There are seasons in business that feel… well … full (to say the least).
The kind where your calendar is bursting, your brain is juggling 37 tabs at once, and even the smallest tasks in your business feel like they could make you drown.
For me, one of those seasons is May. I jokingly refer to it as Maycember — the “December of Spring” (iykyk). Between birthdays, school events, sports, and summer prep, it’s basically just pure chaos in disguise.
But honestly? It doesn’t have to be May for that feeling to hit.
We all go through times when life outside of business demands more of us — whether it’s family commitments, unexpected disruptions, a season of caregiving, or just a stretch where your energy feels maxed out. And when that happens, it’s really easy to let your business slide into survival mode.
So let’s talk about what to do when you’re deep in one of those seasons — the kind where planning feels hard, showing up feels harder, and momentum feels like a luxury.
You Don’t Need a Perfect Plan. You Just Need a Doable One.
Before we dig into some planning tips, let’s take a brief pause to talk about the realities of the ebbs and flows of business and planning.
In the slower seasons — when life is steady and your energy is solid — planning can feel energizing. You might have space to block a full CEO day, map out your next launch, or color-code your entire content calendar six weeks out.
And when that space exists? Use it. Run with it. Those stretches are powerful and can help you get ahead to prep for the seasons when your time is tight.
Because when you’re in a busy season — when life is demanding more of you, either in your personal or professional life (or both!) — those same planning habits can feel completely unrealistic. You open your laptop to “strategize” and end up staring at a blank screen, wondering where to even begin. So you either push it all off and disregard it completely … or you push yourself too hard trying to squeeze everything into what little time and energy you have left. Neither one feels good. And let’s be honest … neither one is sustainable or truly productive for your business.
But here’s the thing: you don’t have to give up on planning when life gets busy. You just have to approach it differently.
Ok … now let’s dig into some tips!
How to Keep the Momentum Going — Without Burning Out
Here are five small ways to keep the momentum going, even when your time is stretched thin and your capacity is low:
1. Start with a 10-minute gut check
This might sound a bit counterintuitive (especially considering I’m all about keeping the momentum going), but my first tip actually involves pausing. Because here’s what I’ve come to learn: when everything feels noisy and scattered, the best thing you can do is take a moment to stop and do a gut check.
So before you write a single to-do, I want you to pause and take 10 minutes to jot down your answers to these three questions:
Before you dive into a to-do list, take ten quiet minutes and ask yourself:
- What absolutely has to get done this month?
- What could I let go of, just for now?
- What’s one thing that would make the rest of the month feel lighter?
This mini reset will help you plan from a place of clarity — not just urgency. And when you’re operating from clarity, it’s easier to say no to the distractions, yes to what matters, and move forward in a way that actually feels good — not frantic.
2. Set your baseline goals for the month
I’m not talking about ideal goals here … I’m talking about absolute baseline goals. Think “minimum viable product” style goals.
And here’s why: when your energy is stretched thin, trying to do everything usually leads to doing nothing — or doing a bunch of things halfway. Setting a baseline helps you avoid that spiral. It gives you a clear target to come back to, even when your days go sideways (which they inevitably will in a full season).
Think of it this way …
You don’t need to build the full launch funnel or overhaul your marketing strategy this month. What you do need is baseline goals that feel realistic and help keep your business moving forward, even if it’s just in baby steps this month.
So ask yourself: “If I could only accomplish three meaningful things in my business this month, what would they be?”
That’s your baseline. Not your dream list. Not your stretch goal. Just the three priorities that will make the biggest impact, given your current capacity. Anything else you get done is a bonus — but this gives you a steady, clear foundation to build on.
3. Stack your planning
Now that you’ve done a gut check and have thought through your baseline goals for the month, it’s time to start shifting into planning mode. But here’s the thing: when your schedule is packed, it’s easy to feel like you need to wait for the perfect time to plan — a quiet morning, a full afternoon, a golden window with no distractions. Spoiler: that time may not come this month. And that’s okay.
Instead of trying to carve out extra space, look for ways to stack your planning into things you’re already doing.
Think:
- Jotting down content ideas while you sip your morning coffee
- Brain-dumping your goals into a voice memo during a walk
- Making a quick to-do list on your Notes app while waiting in the car line
It doesn’t need to be fancy or formal to be effective. Planning in the margins still counts. And when you stop holding yourself to an ideal that doesn’t match your current season, it gets a whole lot easier to make real progress.
4. Focus on one priority project
When you’re in a busy season, multitasking isn’t your friend — instead of being productive, it’s usually just a fast track to feeling overwhelmed and under-accomplished. So, instead of spreading your energy across five half-finished ideas, choose one project to move forward this month.
Not five. Not three. Just one.
Ask yourself:
- What’s the one project that would create the most momentum or relief if it were finished?
- What’s been sitting on the back burner that’s ready for the front?
It could be outlining a new offer, refreshing your services page, getting your email list organized, or building that lead magnet you’ve been meaning to create for months.
Whatever it is — let that one project be your focus. Then circle back to your baseline goals and planning moments to make sure everything is in alignment. That will help you bring your one thing to life with a bit more ease and efficiency this month.
You’ll feel clearer, more grounded, and more accomplished by the end of the month — even if everything else stays where it is.
5. Repurpose before you reinvent
Busy seasons aren’t the time to start everything from scratch. When your capacity is low, one of the smartest things you can do is reuse what’s already working.
You don’t need a brand-new idea — you need a fresh way to share the ones you’ve already created.
That might look like:
- Turning a past blog post into a social post series
- Pulling key phrases from a sales page to use in emails
- Reposting your highest-performing content with a quick update
- Using a past client question to inspire new messaging
You’ve already done the heavy lifting. You’ve already poured your heart and strategy into the things you’ve created. So before you pressure yourself to come up with something brand new, take a look at what’s already in your vault — and let that be enough to fuel your content this month.
Bonus Tip: Maximize The Time You Do Have
Let’s be real: waiting for a big, uninterrupted work window in a busy season is like waiting for a unicorn to show up and finish your client projects for you. It’s just not happening. But that doesn’t mean progress is off the table.
Instead of aiming for long, focused blocks, start looking for bite-sized ones — 10, 20, maybe 30 minutes at a time. Short, focused pockets of time can be incredibly productive when you pair them with a clear goal and a little support.
Here’s what that could look like:
- 10 minutes? Revisit your baseline goals and cross one thing off your list.
- 20 minutes? Plug your next two emails into your email software and queue them up.
- 30 minutes? Map out the flow for that new client onboarding process you’ve been meaning to simplify.
When you stop waiting for the “perfect” work window, you’ll realize how much can actually get done in the margins — especially when you’re clear on your priorities. And if you want to take it a step further? Let AI help speed things up.
Tools like ChatGPT can help you think faster, write quicker, and make decisions without spending hours spinning your wheels. So the next time you find yourself with a 15-minute window and a task to tackle, try using one of these fill-in-the-blank prompts to jumpstart your process:
ChatGPT Prompts to Use During Bite-Size Work Blocks:
“I only have 20 minutes to work on my business right now. Here’s what I want to focus on: [insert project or area]. What’s one high-impact task I could tackle in that time to move it forward?”
“Help me quickly draft [a blog outline / an email / a short caption] based on this idea: [insert your idea or a few bullet points]. Keep it concise and on-brand for a service-based business.”
“Give me a simplified, 3-step plan to make progress on [insert task or project], based on the following info: [insert quick background]. I’m short on time and just need to know where to start.”
You don’t need more time. You just need a smarter way to use the time you already have — and the right tools to help you move faster without losing clarity.
Remember: it’s not about doing it all. It’s about having a plan that actually works in the season you’re in.
If you take away nothing else from this article, please hold onto this nugget: Progress looks different in every season.
Need to scale back a bit to balance everything? That’s okay — it doesn’t mean you’re failing, and it doesn’t have to be permanent.
Need to squeeze 10 minutes of work in while you’re waiting in the pick-up line? That’s okay — it’s still productive.
Can’t check everything off of the to-do list each day? That’s okay too — give yourself grace in this season.
That adaptability is what keeps your business sustainable long term.
So if you’re in a busy season right now — whether it’s Maycember or just life being life — give yourself permission to shift the plan, adjust the pace, and move forward in a way that actually works for you.
And if you ever want support mapping that out, you know where to find me.
An Action in an Hour session is a fast, focused way to get clear and get moving — no matter what season you’re in.
Want planning tools to keep the momentum going even when life is full?
Check out my digital resources — designed to help you organize your ideas and take confident, doable action.