“I love a broad margin to my life “ – Henry David Thoreau

As we wrapped up the 21 for 21 series a few days ago, it was a great experiment in seeing what is really possible in the time we have available. If you weren’t part of the 21 for 21 it included time for people to come together and take 21 minutes of action on their projects. Over the 21 days, it became 441 minutes of 7 hours and 35 minutes. A significant amount of time! If you considered it on a daily basis it would seem to be just a little amount of time, but over the course of three weeks, it really added up.

Almost every day during the 21 minutes o virtual co-working, I heard from attendees just how valuable the process was for them. It was an opportunity to pause and undertake focused actions which were important to them.

So what led me to host this? The 21 for 21 Coworking Sprints was influenced by several things – Thoreau’s quote rom the last century. I’ve thought about this quote for some time now, considering what we can do to increase the margin of time we have available. I’ve also been inspired by the  and the invitations from Author Gretchen Rubin who for the last few years has hosted a 19 for 19, 20 for 20 and now 21 for 21, where listeners are encouraged to set a series of goals for the year.

What is the consistent habit you want to undertake right now?

Will you join us for the next 21 for 21 Virtual Co-working Sprint?

Here are some great articles about that: https://richlyrooted.com/2014/01/create-margin-in-your-life-for-a-simpler-schedule.html

Warm regards,

​Jennifer

My Remote Pathways podcast co-host has a great phrase – Remote working rhythms – which I had to borrow for this week’s blog post. This week we pause to check in around your routines with remote work. What are the routines you have established in your work?
Questions to consider:

• Do you start work every day at a consistent time?
• End work at a consistent time?
• Get out (outside or out of the office) to fit some workouts or exercises?
• What do you do to expand your remote work rhythms?
• Possible remote working routines you could undertake:
• Having a fixed start and end time
• Participating in a regular co-working session with other professionals (similar to what I did with the 21 for 21 Virtual Co-working Sprints. Returning again in Q2.
• Tackling certain tasks at a specific time or day
• Earmarking a specific window for a certain task

Routines are important as they start to build out habits. As I have shared in past posts, habits can become automatic in terms of acting like a switch to get things done.
What are the routines or habits you want to undertake?

Warm regards,

Jennifer

As we step into year 3 of use of PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder, I continue to hear from users of the workbook/planner what they enjoy using. Shaped by hundreds (if not thousands of) hours of planning and productivity work with teams, organizations and business owners, PDT and Coaching Business Builder are geared to provide you with time to focus and get traction, putting into practice “Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum”
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Here are six of the perennial favorites which get mentioned regularly from readers and the PlanDoTrack Facilitators:

Monthly Daily Planner  - One of my personal favorites, the Monthly daily tracker provides a space for you to regularly review your daily steps towards key goals. There’s space for you to track movement in 11 key areas – pick some personal, pick some business, and track away. You’ll see this one in the title for this week’s post.

Content Tools especially the Daily Content Tracker – The Daily Content tracker provides you with space to note what you have added to your list. Use it to list what you have created and where you are sharing it.

Monthly Content Journal – One Line a Day. Another favorite of mine, I use this in two ways. The One Line a Day gives you space to note one line for every day of the month. I use one to note my key actions for the day and a second one to note one sentence around IDEAS I had. It’s great to go back to and look at over time.
 
Monthly Content Tracker – While you may not be creating content every day, it’s likely that you will be sharing it. The monthly content tracker can be used to help you create a link to it.

Metaview Annual Goals and Milestones – This page allows you to get a high level overview of all the goals you have ahead of you. Update it as you go, given that annual plans can shift and change, as we’ve seen in recent years.

The Month in Focus – This is an invaluable tool used as a planner and retrospective on your week. Use it on a weekly basis to track your key priorities, successes, enablers, derailers, lessons learned and what you will do or focus on next week.
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Pick up a copy of either one of the Planners in digital format now at our Potentials Realized site. Note they are not available as a digital edition anywhere else (at least at the moment).

I’m adding onto these tried and tested resources during the 21 for 21 Co-working Series with some new resources including  new 21 day trackers, as well as a couple new quarterly and weekly planning tools. Join us for the 21 day experience and follow along at your own pace at : https://jennifer-britton.xperiencify.io/21for21/
Let us know what your favorite tool or resource is – share it with us at the Facebook group or over at the Conversation Sparker Zone.
 
Let us know what your favorite tools are!

Happy New Year! What is going to help you create the space, and set the stage, or exceptional virtual and remote work and results or you this year?

A large focus of my work in the month of January is on setting the stage or exceptional work. I hope that you will join me for the 21 for 21 Virtual Co-Working Sprints which will run from January 1 – 21 2021, most days at 12 noon ET. Join us at https://www.StandOutVirtually.com
Even after only a few days of sprints under our belts, there are a few themes which are bubbling up on the part of the group members.  As I do in my work, “I’m practicing what I preach, and want to share some of these ideas here with you”.

Consider these 5 :

Daily Focus: Creating traction is a key part of exceptional work. IT’s the little steps which add up, and stack up, which I frame as “Daily  Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum” in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack Resources.

Develop a routine that works for you – From being aware of our circadian rhythms (when we are at our best) to creating boundaries in our work, what is the routine which will work best for you?

Spend time planning and reflecting. The book is called PlanDoTrack for a reason – it’s a three stage process. We need to plan, then get into action and then reflect on what’s working and what’s not in order to track. What is your natural inclination in terms of where you spend your time. Is it PLANNING? DOING? TRACKING?
Which focus is really needed in your business this year?

Schedule it – As we were discussing recently in the 21 for 21 Co-Working Series – just like Peter Drucker said “What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”. What time are you scheduling in your calendar? Looking for a starting place? Join us for the 21 for 21 series this month.
​Here’s a calendar of the events – Link to https://www.standoutvirtually.com/uploads/3/7/3/7/37374841/21_for_21_calendar_update_1.1.21.pdf
When are you going to schedule some time?

​Connect – Remote Work can feel isolating. Be sure to connect in with others as you move forward with your work. What are you doing to be connect in with colleagues, old and new? What time are you earmarking to do this on a regular basis?
 
And finally as a bonus – be sure to fuel your soul. We can only go hard for so long if we don’t enjoy something. What’s going to help you get renewed? Enjoy your work?
Let us know what your focus is:
 
Warm regards,
Jennifer
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