Reset and Plan with Me for Winter 2022 - Life Update and Planning

TL;DR

Use seasonal timing as a practical trigger to pause, reflect, and rebuild—late October becomes a natural checkpoint for winter planning.

Briefing Cornell Notes

Briefing

Winter 2022 planning centers on a simple pivot: after a rough stretch of travel, illness, and work overload, Ciara Feely resets her routines and rebuilds her systems to finish the year “strong” rather than taking on new, high-stakes challenges. The turning point comes with the seasonal shift around late October—when daylight savings and the move toward year-end change daily rhythms—and she uses that moment to step back from four jobs for nearly nine days. Time with her partner Jack and extended family in Galway and London becomes the emotional reset, while the planning that follows is meant to restore control over a schedule that has felt too tight to absorb disruptions.

Her reflection on the prior months explains why the reset matters. August was steady, but September and October were dominated by travel and professional pressure: a three-week run that included a holiday in Berlin and Amsterdam, her first in-person conference in Nancy, France for iccbr (including a full paper presentation and a doctoral consortium), and a trip to Las Vegas and Los Angeles with a close friend. The conference was a highlight—exhausting from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, but energizing because it connected her to a case-based reasoning community tied closely to her PhD. Yet the timing of the U.S. trip created a cascade of stress at home: she returned at 5 a.m., immediately restarted classes for her speech and drama school, began a new lecturing role at a third-level institution in Dublin, and faced a backlog of emails.

Then COVID hit. Testing positive the day she returned forced cancellations and left her behind across weeks that were already packed. With little “wiggle room” in her schedule, the backlog fed stress, which fed more delays. The business side added another layer: a complaint tied to disorganization triggered self-doubt and surfaced a recurring personal pattern—procrastinating difficult communication because of fear of how someone will react, only to deliver bad news late and confirm the anxiety. Legal uncertainty surrounding business matters tied to the founder’s passing nearly two and a half years earlier also makes it hard to enjoy wins, even as the business grows (200 students this term, up sharply from earlier targets) and secures an office space.

By late fall, she also confronts professional learning curves. Her lecturing position initially felt unprepared because the course materials she inherited from the previous year didn’t fit her needs, and student perception became a major worry. Over time, practice and preparation improved the experience, and she frames teaching as both personally rewarding and financially stabilizing—helping her keep options open after finishing her PhD. Still, conference setbacks continued: harsh reviewer feedback for a targeted conference (Triple AI) meant she won’t attend, though resubmission elsewhere includes changes based on valid critiques.

The reset itself follows a structured order. She starts with self-care (gym, meal prep, healthy food, haircut, moisturizing), then does a light “space reset” with 10–20 minutes per room to identify deeper tasks like decluttering clothes, clearing accumulated paper, and scheduling kitchen and bathroom deep cleans. Next comes a “system reset” for goals and task management: finishing her thesis data set chapter, driving business priorities like Christmas performances, year-end finances, office setup for January rentals, and website readiness for new students. She also plans content for vlogmas with shorter, focused daily tips to avoid burnout. Finally, she rebuilds her schedule for November–December by keeping ongoing weekly teaching commitments, adding key dates (including staff absences), and protecting time for exercise and family. The message is less about perfect timing and more about actively planning now so the weeks don’t drift until Christmas and New Year.

Cornell Notes

After a demanding travel-and-illness stretch that left her behind across work and business, Ciara Feely uses the late-October seasonal shift to reset her routines and rebuild her planning for the final months of 2022. She prioritizes finishing existing commitments—thesis progress, business operations (Christmas performance, finances, office setup, January onboarding), and lecturing—rather than starting new major challenges. Her reset process runs in a clear sequence: self-care, a quick room-by-room tidy to surface deeper cleaning/decluttering tasks, a system reset that turns goals into projects and tasks, and a schedule reset that accounts for key dates and protects time for exercise and family. The practical takeaway: small, structured resets help regain control when a tight schedule gets disrupted.

What disruptions forced the “winter reset,” and why did they spiral?

September and October combined heavy travel with immediate workload pressure at home. After returning from the U.S. (arriving around 5 a.m.), she restarted speech-and-drama school classes, began a new Dublin lecturing role, and faced an email backlog. COVID then derailed the already packed week—she tested positive the day she came home, canceled commitments, and fell behind further. With a tight schedule and little buffer, the backlog increased stress, which made it harder to catch up, creating a continuous cycle of being behind.

How does she decide what to prioritize for the last months of the year?

She avoids taking on “huge new massive challenges” and instead focuses on finishing what’s already committed. For her PhD, the key project is completing the data set chapter (analysis and writing up the data set). For the business, priorities include the Christmas performance, reviewing year finances and collecting outstanding payments, fully setting up the new office space for January rentals, and preparing the website and key dates for new students. For lecturing, she aims to finish the term well so her December review goes smoothly and next-term work is largely prepped.

What does her reset routine look like in practice?

She starts with self-care: gym, meal prep, healthy breakfast, and personal maintenance like a haircut and moisturizing—things she tends to postpone when busy. Next is a space reset: about 10–20 minutes per room (bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathrooms, office) to tidy surfaces and generate a list of deeper tasks (clothes declutter, clearing accumulated paper, drama school office drop-offs, kitchen and bathroom deep cleans). Then she performs a system reset by translating goals into tasks inside her task management system. Finally, she does a schedule reset for November–December by keeping weekly teaching commitments, adding key dates (like staff absences), and planning how to use free time toward goals while protecting exercise and family time.

What personal development issue does she identify, and how does it affect communication?

She recognizes a procrastination pattern tied to fear of others’ reactions. She delays telling someone something difficult because she worries about how they’ll respond; by the time she finally tells them, the message arrives late and the person is unhappy. That outcome then reinforces her belief that she shouldn’t have said it—creating a self-fulfilling cycle. She’s working on this weekly with a counselor.

What business and career factors make it hard to enjoy progress?

Even with wins—200 students this term and an office space that signals business stability—she struggles with uncertainty from a legal matter connected to the founder’s passing nearly two and a half years earlier. That lack of clarity about the future makes it harder to fully enjoy current improvements. On the career side, her lecturing role initially felt difficult because inherited course materials didn’t fit, and she worried about student perceptions, though things improved with practice.

How does she plan content without burning out?

For vlogmas, she learned from last year’s burnout and incomplete dates. This year she plans shorter, daily videos (about 8–10 minutes) focused on one productivity tip. She also intends to pre-film some content to stay organized and reduce last-minute pressure.

Review Questions

Which specific events in September and October created the biggest backlog, and what role did schedule tightness play in making it worse?
How does her reset sequence (self-care → space reset → system reset → schedule reset) translate goals into day-to-day actions?
What criteria does she use to choose winter priorities, and how does she handle professional setbacks like conference rejections?

Key Points

1
Use seasonal timing as a practical trigger to pause, reflect, and rebuild—late October becomes a natural checkpoint for winter planning.
2
Protect against backlog spirals by planning with buffer in mind; when travel and illness hit, tight schedules leave little recovery room.
3
Turn “finish strong” into concrete projects: thesis data set chapter, business Christmas performance, year-end finances, office setup, and January onboarding.
4
Run resets in a fixed order—self-care first, then quick room-by-room tidying to surface deeper tasks, then system and schedule rebuilds.
5
Address recurring communication procrastination by working on difficult messages earlier rather than waiting until late delivery guarantees dissatisfaction.
6
Treat teaching and professional growth as iterative: initial unpreparedness can improve through practice and better preparation cycles.
7
Plan content formats to reduce burnout risk—short, single-tip daily videos and pre-filming can keep vlogmas sustainable.

Highlights

A nearly nine-day break—paired with family and partner time—sets up a structured winter reset after COVID and work overload derailed September and October.

Her “space reset” is intentionally lightweight: 10–20 minutes per room to tidy surfaces and generate a targeted list for deeper decluttering and cleaning tasks.

Despite business wins like 200 students and an office space, legal uncertainty tied to the founder’s passing makes it hard to fully enjoy progress.

Lecturing starts rocky because inherited materials don’t fit, but improvement comes from practice and preparation—reinforcing teaching as both rewarding and financially stabilizing.

For vlogmas, she shifts from long daily videos to shorter, focused tips (8–10 minutes) to avoid repeating last year’s burnout.

Topics

Winter Reset
PhD Planning
Business Operations
Schedule Building
Self-Care Routines

Mentioned

Jack
Ciara Feely
PhD
COVID
iOS
iccbr