In Slow Productivity Cal Newport talks about the concept of seasonality in work – because humans can’t sustainably work at a flat, relentless pace all year round.

He makes the case for high-intensity cognitive effort with regular periods of rest and recovery, just like the natural seasonal rhythms that exist in the world.

With that in mind July’s felt like a changing of the seasons for me.

The first half of July was a full-on sprint for the line, as my last client working day was 17th July. I’m taking a six week break from most client work, giving me time for some holidays and to catch-up on some work stuff I’ve neglected during the busy times.

There were a lot of plates to spin, with one client completing on their exit early in the month, two workshops for a big consultancy project, the usual demands of fractional COO working and an Extra Brain consultants’ retreat too.

I also did quite a lot to set up work for the autumn which meant a lot of calls and finessing details of proposals and SoWs.

I know from taking a sabbatical in 2019 that being able to mentally “pack up” your work for a bit is a really good thing, which is why most of my client engagements stopped mid-month and will restart for the Autumn on 1st September. I need to bear that in mind as I plan my seasonality for 2027.

After a Saturday morning spent working to tie up loose ends, I then headed off in the motorhome with my younger son for a couple of days in north Wales. We were so lucky to have wall to wall sunshine on both days, which was a first for me in Snowdonia. We scrambled up Tryfan’s north ridge and also walked Snowdon too. I really enjoyed spending a couple of days together as I know once he heads off to university in September, there’ll be less opportunities for trips like this.

Then we all headed down to Southampton for our eldest son’s graduation. It was nice for the four of us and his girlfriend to take some time to celebrate the hard work he’s put in over the last three years. He’s already started work in a new Founder’s Associate role in an interesting start-up, so it’s fascinating to see how our working worlds are coming ever closer together.

Having done that, we had a couple of days at home to catch up on things and then headed to Portugal for a couple of weeks on a family holiday.

In the middle of all this we also managed to finally submit the full planning permission application for our house project, which was a big milestone. It’s been brilliant working with an architect to turn an initial vision into actual plans.

The timescales for the project are still frustratingly slow and hard to pin down – but I am gradually getting used to the difference between the pace I’m used to at work and the pace at which the house project moves. I figure that as long as we’re always pushing for the next step as soon as possible and are thinking ahead to look for things that might trip us up in future, that’s about all we can do!

Cycling this month… not a lot of time for anything beyond commuting – 13.3 miles

Running this month… some seriously hot and hilly runs in Portugal – 53.6 miles

Music this month… enjoyed the new Rolling Stones album – a bit different to my usual listening, but the variety is a good thing.