​Many professionals today operate in an environment of distraction and rapidly changing sands. While this may be our context, having concrete action steps to keep focusing on can mean the difference between satisfaction in getting the important things done, and feeling like we have “whiplash” when buffeted by ongoing change.

One of the sections you’ll see in some of the 28 different planning tools included in the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder are an invite to share your Top 3 to 5 goals. In offering different learning options and presentations I will also ask “what are your three action steps?”.
​
What are the action steps you want to take this week? What are you going to do to keep that visible to yourself? (Note last week’s different suggestions in Weekly Planning Hack 21 on Making It Visual.)
​
What are the three action steps you want to take this week?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week!
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)

This week’s Weekly Planning Hack is all about “Making things Visual”.
How often do you find you:

• Lose items
• Forget things
• Let non-important tasks usurp the more important tasks?

One of the reasons why I was passionate about creating an analog workbook and planner for Coaches (Coaching Business Builder) as well as Virtual and Remote Professionals (PlanDoTrack), was to create a place where what’s in our minds, could find a home on paper.

Paper planners are great for some, but even then, things can get lost.
What’s another layer to make those important things stand out? Have you considered:

• Using a post-it to highlight the things that are REALLY important?
• Using a chalk pencil to leave yourself a note on the mirror or the fridge?
• Linking a photo you love to your vision of your business, and placing it as a screen saver?

Where the visual cues that will keep what’s important to you visible and in front of you?

Best,
​Jennifer

Week 26 Focus – Mid-point Check In
Focus Question: What have you achieved so far this year? 

Description
Wow! Here we are in week 26, mid-point of the 52 weeks, and of the year.
This week you are encouraged to block off time to take stock of your achievements. First, review your annual plan. You may want to include some information around these questions:

• What have you achieved so far?
• What new items do you want to add?
• What can you check off your list?
• What have been key lessons since the start of the year (or the 52 weeks)?
• What’s different about you/your business?
• What’s really important for you to focus on in this last half of the year?
• By the end of the 52 weeks, I want to be sure I….

Research/Story
Creating intentional pause points is an important part of any coaching and learning process. Being able to stop and reflect is also critical for business success.
 
While we can keep on doing, are we doing the right things which have impact? What is working and what is not?
 
This is the premise of the Virtual Retreats I host throughout the year in the PlanDoTrack series, as well as the month end reflection and monthly planning hacks.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track.

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019),  Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Pick up a copy of any of her books at Amazon
Book Jennifer for a coaching session to explore productivity, teamwork and business issues.
Contact her by phone at (416)996-8326
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​As we move from one season to another, we have the opportunity to undertake a “clean sweep”. Having lived and worked in the tropics for the first 15 years of my career, and now having been back in Canada for 15 years where the seasons are so distinct, I have come to (re) appreciate, how significant seasonal change provides an impetus for change and review. Have you done a clean sweep of your surroundings lately? Is it time to clean up your files? Your desk? Your contacts?

There is a lot written on clearing and creating order – from the work and writing of Marie Kondo to Gretchen Rubin’s new book – Outer Order, Inner Calm.

Last fall, I offered up a weekly planning tool (separate from the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack) called the Clean Sweep. Structured as a five-day planning tool, it also offers some prompts and reminders for business owners or virtual workers to take action on some of the more overlooked aspects of our work. For example, outreach and building of relationships. Taking these small steps continue to “add up”. Download a copy of the Weekly  Sweep  for your business document here.

Where could you benefit from a "clean sweep"?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer 

Week 23 Focus – What’s your message?
Focus Question: What are you doing to create a message that is clear, crisp and consistent? What is important to consider?

Description
We have spent the last few weeks exploring different marketing approaches which will have been of interest to virtual professionals and entrepreneurs. For those that are leaders and professionals internal to an organization, a reminder that positioning your message internally, and building a business case, draws on many of the marketing principles we have been talking about.

This week’s focus on “What’s your message?” is important to all virtual professionals and business owners. Being clear with your message, and its delivery is key to business success.

Across the span of a week we are constantly communicating. From formal presentations to meetings with your boss, to connecting with peers, communication happens formally and informally throughout the day.

This week’s focus is what’s your message? We’ll explore it in the light of making a presentation.

It’s often said that you have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. What’s going to capture the attention of others with your message?

Consider the following:

• Distilling your message down to 3 bullet points. Take a look at this week’s quote.
• Starting your presentation/communication with a factoid, photo or graphic to capture their attention.
• Asking a question to get people thinking about how the topic relates to them.

What’s going to make the impression you want? In today’s business context, being heard and being understood is critical.

Activity
Think about an upcoming presentation or message you need to deliver. It could the announcement of a new program or offering. Work through these questions:
What’s your core message? What is it that you really want to say? Distill it down to 3 bullet points. What’s your intent? What do you want others to do as a result of the presentation?
​
Key to creating memorable messages is that it is:

• Memorable – What will make this stand out? Is there a story or image you can share?
• Clear – Review your message. What’s unclear?
• Understood – what are the terms or issues people are looking for? What are people listening for?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Using the content planners and brainstorming space found towards the back of the planner can support you with your messaging. Also consider referring to some of the tips in Section 3 (Marketing and Promotion Essentials) as well.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week!
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)

Week 22 Focus:
Marketing–Creating Continuous Content
Focus Question: If you were to create content around different themes, what would those themes be? 

Description
Marketing can take a variety of different forms. It can be useful to look at it from different time frames including:

• Short-term
• Medium term
• Long term

What are the different types of vehicles you would use to generate buzz about your work and offering in each of these different ways?

Ongoing marketing is critical for business success. It’s easy to run out of ideas. This week’s Tip gets you thinking about Creating Continuous Content.
​
Whether it’s Facebook or a blog, Instagram or Pinterest, here are some of the varying ways to get your ideas out:
1. Create a series – i.e. 31-day series around the topics of your choice;
2. Create an A- Z series (take a look at my A-Z for Virtual and Remote Team Members);
3. Do an infographic about the different steps in the process;
4. Do a 60 second sound byte around the most important topics in your area;
5. Do an in-depth step by step guide with a series of different posts for the different areas of focus;
6. Create a Top 10 list of books
7. Prepare a top 10 list of videos to check out
8. Make a list of 10 Websites to check out
9. Create a go-to guide
10. Produce a user’s guide to (insert main questions or how tos)
11. Create a Top 10 trends from the year
12. Make a list of Ted talks to explore on the topic
 
What will help to make your message more strategic and targeted?
What is of interest to your clients? What will help to focus the conversation for people?

Activity
Get in to action around one of your key priorities in marketing. Use the list of 10 series above to create a series of marketing tasks. You might:

• Host a Facebook live, or Instagram call around a topic of your choice.
• Do a podcast around your topics
• Write an
• White post
• Linked in Article on Pulse
• Create an assessment or self assessment. For example, if you are working with leaders, have them identify what are the key skills they need to be successful.

What is the one that you have not explored AT ALL?
Who can help you expand your marketing reach? We talked about use of the Top 20 list in an earlier marketing post. Who could help you expand your message?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Section 3 is dedicated to Marketing Essentials. What are your key priorities around marketing?
Use the One Page Plan (page 275/277) to create a focused plan around marketing
Use the trackers to track the outcome or impact of this activity – note visits, likes, what gets traction.
specific activities or results for each of the activities.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Taking time to stop and pause is critical for success.
​
"Big thinking precedes great achievement."— Wilferd Peterson

As I wrote in the 19 for 2019, review is critical for success.
Part of productivity is about building in pause points to reflect and think about what’s working and what’s not.
Building in time for regular review helps to:

• Identify where we are getting our results
• Observe the patterns that are occurring
• Think about where we want to go
• Identify what is important to be able to move forward

What are the blocks of time you want to set aside for review?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Week 21 Focus – Challenges with Marketing
Focus Question: What’s the challenge for you around marketing right now?

Story
There are many challenges with marketing including:

• Not enough time dedicated
• Not being consistent enough with your efforts
• Not following through
• Not thinking about what your client/customer wants (think messaging, approaches…)
• Changing the topic too many times
• Not having a message on the channel your people are looking at (i.e. focusing on Facebook when people are looking to LinkedIn)
• Not using language that is meaningful to the group

Creating a marketing plan and strategy is important in terms of creating a focus for continued effort and actions. Writing things down so that you can see what you are doing, and track your efforts, can move you to a more strategic allocation of your time and resources.

Experimentation and trying things out in small cycles helps us get important data on what people like and don’t like, value and don’t value.  Things in the marketing space change quickly so not relying on just one channel can be of use.
Being able to repurpose material is key for ongoing marketing efforts. To create new content each day can be exhausting, and repurposing allows us to leverage what we have already created.

Activity
While there are many challenges we face in marketing, there is always an opportunity to repurpose the material we have already created.

This week identify key pieces of content you have created.  Think about how it could be repurposed.

For example, the next time to you create a blog post, consider what it could look like if you were to repurpose it three times, not just once.  So, consider this…
Original Version: A blog post on five things to do before the end of the year with your team.
#1 - Repurposing – Create it as a video – 5 Things to Do Before Year End with Your Team
#2 – Repurpose - Create an audio post/podcast around it
#3 – Combination: Combine this with other posts to make a larger article or download from your website.
#4 – Magnify:  Share the link with other content providers, so they can share it with their readers/followers.

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Refer to the tools in the Content Planner Section. Take particular note of:
1. Tool – Content Tracker – For each piece of content, use the tracker to note how many views and reads it has gotten in each of the different locations.
2. Tool – Don’t Just Do it Once! Scaling Content (page 275 of PlanDoTrack and page 271 of the Coaching Business Builder)

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Ongoing learning is part of business success today. We each have areas in which we will want to learn and grow in. What are those areas?

As you consider your own learning pathways, what is going to help you stretch? What will help you grow?
​
There are many ways we can be learning and growing including:

• Mentoring relationships
• Job shadowing someone more experienced
• Partnering with peers and meeting on a regular basis
• Formal education – a next degree
• On-demand and online learning
• Coaching

Consider the different ways you might want to learn more this year? What are the areas you want to grow into?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

We operate as part of a larger web. As Buddha wrote:
“As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of the net is an independent isolated thing he is mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.”
​

• What are the relationship webs or meshes you are part of?
• What are the ties you have made in your business?
• Who do you rely on to make things happen?

Even as solopreneurs or someone working remote we are a bigger part of a web. Being clear on how we connect and interrelate can help us be more focused and intentional in our messaging, marketing and communication.

This week take some time to draw out your web of relationships.

• Who are the people you connect with internally? Externally?
• Who are the people in your web that are influencers? Connectors?
• Which relationships need attention? Which new relationships do you want to develop?

Have a great Wednesday!
​Jennifer