"And even, if circumstances required, a contingency plan for his contingency plan's contingency plan."
-Frank Beddor
As recent events have shown, plans don’t always go as planned, especially when the context changes so much. This week’s Weekly Planning Hack is all about contingency planning.

My former world of work with the international sector, and in working with disaster management, was grounded in contingency planning. I like to say that I would start my day with a plan of A – Z which would morph and adjust to become a list of D2  to I2   over the course of the day.

Contingency planning is grounded in flexibility and consistent action. It is reactive, and sometimes proactive, making sure that plans are fluid and always moving.

Contingency planning allows for changes and learning to occur from event to event.
It does require strong skills in prioritization, adaptability, and flexibility.

What can contingency planning look like for you?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

"If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."
​–Lawrence J. Peter

Welcome back to an accountability check in. These are built in to provide you with an opportunity to stop, pause and reflect on what you wanted to get done, and how it’s gone.

Pull out your latest quarterly plans and take a look at what your goals were, then work through these quarterly reflection questions. You may also want to check out this 30 minute video and work alongside it with your own copy of PlanDoTrack, or the Coaching Business Builder.

Grab a pen and your planner or journal and reflect on these questions to consider: 

• What were your major achievements this quarter?
• As you consider the goals (and resolutions) you made at the start of the quarter, how are you doing with these on a scale of 1-10?
• Which goals are becoming new habits, or something you can check off?
• Which goals need to be adjusted or let go of?
• What do you notice about your metrics?
• What do you notice about your team?
• The thing that helped me be most successful this quarter has been __________
• The thing that has helped me be happiest this quarter has been __________
• What has helped me be most healthy has been __________
• What I have noticed about my work/productivity/results and/or relationships is __________
• Looking ahead to the next quarter:
• Success at the end of the quarter includes:
• I also need to think about __________

Enjoy the reflections!
Jennifer

“Bottom line is, if you do not use it or need it, it’s clutter, and it needs to go.”
– Charisse Ward via United Mayflower

​This week’s Weekly Planning Hack gets you to take a few minutes to archive materials that no longer are relevant. Whether it’s digital or hard-copy, being able to archive and/or delete information can be key to focus, prioritization and clarity.

As I wrote in Teams365 Check It Off Tip:
“While it might seem like adding time that you don't have, clearing things off and out, like your desk, or inbox, on a regular basis can create the space for new energy and clarity. What needs to get cleared in your office right now? Is it your inbox, old files? Take 15 minutes today to clear something and notice what new is created as a result of this.”

Even businesses will have different sets of legislation outlining how long materials need to be kept for. Spend some time checking with your local level government how long you need to keep materials for. Sometimes this may be for a period of five or seven years. Check it out.

Things that you might consider archiving include:

• Emails
• Financial records
• Manuscripts or other creative works
• Client/customer files
• Newsletters

What else could be archived? What could be converted from analog to digital?

Again, be sure to check perhaps with your local small business center in relation to what your local level requirements are for keeping materials and files.

Enjoy the conversation!
​Jennifer