Alright, so last week, diving into my planner like usual, spotted that October ’24 Virgo career forecast headline screaming about avoiding “bad moves”. Honestly? Usually kinda roll my eyes at these, but hey, my career’s been… well, bumpy lately. Decided, screw it, maybe there’s something to prep for, even if it’s just my own headspace. So here’s exactly what I did.
Step One: Actually Reading The Thing (For Once)
Sat down with my coffee, phone away. Scrolled past the usual “Virgos are perfectionists” intro – yeah, tell me something new. Focused hard on the warning parts. The big one jumped out: massive conflict potential mid-month, specifically around the 14th-18th. It talked about misaligned goals, office politics blowing up, signing contracts with hidden gotchas… basically, a minefield for someone like me who just wants to get the work done without drama. Gut feeling? “Avoid bad moves” probably meant DON’T WALK INTO OBVIOUS FIGHTS OR SIGN ANYTHING DUMB that week.
Step Two: My Trusty Calendar Got An Intervention
Grabbed my work calendar (the messy one full of scribbles). Looked right at October 14th to 18th. Instantly spotted the problem:
- A big, fat team-wide “Strategy Alignment” meeting smack dab on the 15th. Yikes. Known for passive-aggressive comments flying.
- A contract renewal discussion with that tricky vendor on the 17th. Their proposals always have weird clauses.
- Lunch planned with that super negative colleague from another department on the 16th. Ugh.
Felt a bit silly, but also… convinced. That week looked cursed exactly as the horoscope warned. Time to triage.
Step Three: The Great Calendar Reshuffle
Decided prevention was the name of the game. Avoiding the bad moves meant getting stuff OUT of that danger zone.
- Sent a super polite email to the strategy meeting organizer. Asked if we could shift to the first week of October, framing it as “better prep time for Q4 goals”. Held my breath. They agreed! Got it moved to October 3rd.
- Emailed the vendor contact. Said I needed all the renewal paperwork by October 1st at the latest. Gave a hard deadline. Made it clear – I needed time to review thoroughly before the meeting. Pushed the discussion itself back to November 1st. Added extra calendar blocks just for reviewing that contract during early Oct.
- Texted the negative lunch pal: “Something came up on the 16th, totally forgot! Rain check?” Put them off indefinitely. Planned a focused solo walk that day instead.
Also blocked out the afternoon of the 18th for “quiet focus time” – a buffer zone in case anything slipped through.
Step Four: The Mental Pep Talk
Got my bullet journal out. Wrote down the core horoscope warning at the top of the October spread: “Mid-Month: AVOID CONFLICT & RASH DECISIONS. LISTEN MORE.” Made it bold. Added sticky notes to flip to that page in early Oct. Decided my mantra for that week would be “Is this necessary right now?” before committing to anything.
The Current Status (And Feeling)
It’s still September, so I haven’t lived the cursed week yet. But just looking at October NOW feels way less chaotic. That big argument-fest meeting? Done early. The contract? Getting eyes on it weeks beforehand. That draining lunch? Gone. The potential powder keg days? Significantly defused. Do I think the stars made me do this? Nah. But seeing those warnings lit a fire under my butt to actually look at my schedule and my tendencies in that timeframe. It forced me to be proactive instead of reactive. That feels like a solid win already. Took maybe 40 minutes total? Totally worth avoiding potential weeks of fallout chaos. Avoiding bad moves isn’t about being lazy, turns out. It’s about being smart and moving your damn chess pieces early.
