MotherShip: The Quarterly Course-Correct

Use caution when on autopilot.

If you’ve been following along in the MotherShip diaries, you’ve heard us mention the notion of putting mom-life on autopilot. This is appealing because it reduces chaos and invites moms to come up for air every once in a while. What mom doesn’t want that? 

However, we need to make the distinction between autopilot and coasting because if we’re not careful, we can set & forget our autopilot and “coast” down a path to nowhere. 

Do you ever keep doing what you’ve always done only to realize via frustration that it’s no longer working? That’s a sure sign that you’re coasting and an indicator that it’s time to course-correct!

Here’s how to stay on track.

In motherhood, life seems to shift every 3 months. It starts at birth with baby clothes sized in 3-month increments. It extends into the teen years when life revolves around activities and sports changing by the season. 

Your personal routines may also be in need of a course-correction. Consider your morning routine or your exercise schedule, for example. Are they working for you? You may need to switch up the routines in MotherShip that may not be as effective as they used to be. Replace them with new and improved goals and routines.

One of the best bits of advice a mother can take early-on is to have an awareness of this quarterly shift. With that awareness we can prepare accordingly to assess and reevaluate life on a quarterly basis, course-correcting as necessary.

How to effectively course-correct.

In MotherShip we schedule-in a course-correction opportunity every three months. Specifically, with the app, a notification to course-correct will popup quarterly. It will contain the following prompts:

Calendar

• With your calendar open, review the next 3 months (note any birthdays, anniversaries, trips, special events that require additional planning)
• If a new activity/seasonal sport is starting, add/import all events into your calendar
• Tweak MotherShip routines based on calendar and if the current routines are not working for you

Family

• Change kids’ chore responsibilities if necessary
• Have kids clean out their desks, backpacks, coat area
• Have kids review lunch meals with you and come up with some new ideas
• Research new dinner ideas & recipes

Personal

• Consider a new eating plan
• Consider a new exercise plan
• Review your habits and consider new habit goals if necessary
• Add habits to your MotherShip Habit Tracker for accountability

This practice can be done alone, with your partner or even as a family if it makes sense for you to get your kids involved in the process. Furthermore, these prompts are mere suggestions. You can tweak them right in the app as you see fit to suit your life/family.

Please don’t skip this step!

An intentional course-correction like the one described above might be new to you. After all, we’ve come this far without it so it begs the question… Do we really need it?

Sure, life will go on without a quarterly course-correct, but life will go on with greater ease, less stress and fewer surprises with one.

Make time – an hour or two every three months – to check-in with what’s coming up in the next season. We’re confident it will save you time and energy in the long run! After all, no one ever looks back and says, “I wish I’d been less prepared for [that].”

If you could benefit from a system that gives you peace of mind, get the MotherShip app and get your ship together!