Monday Alignment 💛 | Week 7
This past weekend I set up my office. We moved about a month ago, but before moving, most of my office furniture had been sitting in storage for years as we navigated the home buying process.
Now, my style has changed. My taste has changed. A few of the items that came out of that storage unit are not what I would choose today. But it is what I have. And this weekend, what I have is what I worked with. 😏
I started excited. I had a clear picture of where I was starting and a clear picture of where I needed to end up. A functional workspace. A backdrop for my meetings, consultations, and workshops, as well as for filming curriculum for both this community and my course. That was the goal.
What I did not fully anticipate was everything that had to happen to get there, and in what order.
The shelving units had to go up first because everything else depended on them. They were fine when they were delivered, but between my daughter's recent party and the chaos of them not fitting back up the stairs, my husband took them apart and rebuilt them, and somewhere in that process the original screws went missing. So before anything else could move forward, I was on a hunt. I checked the house and could not find them. I went to the store and they did not have them because my unit is now discontinued. I eventually tracked them down on Amazon and waited the weekend for them to arrive.
That was just to get started.
Once the shelves were secured, the drawers had to be reinstalled. They did not just slide back into place. That was its own process. Then the decor could finally go on the shelves, which sounds simple until you are doing it with a tweaked back and trying to figure out what actually looks right in a space that still does not feel fully yours yet. I went hunting for old photos of how the shelves were styled before, just to save myself the mental load of starting from scratch. Then the cabinet that lives between the shelves had to be moved from another room entirely, which meant more lifting, more arranging, and more adjusting. Then the chair had to be put together. And finally, the art piece went up on the wall, held in place by thumbtacks because I could not find a single Command Strip anywhere in the house.
Not exactly the Pinterest moment I had in my head.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I tweaked my back. Not a little tweak either. We are talking Carl Winslow from Family Matters, bent over doing the dance competition with Harriette, could not stand up straight for more than a minute kind of tweaked my back. I went from excited to frustrated faster than I expected. There were moments I just wanted to be done. But I also had to rest. I had kids to take care of. My husband jumped in and handled everything around me while also reminding me more than once to slow down. And I had to figure out in real time how to keep making progress in the pockets of energy I actually had, without pushing myself past what my body was telling me.
I also realized somewhere along the way that the desk I had in storage is no longer the right fit for this space. Too big, too heavy, and it just does not match where I am now or what I need. So instead of waiting until I could afford my dream desk from CB2, I found a dupe for a fraction of the price and ordered it. But since it was not going to arrive in time, I used an old sofa console table as a temporary solution until the new one comes.
By the end of the weekend I was not excited anymore. I was relieved. The space is not finished. The desk is temporary. The art piece is being held up by thumbtacks. There are still things I want to change. But it is functional. And functional was the transformation I needed to deliver on this weekend.
Here is what I kept thinking about through all of it.
This is exactly what your people experience when they go through your offer.
They start with excitement and a clear picture of where they want to end up. Then something unexpected slows them down. A missing piece. A step that takes longer than anticipated. A moment where life interrupts and they have to decide whether to push through, give up, or rest. And somewhere between the beginning and the end, their emotions shift more than once. They move from excited to frustrated to relieved, and sometimes back again before it is over.
That is the journey you are designing in Week 7. Not just the steps, but the emotional reality underneath every single one of them. Where are your people at the beginning? What hits them in the middle? What does relief actually feel like for them at the end? And what milestones have to happen in the right order to move them from one to the other? Not the perfect destination, but the one you promised through your offer. The one that actually satisfies what they came to you for.
And just like my office, you have to decide what belongs in this version of your offer and what belongs later. A full redesign of my office is a completely separate transformation. Getting a functional filming backdrop with what I already had was the one I needed to deliver on first. Knowing the difference between those two things is everything.
This is also where your Week 6 validation conversations become invaluable. If you did the work of listening to your people last week, you already have a head start. The language they used, the frustrations they named, the places they said they got stuck. That is your map. That is what tells you where your milestones need to land and what your people are going to need from you at each point in the journey. If you skipped that step, I want to encourage you to go back before you move forward. What we are building this week is much easier when you are designing from real insight rather than assumptions.
This week's content is split into two parts. Week 7A walks you through your Before State, your After State, and your transformation statement. Week 7B moves into mapping your milestones, sorting what belongs inside your offer from what does not, and making sure what you are building can survive your real life, not just your best week.
We are also doing something a little different this week. Have your participant guide open as you watch.
I will tell you exactly when to pause and work through each section in real time so you are building as you go, not trying to remember everything after the fact.
The photos below show you my before and my after. My frustration did not allow me to capture the in between. 😄 From doom room to workspace. Temporary desk, thumbtack art, and all. It is not perfect but it is done, for now.
Join the progress and let's keep building. 💛
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Monday Alignment 💛 | Week 7
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