Sit Down Sunday With….Well Me!

Today, a slightly different sit down Sunday as I’m the guest and going to ramble on a bit.

I wanted to take this opportunity to ponder, reflect and think ahead about my feelings as I begin to re-enter Forest School practice again after the long pandemic.

As you might imagine there are a mix of emotions running though my mind as I get back to doing the thing that I love.

A biggy is actually the feeling of uncertainty. What might I be uncertain about, you might ask? Is my prep as good as it can be, Is the site as ready as it can be, Are my strategies as good as they can be.

There is always, within me, the perfectionist, the task master holding me to account and keeping me accountable to me. This feeling exists I suppose to keep me sharp and on top of my game. When I feel uncertain I have noticed I become accurate, meticulous and view my output with a critical eye. A bit like a hawk looking for its prey.

Accountability is one of those things that starts from within and drives the rest. It would be very easy to let things slide when being self employed and put it off until tomorrow. The Manana principle! Where someone will purposefully put something off until , manana- tomorrow. Ohhh I’ll do it tomorrow , manana, tomorrow. Here is my thought process. Let’s do what i was going to do manana, today.

This way I stay focused on the task in hand instead of my mind wandering and even more special is that by doing this, manana might be free to do the things I want to do.

There is also a huge feelings of satisfaction creeping in more and more that the time I’ve spent learning and developing during lockdown is paying off . You probably won’t be aware but throughout lockdown I have not once stopped working away at Eco Ed.

The sessions were obviously ceased at the beginning of March, but surrounding that there has been a hive of activity to overhaul things that simply didn’t work or didn’t function as smoothly as it could.

You know, somebody once said done is better than perfect, but in my world this simply doesn’t cut the mustard.

My own standards and levels of accountability would eat away at me and drive me to go back and work on it until I can be no better. Why settle for less than your very best output I argue?

Anyway this time I have been thankful for and it has allowed me to geek out and to be so critical of what I have in place or not within the business and to see how it can be improved and made to maximise my time.

So that when manana comes I can actually get out and do what I want to be doing. The things I love. An example would be the power of automation. A lot of my systems are now automated and provide me with periods of extra time to get on with what needs to be attended to…or to have that beer with a friend or that phone call home.

These have allowed me to keep working when I’m not working. Think about that for a moment. I’m a big believer in working smarter, not harder and I can be a royal procrastinator. But within the procrastination comes moments of pure magic and allows me to find the solution to work this way and gain value from my life.

Remember we’re here once and we have to squeeze it for everything. Work is not life. Yes there has been a huge upheaval of effort over the last few months but this will pay dividends back to me in what Simon Sinek talks about as the infinite game.

So when I’m out in the forest this week doing what I love with the children. You may think my business will grind to a halt as I’m the cog making it work.

Unfortunately you’d be wrong. My business will still be working for me behind the scenes with the automations and procedures I worked hard to put in place, making connections with families, guiding them through their introduction with us and even helping them get booked onto a session.

All without me doing anything other than playing in a forest with children, living my dream right there and providing incredible value for those children’s lives….and also thinking of my next chess piece type move.

A further feeling in my mind is of course happiness. To be able to earn money from doing something I utterly and insatiably love…well it’s a dream. To be involved in shaping a child’s life is a gift and not only that but shaping their life in a school they adore coming to is priceless.

Watching children, be children and learn from there peers is powerful to observe. Through loving what you do, the more effort, passion and enthusiasm you bring to it whilst wanting to develop more and be even better.

That’s what I feel anyway. i think back to some of my best teachers and they all have these qualities. It is something I look to embody each day and now will have even more time than ever before to apply to my craft. Truly incredible result from a terrible period in human history.

In Forest School these qualities, shown by the leader is hugely valuable as this rubs off on the children spreading the seeds for even greater results, that parents can see. Plus the children have so much fun, which makes them want to come over and over again, developing a huge amount of trust and respect from the families.

This is something I’m really happy about it being able to interact personally with our families again. They are the life blood of Eco Ed Forest School and they understand, support and indeed guide my mission.

Only by committing and being accountable for my actions have I been able to achieve what I have in only a few short months of being a full time self employed. Only those willing to improvise, adapt and overcome will survive and thrive. Am I finished? not a chance.

Even with my best work being out there and visible, there is still room for improvement on it to make it even better. New things and knowledge are being captured all the time and are implaced to make the output even more special for my customers.

This is why i’m able to offer such value to our parents. I wasn’t happy to just sit there and for all intent and purpose sell a service. Forest School is so much more than that . Eco Ed Forest School is so much more than that. By being accountable, driven and critical I’ve been able to see what no one else in my niche has during this time.

This is why I stand out, this is why I exceed our parents expectations, this is why I’m trusted with the learning of those parents children.

You’re Just One Session Away