September Feels Like a Fresh Start. Here's How to Actually Use It

Episode 46: September has a particular energy. A sense of possibility. But for most people that feeling passes without anything really changing. In this episode, career change coach Dana Stevens talks about how to actually use the September fresh start rather than just feel it. 

This is an episode for anyone who has felt the September pull before and watched it pass without anything shifting.

In this episode you will learn:

• The questions worth sitting with to get honest about your real why before the feeling passes
• The most common limiting thoughts that arrive with any new intention and more accurate alternatives to each
• The Mini Change Goal concept and why the small thing you choose matters less than the practice of choosing and following through
• Why building your identity as someone who creates small changes is the foundation for the bigger career change work

In this episode Dana mentions her upcoming free masterclass "Stop Circling and Start Deciding: How To Change Careers" on Monday 7th September at 7.30pm.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO THE MASTERCLASS

Click here to listen to Episode 19 - Change Fluency: A Mindset Shift You Can Practise.

Book a free Coaching Consultation:

https://calendly.com/danastevens/initial-coaching-chat

Connect with Dana:

Website: https://www.danastevens.com/workwithme
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dana_stevens_coach/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danastevens1/

If this episode resonated, follow The Career Change Studio and share it with someone who’s feeling stuck in their career.

And if you’re ready to design a working life that truly fits your needs and lifestyle, book a free consultation call at https://calendly.com/danastevens/initial-coaching-chat

Special thanks to @Lou_Greenaway_Music for the piano composition and performance.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Hello, how are you doing this week? If you're listening to this on the day it comes out, that means it's the first day of September. And I always think that there's just something about the month of September. There's this shift, like an energetic shift, a feeling that things are different now. Summer has ended, and there's this sense of a new start, new possibilities. And I don't know why, but it seems to have like a different freshness about it that you don't quite get in January. Maybe it's something to do with the fact it doesn't have all that weight of New Year's resolutions at the start of the year has, instead of that whole like new me vibe when I'm going to fix myself, it's more like a here's the next stage, the next chapter, the next step forward. It's more of a here's the next stage, the next chapter, that next step forward. September often feels like this could be the moment that something actually changes. And while that sense of possibility can be really powerful, sometimes what happens is that September whizzes by in this state of busyness, right? We get back from holiday, back to work, back to routine, back to school, we get sucked into it all. And then before we know it, October's arrived and nothing has changed. Not because we didn't want it to, but because that September energy, however real it felt at the time, didn't get directed into anything would actually move you forward. And then it passes. Today I want to talk about how to actually use it. Not just feel that kind of shift, but actually use it so that this September, it's the one you look back on as being the moment things started to shift for you. So let's talk about your why. Because before you can use this fresh start energy really well, you need to get honest about why this particular September really matters. Why this one? Why now? And I don't mean like a surface-level answer. Really try and get to the real answer for yourself. Most people who feel this kind of new energy in September, they might have felt it before, maybe last year, maybe the one before that. They felt the possibility of it, maybe some vague intention to sort their career out. And then the first week of work landed and back to routine, and everything went back to how it was. So what is different this year for you? Or what needs to be different? And if nothing changes between now and September 2027, what will that actually cost you? I want you to sit with that last question for a moment, not to make you feel bad, but so you can get really honest with yourself. If nothing changes, what does that actually cost you? Because that September feeling, however real it is, doesn't automatically translate into action. What translates into action is knowing deeply and specifically why action matters to you and why you want to use this energy. So here are some questions I want to offer you. You don't have to answer them right now, but they are worth sitting with today or this week. You know, you can write them down and come back to them later if you want. But it's all about trying to be honest with yourself. What do you actually want your working life to look like? Not what would be sensible, what would be realistic, not what you think you should do and the changes you should make, but what do you actually want? And if that feels like too big of a question to start with, you can begin with what do you want more of, or what do you want less of in your working life? And then I want you to think about the cost of staying where you are, what has been the cost already for you of staying where you are? In terms of not just your professional life, but in terms of your energy, your confidence, your sense of yourself, your life outside of work. And what would it mean to you to look back on this September a year from now and see things that actually changed? What would that feel like? What would be different? Those answers are your why. And your why is what carries you when your motivation dips, when life gets busy again, when the first week of September turns into the first month and things start feeling familiar and back in the routine again. Without a clear why, that September energy can just pass away, right? It can dissipate. But if you have a clear why, it can become something you can really work with. Here's what often happens when people start thinking about making changes in September. The fresh start feeling arrives, and then so do all the reasons why change is probably still not going to happen. I'm too old for this, it's too late to make a change now, I don't know what I want, and I probably never will. I've tried to think about this before and got nowhere, so why would this time be any different? I don't have the confidence to do something new. Other people can make these changes, but not someone in my situation. These thoughts feel like facts. They feel like an accurate assessment of the situation, but they are not facts, they are thoughts. And this distinction really matters because your thoughts can be changed. So let me offer you some more accurate and more useful thoughts to help you reframe these. If you're thinking I'm too old, this is a big one for lots of people. So much so that I did a whole podcast episode about it. So if this is coming up a lot for you, go back and listen to episode six after this. But there is actually plenty of evidence to support a more helpful reframe for this. The truth is, if you think I am at a life stage where I've got more experience than I've ever had, I have lots of value where I can take with me to whatever I do next. This all means that I have more potential, not less, at my age. I won't be starting from scratch, I'm going to be starting from a place of experience. If you're thinking it's too late, a more helpful reframe is that the women I work with who make significant changes are almost always in their 40s and 50s. There isn't a too late when you still have decades of working life ahead of you. And if you're thinking I don't know what I want, it can be much more accurate to think I haven't yet done the work or the right work to figure it out. Not knowing is a starting point. It's not a permanent fixed condition. If you're telling yourself I've tried before and got nowhere, the truth is that you might have tried without the right support or the right process before. And that is not the same thing as this being impossible. It's a sign that a different approach is needed. If a persistent thought for you is I don't have the confidence, the more realistic thought is probably my confidence is lower than it could be right now for understandable reasons. Confidence is not fixed, it can be built deliberately with the right tools. And I've helped many women do exactly that. And if you're worried that other people can do this, but not me, I want you to know that every person I've coached who's made a meaningful change thought this about themselves at the start. Not one of them was right. And I'm not asking you to suddenly believe all of these things completely. That's not how it works. But I am asking you to notice when the old thoughts arrive this September and to question them rather than just accepting them as the truth about what's possible for you. Because if you want this September to be the one that actually changes something, then this one needs to be the one where you go in with different thoughts, not just different intentions. So, what can you actually do with all of this? I want to give you something specific and practical, something you can do this week before that September energy passes. This isn't just about thinking differently, but about actually doing something different as well. So if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you might remember in episode 19, I talked about change fluency, this idea that getting good at change is a skill that you can practice. So I want to share something I call a mini change goal. Here is the idea: before you tackle the big career change question, before you figure out what you want to do next and how to make it happen, you start smaller. You identify one thing in your life, something manageable, something entirely within your reach that you want to do differently, and you commit to trying it for one week. It might be something about connection, calling your closest friend once a week instead of just sending a quick WhatsApp message. Maybe it's making one plan with someone you care about rather than just saying, Oh, we must do something soon. It might be something about your body, one yoga class, one walk, one gym session. Not a full fitness overhaul. Just one thing this week. It might be something about rest, leaving your phone in the kitchen at night instead of taking it to bed, reading a chapter of a book instead of scrolling for half an hour before you go to sleep. Whatever it is, it needs to be small enough that there is genuinely no practical reason you cannot do it. Not a stretch goal, a real achievable this week kind of thing. And then before you do it, ask yourself three questions. What will make it easy for me to actually do this? Not what would make it easier in theory, but what specifically in your life, in your week, will help this happen. What needs to be in place? What might get in the way? What is the most likely reason this might not happen? And when you identify that ahead of time, the good news is you can plan around it. And then think about how you're gonna feel once you've done it. Sit with that one for a moment, not as a reward, but as a reminder. What does it actually feel like to follow through on something you said you were gonna do? Then try it for one week. And at the end of that week, ask yourself honestly how it felt. If it felt good, decide how often you want to do it going forward. If it didn't work, ask yourself why and try something else. Now here's the really important part: the actual thing that you choose doesn't really matter. The yoga class in itself, the phone-free evening, great, they're all good in and of itself. But that isn't really the point. The point is that you practice the sequence. You identify something you want to change, you think about what will help and what might get in the way, and then you do it. And importantly, you notice how it feels to have stuck to your word, to have followed through. Because every time you do that, every time you complete that small cycle, you update your own story about yourself. You become someone who identifies changes they want and crucially makes them happen. Someone who follows through, someone who trusts themselves. And then when you come to the bigger change, the career question, the significant decision you've been sitting with, that self-concept is exactly what you need. It's so much easier to believe you can make a big change when you have recent, real evidence that you can make changes at all. So that is your September task, your September mission, if you choose to accept it. One mini change goal. This week, before that feeling and that energy passes. So September genuinely can be a fresh start. The energy is real, but energy without direction can just pass, as we talked about. So what makes this September different is what you do with it. Number one, get honest with your why. Number two, question a thoughts that tell you change is not possible for you. And number three, take one small, real this week action that starts building your identity as someone who creates change rather than just thinks about it. Those three things can be foundational. And if you want to do more than just start, if you want to actually figure out what the bigger change looks like and get proper support to make it happen, I want to tell you about something I'm running this week. On Monday, the 7th of September at 7.30pm, I'm hosting a free online masterclass called Stop Circling and Start Deciding How to Change Your Career. In one hour, I'm going to show you exactly why you've been stuck, why the usual approaches keep you going around in circles, and what actually needs to happen so you can make a real decision and start moving forward. It's free, it's for about an hour, and if September is going to be the month that things actually shift for you, it's a really good place to put that energy.