Your Year Can Start Whenever It Feels Right
Season 2 Episode 4 with Jill Griffin & Molly Bierman
In this episode of No Permission Necessary, Jill and Molly talk about why fall can feel like a more natural reset than January.
They discuss the shift into September, back-to-school rhythms, work routines, family schedules, business planning, and the desire to create more structure before the end of the year. The conversation also explores time audits, high-payoff versus low-payoff activities, Q4 planning, sleep routines, and the importance of choosing a reset point that actually fits your life.
This episode is a reminder that starting over does not have to mean becoming a new person, and your year does not have to begin on January 1.
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Molly Bierman (00:00)
How I feel come January is that I basically am being asked to begin from the most depleted point of the year between the holidays, the activities.
The random breaks, the you know, inconsistent schedule around school, like all of the things.
Jill Griffin (00:22)
I'm not trying to be new. Like I'm just trying to continue to do what I'm doing now. Like
if you're continually trying to improve something, you're going to exhaust yourself.
Molly Bierman (00:32)
Totally.
Jill Griffin (00:41)
Happy Tuesday, everyone. This episode is dropping at the best time of year, which is fall. Okay.
Molly Bierman (00:49)
I'm objecting to this. I'm objecting.
Jill Griffin (00:52)
Okay.
Molly Bierman (00:52)
Well, that's because I'm a Leo and so therefore summer is our vibe. Through and through.
Jill Griffin (00:57)
Summer is my vibe.
Don't get me wrong. Like, my life's mission is to keep a tan year round. But
Fall is my new year. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. Fall is my new year reset.
Molly Bierman (01:08)
Okay, that feels aligned. That feels aligned.
Jill Griffin (01:12)
And I I guess the reason I like it is because towards the end of the summer, since having kids, it just feels too chaotic. Like by the
Molly Bierman (01:22)
Yeah.
Jill Griffin (01:22)
end of the summer, I'm like, we gotta get back to some familiar ground here, guys. I mean, this is insanity.
Molly Bierman (01:28)
Well, I do feel like September is the beginning. So like fall is the beginning of the year. I do I feel that now. More so now
Jill Griffin (01:36)
Yeah.
Molly Bierman (01:36)
that my kids are getting a little bit older. So I do feel as though, you know, we're looking for the structure, we're looking for the schedules, we got the sports, we got all the things happening. And so
it mm-hmm.
Jill Griffin (01:47)
even growing up though, like when you go back
to school, when you go when it's college, it's a new semester, like also if you're not in school and or you're you don't have children, it still marks this new beginning because your teacher friends are going back to school, vacations are over, people who have children like everyone's getting back on a regular schedule.
But I think in terms of when your year actually feels like it begins, for me it's definitely September.
Molly Bierman (02:15)
Well what actually started for you in September?
Jill Griffin (02:18)
I spent a lot of time really nailing down my calendar and taking back control over my time because way that I was blocking out my time and the way the things that I was actually using my time for, those two things were not aligned.
And so I had to do some workaround. You actually inf you inspired me for this with the Jack Daily payoff.
Molly Bierman (02:44)
Very worthwhile exercise.
Jill Griffin (02:45)
Talk about it. Yes. Yeah.
Molly Bierman (02:47)
So the Jack Daily Payoff was an exercise that I did with my colleagues. And basically what it the purpose of the exercise is essentially to say, what are you investing your time in? And what's the high payoff and low payoff of all the activities? And then from there it says, okay, if these are the high payoff and these are the low payoff, is there somebody else that can do the low payoff while you're, you know, exerting your energy on the high payoff?
And so what it really helps for people to see, especially for me, is that I can be good at a lot of different things, but that doesn't necessarily mean those things are going to take me to the next level, right? So
When
I went through the exercise, Ilooked at it on paper and then getting feedback and supervision, and this is something that I think is so, so important, is that having somebody else to bounce it off of and have accountability around it.
Created then the roadmap for me personally of where I'm gonna reallocate my time.
Jill Griffin (03:44)
As you were talking, I'm just gonna put this out there that I am going to propose to my executive team that we do this because I do think that
Molly Bierman (03:51)
Yep.
Jill Griffin (03:51)
it's a good team activity. I did it for myself because I have so many different buckets, but what it highlighted for me is.
I had these blocks of time, like time blocking in your calendar for like admin. And what happened for me is that just ended up being a free-for-all. That's what it morphed into. It it ended up.
Molly Bierman (04:13)
You were big
on the blocks. You were big on the blocks. Not working anymore.
Jill Griffin (04:18)
It wasn't specific enough. Like I I have certain
Molly Bierman (04:21)
Sure.
Jill Griffin (04:21)
tasks that need to be done at certain times of the month. And so what I did was I mapped out, okay, what do I need the time for? And I blocked out whether it's 30 minutes the third week, an hour or the fourth. Like it it is very specific in my calendar now. And also
we talked about this like switching from like my clinical hat versus my leadership hat versus my admin hat. Like now it's very kind of like now that doesn't mean that problems aren't gonna come up on days like you still have to be flexible, but like at least I have it structured as much as I have control over of like where my brain power is going every day. I feel very
Molly Bierman (04:58)
Yeah, yeah. And I
Jill Griffin (05:00)
organized.
Molly Bierman (05:02)
well, I think there's a couple things. When we think about fall being maybe the start of our year as opposed to January, I think we really need to put it into the context of how you feel come January. How I feel come January is that I basically am being asked to begin from the most depleted point of the year between the holidays, the activities.
The random breaks, the you know, inconsistent schedule around school, like all of the things.
And it gets dark earlier, not enough sunshine in my life. And I feel more so socially exhausted to then have to ramp up and feels like it takes that much more energy.
Like I'm a person totally.
Jill Griffin (05:52)
Yeah, and get people motivated like it's
not gonna happen.
Molly Bierman (05:56)
No, it's not gonna happen.
Jill Griffin (05:59)
I also, there's this symbolic part of fall around letting things fall away. Like, yes, we're starting something new, but in order to do that, like to me, things happen seasonally. And for me, part of that payoff exercise, that Jack Daily payoff exercise was like those low-paying things we need to let drop off, whether it's delegating it to somebody else and/or.
We just let go of it. This is something we're doing that has no real benefit, right?
Molly Bierman (06:29)
Mm-hmm.
Jill Griffin (06:29)
And I think really sharpening the use of our time and how like really that mission and vision, it goes back to like, are the things that I'm doing aligned with my mission and vision? Right. And in terms of business, when you're going into Q4, it's like September really is the time that you're planning out how are we ending this year?
Molly Bierman (06:52)
Right.
Jill Griffin (06:52)
'Cause
most people's fiscal years January through December. And you don't want to be playing catch up in November and December. You want to plan in the fall for how you're going to end the year.
Molly Bierman (07:02)
I have always felt this constant pressure. And especially at the end of the year, to be like, okay, what do I really want this year to be like? What's the intent? Right. Not necessarily New Year's resolutions and all that jazz. Like I feel like I'm fairly consistent throughout the year. There's nothing that I'm really, needing I I don't keep the momentum. Right. Right.
Jill Griffin (07:18)
No, we can keep the momentum now. If you start in September, we're s keeping the
momentum.
Molly Bierman (07:23)
Right. And so I, you know, I like the idea of feeling in a routine and consistent throughout the year because then you're not feeling this pressure of, well, what do I want the next to look like? It's just consistency is key.
Jill Griffin (07:37)
This actually reminds me though that when you are in when you're living from a place of authenticity and you're doing things that feel right for you, your life moment, whatever season you're in, your family, because that shifts and changes, that whole new year, new me doesn't resonate as much because it's
Molly Bierman (07:56)
Mm.
Jill Griffin (07:57)
like, I'm not trying to be new. Like I'm just trying to continue to do what I'm doing now. Like
I really say this to clients a lot too, where if you're continually trying to improve something, you're going to exhaust yourself.
Molly Bierman (08:11)
Totally.
Jill Griffin (08:11)
Sometimes we have to just allow ourselves to enjoy the moment that we're in because more often than not, where you're at right now in this moment in time is something that you hoped for.
Whether it was three
Molly Bierman (08:24)
Mm.
Jill Griffin (08:24)
months ago, a year ago, three years ago, like you dreamed of being in this moment. But we're so oftentimes in our society, so focused on the next, the better, the whatever that we forget to enjoy. I'm never gonna get this moment back where I'm this many years and days old. Like this day never will get back.
Molly Bierman (08:44)
Well, also, I feel like we did the ultimate new me when we got sober.
Jill Griffin (08:51)
Yeah, we already did that, okay? New Year same me. Everyone, buckle up. Coming in hot.
Molly Bierman (09:02)
Yeah, I just, you know, there are new seasons, but I think that when you've really kind of gotten rooted, at least at least for us, when we've really gotten rooted in in our belief systems, in our purpose. And that's something we talk about a lot. Like if I'm aligned with my purpose, then I'm not gonna feel out of out of whack, right? I will feel the momentum, I'll feel the the drive.
To grow and be consistent and find new things to improve upon. But at the core of it, like the purpose is there. If the individual does not find their purpose in what raises them up, all of those slogans, all of New Year, New Me, all of the, you know, try this on for size, try that on for size.
that really doesn't help because you're not able to reconcile with what is the purpose inside of you. Right. And so that I feel really, really grateful for that found that a long time ago.
Jill Griffin (10:04)
So if if September's the real like before and after of like the new year, what does that mean? What does that give you permission to do then once fall hits?
Molly Bierman (10:13)
I not be apologetic for wanting to have things very clear, you know? Like
Sometimes I I, get the eye roll around our schedule, not only from my husband at times, but also from like friends. And I think for me, I want the experience of having our family and our kids and also my business to be exposed to as much connection as we can, right? That benefits all parties.
Jill Griffin (10:45)
flexibility has been a highlighted word for me lately because it's like, listen, I actually have more flexibility if I have my schedule mapped out. I think people get so overwhelmed by the planning of things or the scheduling of things that they just kind of fly by the they end up just flying by the seats of their pants and doing what feels good in the moment, which
Okay, but we have to look out a little bit. Like, I'm not saying to always be forward focused, you know, like I was saying before, staying in the moment is important. However, there has to be a balance there. I have to spend some concentrated time looking ahead at my calendar and mapping out, okay, this is the weekend we have free. This is where we can plug this in, this is where the kids can have a sleepover or whatever. Because my husband is good at being like, we should do this in the fall. Okay, we're talking.
12 weeks. So let's go through, let's go through what the fall looks like. And 10 of those weeks are weekends are already spoken for because the kids have an event, they have a game, they have this, they have, I'm away. Like, okay, so we really have these two weekends to plan something. So
We need to look at those two weekends and if you want to do something, great. But like we just need to be realistic because if you're just gonna wait for that thing to happen, we're not in that season of life right now.
Molly Bierman (12:02)
Well, I also think that for the listeners, if this doesn't feel aligned with you, like pick the date in which your refresh starts, right? So maybe your
Jill Griffin (12:11)
Totally.
Molly Bierman (12:12)
refresh starts before summer, you know, like at in spr at, you know, during
Jill Griffin (12:16)
In the spring.
Molly Bierman (12:16)
the spring. Or maybe it does start in January. For us, we needed something that felt more cohesive to our current chapter of life, right?
Jill Griffin (12:27)
I
pick a time though that you feel refreshed, energetic about like what you're doing. I think that's where
Molly Bierman (12:32)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Griffin (12:34)
when you said January, it's dark, it's depleted, it's we're all tired from the holidays. Like that's not the energy I'm trying to have my calendar and my my restart come from.
Molly Bierman (12:46)
No.
We're doing burning ceremonies.
Jill Griffin (12:48)
We're yeah,
which l listen, maybe we're letting things go in the fall to go into our new year. That's where we're at right now.
Molly Bierman (12:58)
Here we are.
Jill Griffin (12:59)
Today. What is something that you let's do a rapid fire?
What's the thing that you want to close out before winter?
Molly Bierman (13:06)
Oof, I want to close out a lot of things.
I want to map out the next year of life.
Like I really want to have I I feel like I was so inspired by you when you had mapped out like six to twelve months of what life looked like for vacations and time off and you know what bandwidth I have for different parts of my business. I want to do that again this year because I feel like it was so it was a game changer for this past year, like a complete game changer.
Jill Griffin (13:38)
I am leaving and closing out this overarching feeling of like disorganized chaos I'm leaving that.
Molly Bierman (13:46)
And you've already left some
of that. You've already left some of that. You've gotten better.
January has never once given me a reprieve. It has never felt like, I feel so relaxed after multiple holidays cooking for
Jill Griffin (14:02)
Yeah.
Molly Bierman (14:03)
endless days in a row.
No. It's not it guys. I'm just telling you it's not it.
Jill Griffin (14:09)
I know and we don't even have like a February vacation to look forward to this year. So I might need a wellness check at the end of January. I'm just putting that out there to everybody now because I might not do well.
Molly Bierman (14:24)
So what is the permission slip for this episode?
Jill Griffin (14:29)
The permission slip is to start your year whenever it feels right.
It doesn't need to be January first. You get to choose when, you know, you set that new course of the new schedule, the new routine.
Yeah.
Molly Bierman (14:47)
We love it.
Jill Griffin (14:47)
Well, I am really excited to be back into this season two with everyone. And we want your interaction and feedback as listeners. So let us know what you want more of this season.
Molly Bierman (15:00)
Thanks again for listening. We'll see you guys next time.
