With everything percolating in your head, by the time you get to your own Season 4 and the ‘Playful Rising’ season, it’ll have been in your brain for a good chunk of a year or so. It’s now time to take the plunge and set THE date. THE date could be any major milestone: having the chat with your boss to pitch a big project to solve a business problem that can also evolve your growth. Or it could be a side hustle that you finally want to start by calling on specialist services, be it a website build or buying the website domain. Or it may mean an exit date at work. The date you want to leave your job. Whatever this milestone date is - this is when it gets out of the abstract and into the real. And boy, does this work like rocket fuel to your plans.

Lemara Lindsay-Prince goes deep into this subject with me in our podcast chat. Lemara left her full time gig at Penguin Random House, where she headed up the #Merky Books imprint. In such an open conversation, partly becuase I had just left my full-time role at Apple when we spoke, it was a real, raw reflection point for us both. I asked her how long she thought about leaving:

"I was probably in the thought of it for a good few months to the point where I had a mate who said, the date in your calendar that you're gonna resign. And I did. And every day he'd check in with me. was like, nah, mate, I'm just gonna think. I'm gonna give it another month. I'm gonna give it another month. But it just wasn't shifting. So I thought about it for a very long time because we're talking about careers and jobs and finding businesses and we have to realize how they are to our personalities and also our sense of worth. for me, it wasn't just click, you're gonna leave. It was like, click, you have to understand what's going on with you, your identity before you make this jump and actually kind of bring myself back to a position of safety and trust that I could know me again and know myself in a new light."

When I finally committed to THE date of my exit from work, saying it out loud to my trusted circle, I was surprised with how freeing and good it felt. Not only that, but it felt 100% right. What then followed was everything starting to fall into place, all the right reasons for why this life-career move had to happen. Life priorities, family, keeping the balance, values…all of it. Having this fixed date did not stop or ruin my flow either. In fact everything picked up pace, sharpening the plans and putting things in motion. I was finally building towards my vision on a timescale that worked for me. Without question, it’s been one of the most fulfilling, enjoyable times I’ve had.

What timings work for you? Try and set a date based on realistic considerations, including caring responsibilities, work bonuses, work needed on the home or holidays. Are you the type of person who needs help holding yourself to account? This is where a coach, if it’s available to you, can come in with goal setting. But for others, like me, I needed that edge of flexibility; to have agency and freedom to build at the right pace for me. Whatever your route, committing to a date does bring clarity, confidence and joy.

And in the next chapter, we indeed, get you ready for your new chapter with a really fun exercise.

The Oh Yeah Juice