about my cooking this week. First, my wife requested chicken kiev for our Valentine’s meal and then I decided to attempt a fancy looking pie for dinner with our friends. Both surpassed expectations.

🏝️ After some scrutiny of the diary I booked our summer holiday. The island emoji might lead you to think we’re going somewhere tropical when in fact we’re staying relatively close to home… in Scotland. It’s no less beautiful than a tropical island and crucially for me involves far less stress (for that read no airports or planes) to get there.

🛋️ Oh yeah, and we ordered a new sofa.

Home — I’ve been home alone the majority of this week. I survived pretty well without reverting to student / bachelor behaviour. Mostly because I planned my meals and did a big shop at the start of the week (that’s usual, but I tend to let it slip when I’m on my own) and I allowed myself one indulgence… to get out of bed whenever I wanted each morning. Izzy returned late Thursday and we’ve had a quiet weekend at home dog sitting for Aggie, a west highland puppy.

Work — My focus this week was on mid- to long-term goals and I feel I made real strides forward. This includes a financial plan for the next year as well as clarity around my offer, where I want to put my energy and what types of work I want to do more (and less) of. What’s been critical for this is time away from my desk. And I’ve got a detailed list of actions for the next few weeks.

Hobbies — This week I’ve done lots of walking, bird watching and reading, plus a solo trip to the cinema. I’ve also posted daily on Instagram for the February photo challenge. The stand out here this week is a 0-0 draw at hockey against a team that thrashed us last time around. It was a strong team performance and honestly felt like a win!

Personal development — Choosing to allow myself to get up later in the mornings meant I didn’t go to the daily community mindfulness sessions. I’m feeling a little unanchored as a result of this so want to be sure to make the effort to attend in the coming week.

Looking ahead, next week I’m going to get to work on research for a new group coaching programme and bring back some routine to my work days.

Let’s get right to it…

Home – Cleaned the flat on Monday evening and what a difference it makes to the experience living and working at home during the week! I’m really going to make a concerted effort to do this regularly so doesn’t become a “big thing”. Keeping up with my intention to strengthen connections with friends, I’ve been in touch with some friends from a previous life… hopefully they’re coming to stay later this month so we can catch up properly. I also wrote to some people I met on my travels around a decade ago. And I decided to update this heading from friends and family as it often involves stuff not related to people.

Work – I don’t have a huge amount to show for my work this week, however I made some big decisions. The first was about whether to get involved as an associate on a new project. This coincided with thinking about the projects I want to push forward for my own business. The end result was that the two don’t really align so I’ve decided to focus on doing my own thing, at least for now. That all led to a review of my goals for the year and coming months and a brain dump of all the associated tasks.

Other than that, I spent some time working outside the house this week. It’s amazing how a different environment can help shift things. My aim is to make this a weekly event.

Development – I started reading Do Pause by Robert Poynton. It grabbed me from the start and I can tell it will be a book I return to regularly. I’ve also found an in-person conference I want to go to in a few months and am looking to join a new coaching supervision group. Related to the decision making that went on this week, I’ve started a new journal specifically to record these things.

Hobbies – Two hockey matches. Two losses. The less said about that the better. I didn’t get to the next class on my “How to draw birds” course, but I did stop off at RSPB Saltholme on my way home from one of those hockey matches to do some bird watching. Although most of the birds were sensibly sheltering from the strong wind and freezing rain, I did see a kestrel, a heron, a lapwing (I think) and hoards of goldfinch.

Health – I hadn’t realised it until someone asked me how I’m feeling physically, but I’ve been back to 100% for the past couple of weeks. That’s a real relief as there was a moment mid-January that I thought I’d never get over the persistent after effects on the non-Covid virus I had before Christmas. To mark this improvement in fitness, I started strength training again.

Looking ahead, this week I need to start unpicking that big ‘ol list of tasks I wrote and start prioritising project work.