We are officially two weeks into Prep Season for the Fall Acceleration!

I am now in a season that I call “The Void.” It’s a space full of uncertainty and incompleteness.

I know that I have moved on from my old life, but the new life is not yet in view.

In the New York Times newsletter, Melissa Kirsch wrote an excellent essay called “unfinished business” that examines the uncomfortable space where we have not completed what we’ve set out to do.

“..it’s worth looking at all the ways we postpone being OK in pursuit of completion. There’s virtue in being done with things, but we spend a far greater amount of our lives in the making and toiling and striving it takes to get there.

All my unfinished Business

I haven’t completed anything I have set out to do.

I haven’t completed my career transition.

I haven’t completed my writing certificate.

I haven’t completed getting my social life together

I haven’t even started to plan my Eat, Pray, Love journey.

Sometimes I feel like I should not enjoy my life until I complete at least one of these items, because I am so ready to move on. I have felt that I cannot enjoy my life until I’ve at least accomplished something on the list above, but the reality is that if I wait to enjoy my life until I complete one of the things on this list, then life will pass me by.

Kirsch writes,

“We do this all the time: suspend living until some future moment when work is done, closure is achieved, and some desired state is attained. We perceive “uncertainties, mysteries, doubts” as things we must endure, rather than someplace we can abide.”

I am abiding in my ability to keep showing up, keep living my life, and prepare for opportunities that are on the horizon.

For me, prep season is about making small deposits every week that I am betting will turn into a larger return.

Small Deposits produce the biggest wins

An author once said, “Americans love massive displays of effort.” As Americans, we are more impressed by big moments than by small deposits, yet small deposits are what will produce the biggest wins.

In this week’s Pump Club Newsletter from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold takes on the myth of the big moment.

“The big moment is a myth. There is no single day that changes you. There are a thousand small days, stacked one on top of another, and most of them felt like nothing at all while they were happening.”

What produces sustained change is consistency.

Consistently showing up for early AM workouts
Consistently menu planning and. Meal prepping,
Consistently taking walks to get steps up
Consistently taking certification courses and classes to improve skills
Consistently reaching out to people I’ve lost connection with
Consistently meeting up and checking in on people I want to grow relationships with.

Sometimes it feels like I have been putting in so many deposits, and nothing is really changing. This is precisely when it is imperative to keep going.

As Arnold says,

But you only get there one way: you make the deposit today, even when you cannot see the return yet. Especially when you cannot see it. The return might be invisible right up until the day it is impossible to ignore.

One of the benefits of Prep season is that it has a defined beginning and end point. By the fall, I will be able to gauge the progress from all of my small deposits, but it’s all about consistency and showing up.

One of the reasons I love the Pump Club Newsletters is the calls to action. Here’s the Monday Call to Action from Arnold for this week.

What deposits will you make this week?