Soil Notes: Planning for a Busy Summer

As I write this, I’m standing outside my office.

A few minutes ago, the rain was pummelling down. Now there are patches of blue sky breaking through. By the time I’ve finished writing this, the view will probably have changed again.

It strikes me that this is a useful way to think about planning.

When we work with leaders, we always begin with what we call the leadership soil. Before goals, strategy or performance, we focus on the conditions that support sustainable success. We start with mindset and energy.

One of the three practices of a regenerative leader is long-term thinking.

This can be surprisingly difficult.

Most of us spend our days responding to what is immediately in front of us. Emails. Meetings. Deadlines. Family logistics. News headlines. Increasingly, the pressure to keep up with technological change and the rapid pace of AI.

The immediate has a way of taking over.

Recently, I finished coaching a senior government leader approaching retirement. As part of her reflection, she created a 50-year plan that would take her to the age of 103.

Whether she reaches 103 or not is beside the point.

The exercise changed the way she thought.

Questions that seemed urgent became less important. Decisions that felt difficult became clearer. The longer horizon created space.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are entering one of the busiest seasons of the year.

Parents are juggling sports days, school performances, exam results, holidays and childcare. At the same time, work rarely slows down. For many people, it speeds up.

The temptation is to fill every available gap. To work harder. To stay connected. To keep pushing.

Yet this is exactly why planning matters.

Not planning every detail.

Planning the kind of summer you would like to have.

How do you want to feel?

What would help you remain effective at work?

What would help you show up well at home?

What needs protecting in your diary before other people’s priorities take over?

As someone with a tangled mind (dyslexia), planning and structure are not a luxury. They are essential. They create enough space for creativity, reflection and better decisions.

The weather outside my office continues to change. The rain has almost disappeared now. More blue sky is appearing.

The blue sky reminds me of those moments when we step back and think beyond today.

None of us knows what will happen in the next ten days, ten weeks or ten months. There is something strangely liberating about that.

Yet we often behave as if we do.

Long-term thinking is not about predicting the future.

It is about creating enough distance from the immediate to make wiser choices in the present.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more ideas from Soil, the first stage of our regenerative leadership work, and exploring practical ways to strengthen mindset and energy during demanding periods.

We’re also considering a short weekly “online coffee break” to help people plan for the summer, remain effective at work, stay present at home and build simple practices that support sustainable performance.

If that sounds useful, we’d love to hear from you.

What would make this summer a good one?

Warm regards,

Mark