New Beginnings
Happy September! Whether you took a vacances or were working away the past month, I hope that you had a great August and end to a glorious summer. And now we’re off to the unofficial start of fall. There’s something so refreshing and crisp about new beginnings, isn’t there?
You may recall my recent obsession with the science of timing your day. Well, today I thought it appropriate to talk about the science of timing your year – especially when you can use it to your business’s advantage.
When I went away in August for Ellevated Outcomes’ annual planning, the timing was no accident. You see, I’m fortunate that one of my former companies role modeled a consistent, rigorous annual planning cycle. Because of this experience that has been ingrained in me, my brain is programmed to think “annual planning time!” when the calendar flips to August.
This year, I had a whole new appreciation for why it’s a great idea to do annual planning in August. First, it’s a great boost for the fresh season awaiting us in September. Second, it helped me outline what I need to keep (and start) doing during the next three months to kick off a successful 2019. Three months sounds like a long time; but of course, it’s not.
Things feel more exciting, enthusiastic, and energetic when there’s an outside force marking a new beginning. It may be a new year, season, or month. But guess what? This isn’t just a feeling. It’s science.
In When Daniel Pink talks about January 1st as the most prominent example:
The first day of the year is what social scientists call a ‘temporal landmark.’ Just as human beings rely on landmarks to navigate space – ‘To get to my house, turn left at the Shell station’ – we also use landmarks to navigate time. Certain dates function like that Shell station. They stand out from the ceaseless and forgettable march of other days, and their prominence helps us find our way.
Contrary to where you may think this is going, I’m not trying to talk you into preparing yourself or your business for the new year. Yet 🙂 There are plenty of more accessible timing landmarks to take advantage of in the meantime.
In 2014 three researchers from Wharton published an analysis of eight years of Google searches. Here’s what they found:
Google searches of the word “diet” skyrocketed each January 1st. There were 80% more than on any other day. But January 1st wasn’t the only significant day. They also surged at nearly every other calendar “new beginning:” the first day of each month, the first day of each week, and even the day after each federal holiday. The same thing happens with gym memberships.
Get where I’m going with this? It’s not, “You should go on a diet.” It’s that, as fallible human beings, we’re more likely to make a change for improvement at the beginning of something – whether it’s a year, week, month, or season.
Now, let’s take it one step further. The days on a calendar serve as “social landmarks.” They’re objective, societally-based points that anyone can relate to. But there’s another type of landmark that could be even more important, depending on your line of work: the personal ones. These may be birthdays, anniversaries, job changes, move dates, etc. Those same researchers calls these temporal landmarks and claim:
Temporal landmarks interrupt attention to day-to-day minutiae, causing people to take a big picture view of their lives and thus focus on achieving their goals…
And what does this mean? It means that people make moves when there’s a personal milestone approaching. It’s the very reason that I hired a running coach last week. I was talking to Violet’s and Isaac’s parents, when I realized in a panic that I still hadn’t reached one of my long-standing running goals, and my birthday was approaching. A new year of my life, just around the corner, was the push I needed to finally spring into action and hire help.
Now you may be wondering what this really has to do with your business, unless you own a gym. The answer (as it seems to always be in business) is, “It depends.” I’d encourage you to brainstorm: “What landmarks – on the calendar and in my prospects’ and clients’ lives – are important for my business?”
If you’re in the wellness industry, the calendar is critical, as you’ve seen. Therefore, it’s important to align client intakes, special events, and marketing content with social milestones and their associated fresh starts. For bonus points, you could also incorporate prospects’ and clients’ birthdays and their vacation habits. These are sure to be personal triggers for action.
If you’re in b2b financial services, I would study month closing timelines, tax deadlines, and the prep cycles for each. Then, make sure that your marketing, prospecting, and interactions fit into the decision makers’ financial ebbs and flows.
At Ellevated Outcomes, we’ve learned that owners’ personal milestones are more important in their decision to hire us, than calendar milestones. So we’re sure to acknowledge these and use them as a focus while we’re building relationships. Then, once we’re working with a client, we intentionally have touch points during significant temporal landmarks (these are the ones that are relevant to our client only; you won’t find them on a calendar). One of the takeaways from our offsite was to make these actions more streamlined through a process-driven client experience road map.
I admit that there’s a lot to think about here! As always, this is simply one of those tweaks I suggest to give yourself an extra edge. I have learned – and continue to painfully learn 🙂 – that we humans are… well, human. For a logic-driven person like me, it’d be great if we made fact-based decisions that were calculated to the nth degree each time. But alas, we don’t.
If you’re wondering where to start, I like using this science on timing in a micro and macro way. On the micro level, start by controlling your day. This will give you more free time, I promise. It feels like magic, until you think about how much discipline you put into it on the front end. For more macro effects, start incorporating social and temporal landmarks into your marketing and prospecting. This will take discipline too (lots of planning), but I promise that it’ll make you feel more confident in the execution.
I’d love to chat more. If you’re still wondering, “How can this work for me?” feel free to leave questions below. It’d be fun to get some group think going with these ideas.
