The sluggishness of a hot Fort Collins summer will soon fade away as September beckons and fall brings a new sense of purpose. For many entrepreneurs, creatives, and other remote workers, this is also prime season to begin preparations for the holidays, just a few months away.
Seasonal changes can come up fast. Being aware that changes are around the corner and taking the opportunity to be deliberate about handling those changes helps keep fall focused instead of frantic.
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Re-evaluating Your Routine
As daylight wanes, people start tweaking their routines, from simple adjustments to morning routines to full overhauls to the structure of their workday. Summer vacations are winding down, school is starting up again, and the days are getting shorter. The resulting changes can be affected by a number of circumstances, and while some are under our control, many aren’t.
Whether you are in school, have kids in school, or, honestly, live in a town with schools, the return to school can change the shape of the day. The resulting changes in traffic alone can cause a host inconvenieces, whether or not you are in charge of getting anyone ready for or to school, from increased travel times for meetings to favorite Old Town coffee shops being inundated by college kids.
While many of these circumstances aren’t under your control, there are actions you can take to make this time both more productive and less stressful, including:
- Altering your schedule or route to adjust for traffic changes
- Reserving coworking desks and meeting rooms earlier than usual
- Rebuilding morning and evening routines to account for shorter daylight hours
- Establish clearer work start and end-of-day boundaries
- Planning time for regular exercise, socialization, and relaxation throughout the day
Changing Seasons, Changing Calendars
The change from summer to fall frequently involves changes to our calendars as well. Clients and team members may need to shift standing appointments to account for their shifting schedules, and fewer daylight hours may mean that some shops have reduced hours and certain activities are no longer practical.
External influences on your calendar, both direct and indirect, are often inflexible. You can exert more control over your time by adding in blocks of time into your calendar that help you to stay focused and productive.
Fall is an especially good time to insert your priorities into your calendar by scheduling chunks of time for visiting your coworking space, attending meetups, and simply savoring a few moments of each day.
Preparing to Prepare for the Year End Rush
The holiday crunch isn’t here quite yet, but it’s closer than it might feel. Now is a great time to get ready for the crunch, so that it isn’t so chaotic. Some significant steps that can help you prepare include:
- Creating checklists for marketing, production, events, and new releases
- Evaluating your end of year timelines
- Purging your supplies of outdated or unusable supplies
- Restocking practical items ahead of time
- Touching base with professional connections
- Reorganizing your work spaces
Work Life Boundaries and Mental Health
Early fall, after the summer spectacular and before things get chaotic later in the year, is also a fantastic time to re-evaluate whether or not your work-life boundaries are where they need to be.
It can be easy for remote workers to slip into isolation in an attempt to be more productive, and yet find that isolation to be demotivating, which reduces productivity. According to the State of Remote Work 2026 from Remotive.com, 44% of remote workers cited isolation as their biggest challenge.
Fortunately, Old Town Fort Collins is home to several wonderful coworking spaces, including our own Cohere Coworking. Joining a freindship-based coworking community like Cohere not only supercharges productivity, it reduces loneliness and offers fantastic opportunities to learn about new local resources.
Ensuring that you enforce down time and deliberate social interaction into your schedule now will help you to maintain the boundaries when things get hectic.
Want to see if Cohere fits your work style? Schedule a tour today.
Learn more about Coworking in Fort Collins from previous articles
Coworking Culture: Creating Space with Food
Social Connection is Now Mandatory for Survival
Coworking Membership: How to Foster Freindship
Penny Leigh Sebring is a Cohere member, experienced freelance writer, neophyte speculative fiction author, founder of Kiki’s Castle Independent Press, LLC, in Fort Collins, CO, and a gatherer of information and imaginary friends.
Featured Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash