Autumn 2024 officially started on 22^nd September. The weather was paying attention. Down came the rain and the temperature. And repeat.

There are rumours of warm air from the Caribbean in early October but then it’s hello again dreary, clocks going back and breaking out the winter wardrobe.

For some this is a favourite time of year, charged with shedding and renewal. For others falling leaves are a powerful metaphor for an unwelcome cyclical shift.

In business, the post-summer period can be both an upper and downer. Leaders face the twin imperatives of delivering the current plan, with the Black Friday and Christmas jamborees rapidly approaching, while crafting the next one. Pressure mounts, deadlines loom.

The return from sun lounger to workstation often destabilises the unwary. Because it’s a time for velocity not speed. Not focusing on the rate of motion but how rapidly the ground is covered in a specified direction.

In many walks of life, the coherent manifestations of a prepared mind will out-perform the actions of an eager tactician. Spontaneity adds the icing, but the cake is a considered, more strategic concoction.

And there is a seasonally apposite point to make here, as plant litter gathers in the gutters, inspired by prize-winning American author Ann Patchett.

We are all storytellers, and the best exponents have much to teach us about how to create and execute vividly to a tight brief and a timetable.

In The Getaway Car, an essay that appears in her collection, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Patchett writes: ‘I am a compost heap, and everything I interact with, every experience I’ve had gets shovelled on to the heap where it eventually mulches down, is digested and excreted by worms, and rots. It’s from the rich, dark humus, the combination of what you encountered, what you know and what you’ve forgotten, that ideas start to grow’.

What a helpful reminder of how important our lifelong learning is when figuring out what to do, making a plan and sticking to it. A nod also to how quiet reflection can contribute to progress, supporting more conspicuous behaviours.

In addition, this memoire on writing and life stresses the benefits of practice (to hone a skill) and the role of self-forgiveness (when discovering that what you want to do is different from what you are capable of doing). Excellent tips for maintaining momentum.

Finally, Ann Patchett warns of the dangers in seeking shortcuts to success. Oh yes, in life, work, and especially in relationships.

Happy composting!