Did you know it’s national time management month across North America?
With this in mind, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate a couple of posts specifically to time management. Over the last year in my writing and publication of Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, I have been brought back to my roots in the area of personal productivity and time management, an area I have supported many leaders and teams in over the years.

I thought it would be interesting to note 3 books I’ve recently read on the topic, in case you are looking to add a little focused reading to your task list:
1. Laura Vanderkam : Off The Clock– I loved Laura’s 2010 book – 168 Hours : You Have more time than you think. Late last year I picked up a copy of Off The Clock – Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done. A quick read, Laura’s got great stories and research around time management.

2. Chris Bailey- I  read Chris’ book Hyperfocus last week, and particularly found his writing around productivity and distractions to be very on the mark. As I have written about for a couple of years now, distractions are one of the greatest challenges we have as teams and also solopreneurs. One of the biggest questions I get these days usually revolves around "How can we minimize distractions?".
Check out my Teams365 blog post #1470 Minimizing Distractions.

2. Carson Tate – Work Simply –- I  love the idea that we each have a “personal productivity” style – consider yours and how it influences your ways of working and being – from how you dress, to how you make decisions. I love her framing of Prioritizer, Planner, Arranger and Visualizer, as well as the tips around Meetings.

Given that meetings are such a key challenge for all professionals today, be sure to check out my chapter 9 in Effective Virtual Conversations, including the 8 Essential Meeting Questions to be asking. I shared these a few weeks ago as part of the Teams365 19 for 2019 Productivity tips. Read them here. https://www.potentialsrealized.com/teams-365-blog/teams365-1836-productivity-tip-9-amp-up-your-meetings

What are some of the books you have been enjoying on time management recently? Please share with  us using the comments link below.

For more on this topic, be sure to check out Section 4 of Plan Do Track where I include several core activities for you to explore around your own time management.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
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​FEbruary has been earmarked as National Time Management month. As such, I thought that it would be appropriate to focus several of our posts specifically to time management and personal productivity, two key themes as part of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner. Stay tune for posts this month focused on getting your remote workspace more organized (Next Monday February 11th) as well as a number of other time management posts.
Our first post of the month gets you to step back and do a bit of planning BEFORE you embark on your monthly activities. As a former project manager myself, I know how important planning is in creating more focused effort! An old project management adage goes "5 minutes of planning can save you 60 minutes of unfocused effort". 
As much as some things change, many things stay the same, and whether you plan on paper, the back of a receipt or on your phone, planning is planning.
To get you started, here are a couple of questions to consider:

• What's important for you to tackle this month?
• What are the key priorities you want to keep top of mind?
• What will success look like around these key priorities?
• What is the dedicated time you are going to protect to make sure that these priorities do get done?
• What do you need to say no to (by delegating, deferring or saying no) this month?
• What are  you going to track to make sure you are on target?
• Who else do you want to enlist to support you with your key priorities this month?

I'll be doing a few more extra posts this month, focused specifically on time management and personal productivity. I hope you'll join us!

If you have a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner, be sure to check out Section 4 where I include several different tools and resources to support you with prioritizing.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best PRactices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)

Week 5 Focus – GOALS – SMART/Anchored In Vision
Focus Question: As you consider your goals right now, what’s the one most important one that is going to move you towards your vision?

Description
Goals are at the heart of work, and the work we undertake with clients. Goals are also at the core of planning. Why it is important to look at this at when running a business? Goals are central to both planning and trackingGoals and planning:Goals anchor the planning process. An older project management adage is that 10 minutes of planning saves 2 hours of unfocused effort.In particular, goals help us with Focus. Goals help us focus our efforts. In focusing, they help us with distinction on what’s important and what’s not? As a small business, or remote workers, goals help to confirm what is needed for success, and being able to delegate the rest. Goals help us in making decisions and can support shifting fees, services and payments, as we grow a business. Goals also help with prioritizing where we are going to focus our efforts. When we are part of a matrix team, this is critical to understand and know how to support multiple teams.Goals and tracking:Goals also are core to the tracking process. Goals help us:

• Notice where results are really coming from
• Provide Support in terms of where time is being spent. Does your time expenditure align with your goals?
• “If you can measure it, you can manage it” – Rheticus, 1500s. What are you wanting to measure and manage? This might include revenue, cost, resources, time. Note what measures are important for your work.

Research/Story
"Goals help us stretch beyond what we think is possible and provide a yardstick to see how far we've come." - Jennifer Britton

There are multiple frameworks to support coaches around goals. From SMART-E Goals, to what John Whitmore terms PURE GOALS.  The framework I usually introduce to people I work with are SMART-E Goals. As a reminder these are:
S - Specific - What specifically do you want to achieve? What will it look like?
M - Measurable - How can you track progress?
A - Achievable - With some stretch are these achievable?
R - Realistic - Again, with stretch are these in range?
T - Timebound - What's the time frame on this - next week, end of June, early 2015?
E - And most of all, are these goals exciting? If they are not exciting, chances are they might got get done, or may get done only to get them checked off.

Activity
The entire Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack Workbooks are grounded in goal setting, planning and tracking.At the heart of this is the One Page Plan – page 277(CBB)/page 281 (PDT)This week take time to identify your top five goals for the month (or the quarter). As you are considering the goals consider the following questions:1. What's important about this goal? (it may be framed in the big picture? Short term? Long term?)2. What will success look like?3. What outcomes do you want?4. What might get in the way? (or what could be a roadblock?)5. What resources do you need to be successful? (OR What will help you be successful?)6. When you are successful with this, what's possible?Source: https://groupcoaching.blogspot.com/2016/09/six-coaching-questions-around-goals.html (Originally Published September 19, 2016)Be sure to refer to your One Page Plans on a regular basis. Many professionals like to keep them visible and refer to them often, updating them with time. 

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
The One Page Plan can be found at:
Page 277 – Coaching Business Builder
Page 281 - PlanDoTrack

​Download a one-pager to create you own annual analog resource. 

Enjoy!
Jennifer

PS - Share your vision and how you engage with these activities on social media. Use the hashtag #dscam2019 (It stands for Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum)