The September Sprint: Finding Your Footing in a VUCA World

It’s that time of year again. September. The buzz of faculty meetings, the scramble for last-minute course outlines, the flood of “Welcome Back” and follow-up emails for all the tasks we said we’d do once we got back from summer holidays – and somewhere in the middle of it all, you’re running the September marathon in dress shoes.

If you work in higher education, you know the drill. Summer holidays (did we really have them?), faculty trickling back to campus, students rolling in like a tide – and you, trying to keep the ship steady while scanning the horizon for the next storm.

Since the pandemic, one thing has become painfully clear: the mythical “calm year ahead” has gone extinct. Remember the hopeful words, “Once we get through this year, things will settle down”? Yeah… nope. That mythical land where things slow down has been replaced by a permanent state of VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous.

And while VUCA makes for a catchy acronym, it doesn’t make for a restful night’s sleep.

For me, even after years of doing this work, I still get caught off guard at how quickly July and August flew by. Every summer I plan carefully – this will be the summer I get ahead of the September rush! This year, I decided to take a few weeks off in early August, convinced that rest would guarantee I’d return ready to hit the ground running. Monday arrived, coffee in hand (cup number three – and meeting number three by 10 a.m.), and there I was staring at my calendar, wondering how on earth I was going to carve out any “thinking time” between the back-to-back meetings. By the time I’d finished colour-coding and moving boxes around, I caught myself thinking: Next thing you know, 2025 is going to be over! Yikes.

The truth is, there isn’t one perfect plan. We can read all the time-management books, block our calendars, or buy the fanciest planner on the market, and still feel like the whirlwind wins sometimes. The real challenge – and opportunity – is learning how to keep even a small focus on what keeps you grounded and positive. Without that, the overwhelming feelings creep in fast, and it starts to feel like there’s no way out.

So as the semester ramps up, maybe the best thing we can do is not chase the illusion of calm, but find steadiness in the chaos. Take the wins where you can, keep your perspective where it matters, and remember: even in a VUCA world, you still get to choose your stride.

As you step into this new academic year, what’s one small practice that could help you hold on to your steadiness—whether it’s blocking a bit of quiet time, saying no to one extra meeting, or simply pausing long enough to enjoy that third cup of coffee? I’d love to hear how you’re navigating your own September sprint—feel free to share your thoughts.