Hey Reader!

It's dark.

I mean, the sun is up, allegedly, but the sky is a deep dull gray and turning on every light in the house is hardly enough to engender the idea of "daytime".

And yet - it is a weekday and one on which I am supposed to be getting sh*t done. 🤗

My family is off celebrating our very non-religiously-affilliated Christmas 🎄without me.

At home, all alone, I had such high hopes of getting the house clean! And getting up early! And generally being super productive. While also relaxing.

Yeah, okay, apparently I do not really know myself at all. 😂

Because here I am, still in my pajamas at 10 am and honestly all I want to do is get back into bed with a good book. But I should do something...

Work? Nah. Housework? Please. Catching up on phone calls? Ugh.

But! Today is newsletter day! And while I have been known to miss an issue here or there I am committed to getting this out every week. 💪

I’m going to power through and get this posted today, but I've got a secret weapon for you for those days when you are either too damned busy or just not feeling it.

It’s batching. And I really wish there was a better word for that because batching? Does not roll off the tongue. It’s not sexy or even fun to say. 👻

But like so many things that don’t rise to the level of ‘OMG, sounds like the most fun EVER’, it’s practical and your future self will thank you for giving it a try.

So, batching. The idea is to sit down and write three or four newsletters ahead of time, filled with evergreen 🌲 content.

Evergreen in this context means, of course, that the subject matter isn't time-bound, so it can go out no matter the season or the subject.

🌱 🍁 ❄️

So - should you be batching? I mean, probably.

You might even decide to do most of your newsletters this way, especially if you’re super organized and you know exactly when you're going to make specific offers.

But even if you end up writing most of your emails close to the send date, it's nice to have a few in the can for those weeks that get away from you. 😩

What should you write about if you're writing ahead of time? Here are a few ideas:

• Something about your business that most people don't know. You have ways of working that would surprise the people you write to. Maybe you source 80% of your materials from queer-owned businesses. Perhaps you base your offers on your Human Design type. Or you get up at 3am to do your deep thinking when the world is quiet.

You know, stuff like that.

• Tips! Tell your readers something that will make their lives easier. Everyone loves that, especially if it's a big time saver.
• Encouragement. If you're a coach, mentor or advisor, take a minute to let your clients know that whatever they're trying to achieve is absolutely possible and you're cheering them on. 📣 We all need a little of that in our lives.

Now that we're deep into the holiday season you might be tempted to just blow off your regular email.

And honestly, I wouldn't blame you. 🤷🏻‍♀️

For a lot of people there's too much going on right now to pay much attention to their inboxes. And the week between Christmas and New Years is traditionally a black hole, business-wise.

And - you deserve a rest! You've been working hard all year. The darkness is here to remind us to do a little hibernating. 💤

But if you're committed to consistency (which I hope you are) this would be an excellent time to reach into your vault of pre-written newsletters, if you had one, and keep up with your commitment.

Anyway, have a lovely end of your year, and don't forget to thank your past self for all they've done for you.

Yours in perseverance,

Julia

PS - TL;DR? Try writing a bunch of newsletters all at once so you don't have to do it every week. 😄

​The Beatles know that sometimes you've got to just let it all go, and so does this email. Forward it to someone who could use a rest.

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