It's that time of year again... the backpacks are out, the school supply lists are circulating, and everyone I know is suddenly talking about "getting back into a routine," as if routines are a coat we all took off for the summer and are now casually putting back on.

I love this time of year for the sheer delusion of it. Like, sure, September 1st, everything resets, we're all disciplined now.

But it got me thinking about something slightly less charming: a lot of business owners talk about their marketing the same way. "I'll get back on track in the fall." "Once things calm down, I'll be more consistent." As if marketing was ever on a schedule to begin with, instead of just… happening whenever there was a spare hour and enough guilt built up to fill it.

Here's the distinction I actually care about: getting back into a routine implies you had one. Most of what I see - in my own business, in client businesses, in basically every founder-led company I've ever looked at - isn't a routine. It's a series of reactions. Something drops off, someone notices, everyone scrambles, it gets fixed (sort of), and then it drops off again three months later because nothing was ever actually systemized. That's not a routine losing its footing. That's not having built one in the first place.

So before you set your sights on "getting back into it" this fall, I'd ask a slightly more annoying question: into what, exactly? What was the "it"?

This Week's Clarity Cue: Look back at what you actually did consistently over the summer - even if it felt sporadic or half-hearted (for me, it was these emails). Now separate that from what only happened because you personally sat down and forced it. Those are two very different categories, and only one of them is a real system.

Hit reply and tell me which category most of your summer marketing fell into. I have a guess, but I'd rather hear it from you.

~ Courtney

P.S.: If September has you already thinking about what actually needs a real system instead of just your attention whenever you can spare it… filing that thought away. More on that soon.