Hey Reader,

There's a note in my calendar blocking off this entire week:

Underneath it, in a note I left myself last year, a version of me who knew this version of me a little too well wrote: Be nice to yourself, Racheal, before you plan anything else. There will be concerts and awards and kid stuff. The twins get out by 1:00 most days.

This week, past me reached forward and stopped present me from stacking additional tasks or meetings into a week that was never going to have room for them.

Because here's what 25 years of leaving these notes has taught me - I am terrible at remembering the things that happen on repeat, and every time I forget one, I overestimate how much room I have left.

Protecting your capacity isn't a willpower problem or a motivation problem - it's often a mental load problem!

The last week of school. Camp signups that open in February for a camp that starts in July. The flip-flops my kids outgrew since last summer. None of it is a surprise. All of it is predictable - but somehow, without little reminders, it slips through the cracks and causes us to feel like we're always scrambling.

This week, I'm walking you through the habit behind that note. I call it notes to future me, and it's one of the small things that keeps my business from quietly taking over my whole life.

​In this week's episode, I'm getting into:​

→ The notes-to-future-me system I built for my worst flare days, and why my husband has every one of them saved to his phone
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→ Why summer quietly steals more capacity than you plan for, even when the kids are in camp all day
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→ How I can more accurately predict my real capacity through the end of the year (including how I protect my time off without feeling guilty about not constantly checking in on my business)
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→ What's on my first-Monday-of-the-month reset checklist, and the one category most ambitious women leave off entirely
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→ The difference between letting your ambition drive the bus and handing the wheel to your inner wise woman

That last-week-of-school note is doing its job as I write this. The twins are out by 1:00PM today, there's an awards ceremony I didn't know about until Monday, and it's totally OK because past me already cleared the deck.

So pick one note to write to future you this week. She is going to be so glad you did.

Racheal

PS - The CEO retreats are coming up! And if you've ever attended one, you know that we spend a LOT of time talking about protecting your capacity in your plan. You can join us in one of three ways:

​🖥️ On-Demand CEO Retreat. Create your Q3 plan at your pace, on your schedule. Available immediately.

​👩🏻‍💻 Virtual CEO Retreat. Join us Virtually on Friday June 5th to go through the entire 90 Day CEO Planning Process together, from the comfort of your office.

​📍Richmond VA CEO Retreat. Connect IRL with me & other CEOs for a full day of planning and masterminding on Friday June 12th.

It's the same 90 Day CEO Planning Process in three formats so you can choose the right one that fits you for Q3.

PPS - This episode picks up right where last week's mid-year review left off. If you missed it, listen in to the Mid-Year Review episode here!​

There's a free workbook that walks you through it, and the back half is about mapping the real capacity you have for the rest of the year, not the capacity you wish you had.

Planning for 26 weeks when you really have 21 is magical thinking, and the workbook is how you stop. Grab the mid-year review workbook in the show notes.​