It’s that time of the year. That interesting, frustrating, exciting, tormenting time of the year when the glorious hot days of summer start winding down and the realization that September and the Rest of the year are just a couple of weeks away.

Traditionally (pre-pandemic), things tended to find their own nice rhythm and balance as a lot more planning for the fall, the rest of this year and then the following year were done much more methodically and with more openness in June and July. But as we try to figure out the new normal at the same time the “delta variant” enters the mainstream conversation of business planning, it seems that all bets are off, and most business professionals are stuck in the uncomfortable place of trying to have both Patience and urgency at the same time.