​Week 42 Focus – Prioritization
Focus Question: What do you want to focus on today?

Description
There are many competing priorities in a business. What are the things you want to focus on today? This week?
 
As solopreneurs, it’s unlikely that our To-Do list will ever be complete. We can overwork ourselves to the point of burn out.
 
As virtual and remote professionals the issue of prioritization takes on immense significance given that we are likely to be part of multiple teams, working across different time zones, with each team and leader having different priorities. Having to work more autonomously, and independently, we also can benefit from prioritizing what’s important from the “bigger picture” of what’s on our desk at any given moment of time.
 
In Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, I share four different prioritization tools which will help you identify what is going to give you more focus:

1. The Strategic Issues Mapping
2. The SWOT
3. Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix
4. Urgency/Importance Matrix

 
Activity
Work through the relevant tools for your work and business right now. If you are doing some longer-term planning, refer to the SWOT and/or Strategic Issues Mapping. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stuck or working on immediate priorities consider using the other prioritization tools.
 
Connection to the Workbook and Planner
You will find the prioritization tools listed on pages 114 to 119. You might consider exploring:

1. The Strategic Issues Mapping
2. The SWOT
3. Covey’s Urgent/Important Matrix
4. Urgency/Importance Matrix

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
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​Week 41 Focus – Chunk It Down to Gain Momentum
​Focus Question: As you consider your big tasks right now, what are the chunks, or discrete packets, at the core?

Description
There are many different models of time management and one of them is about chunking. Chunking invites us to break tasks down. In chunking we may put tasks of a similar nature together. Chunking can create momentum so we may be able to quickly get those items off our list.
 
One of the other areas that I've touched on in this book already is the notion of finding the times of day that work best for you. What does momentum mean for you? What are the top 6 you can get off your list quickly? What are the things that will help you gain some momentum and get things done on a consistent basis?
 
Businesses are often built in spurts.
 
Parkinson’s Rule asserts that tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. Sometimes it can be useful to “corral” a task, giving it a very fixed timeline in order to ensure that it gets one. Here are some examples of what you might do in spurts or by chunking:

• Accounting – rather than doing this daily, you could schedule time every month for data entry, invoicing, review etc.
• Writing – while writing daily can be a great practice, you could do this for multiple projects. Think – blog, book, articles, podcasts, scripts for courses. One of the most useful spurt processes I have engaged in for several years now is the writing support I receive from NANOWRIMO – November’s month of daily writing. This process helped to birth several of my books Effective Virtual Conversations (my 2017 book), the Coaching Business Builder. It also laid the seeds for future publications by getting me into the habit of regular writing spurts.

Activity
What are the elements you need to break down?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
In your monthly planning process, break down your activities and projects into smaller chunks – tasks, activities. Use the To-Do pages to start drilling into the core packets of work.

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
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​Week 35 Focus – Presentations 101
Focus Question: What is important to communicate in your next presentation? How do you want to capture people’s attention?

Description
As a solopreneur, it's likely that you'll be giving presentations to a wide variety of audiences from webinars, to lunch and learns, to speaking at conferences. Section 3 goes into many different ways you can be thinking about creating content and positioning presentation.
 
Fear of public speaking is usually listed as a Top 10 fear of adults. So how can we prepare to give a WOW presentation?
 
As a starting point, take 5 minutes to brainstorm. Make a list of everything you could possibly talk about. What are the topics that your clients or customers would really appreciate?
 
As someone who's been involved in presentation skills training for almost 2 decades, here are a couple of key things to keep in mind:

• Speak in bullet points – reinforce what the main points are at the start, middle and end.
• What would you like people to take away from the presentation?
• Connect people early on to what’s important about the topic for them. We often call this the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?)

 
Research/Story
One of the biggest pitfalls you can experience as a presenter is that no one wants to participate.
 
 Tips to get participation happening:

1. Be clear with process let people know what process will unfold. Describe what they can expect to take away from the session (3 bullet points). Return to this throughout your session.
2. Connect them with their WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? Connect people early in your presentation to how this topic has relevance to them. You might do this by asking the question – What’s important about this topic to you right now?  OR Who has a story that they can share? Consider how you will connect people early on.
3. Have a variety of strategies to engage people on a regular basis. From the litmus test of incorporating a pace change 7-10 minutes, to a more frequent pace change virtually, we want to keep things moving and involve the audience. Virtually, this can range from breakouts to annotation to polls. Get people involved in the presentation. Bring in their stories and voice.

 
Activity
Consider an upcoming presentation:

• What is important to note about the process? What is the purpose? What is the presentation all about?  What do you hope people will take away?
• What will you do to connect people to their WIIFM?
• What are the strategies you will use to connect people to their WIIFM? When?

 
Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Refer to Section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder and the section specific to presentations. Take a look at the textbox on presentations which you will find on page 77 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

​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
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​Week 34 Focus – Systems in The Business
Focus Question: What’s working and what’s not as it relates to your systems?

Story
Systems help us to replicate things on a consistent basis. They also help us to:

• Scale business
• Be more efficient rather than having to reinvent the wheel multiple times
• Organize – so things take less time

Think about your work, whether you are an entrepreneur, leader or team member. My guess is that you already have a variety of systems in place to help you do things, and that there’s room for growth. Throughout the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack I cover a variety of systems.
 
Consider these systems for your business:

Activity
Note what’s worked and what hasn’t around the different systems in your work or business.
Do an audit on your systems. Consider:

• Systems to be created
• Systems which are working
• Systems being used in other organizations/parts of the organization which could be adopted
• Best practices around systems in your business

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Refer to part 3 of the book and what is noted around systems. Part of doing a review is noting metrics and trends. Take a look back at your notes. What do you notice?

​You may want to:
Review the Annual Planners and Quarterly Tools
Review the Monthly Daily Planners – what do you notice?
Use brainstorm lists to capture these ideas around systems.

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

In today’s uber-busy world, having huge blocks of time are often not feasible without a lot of pre-planning. Part of the philosophy of the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planners is that it is about taking CONSISTENT Action and DAILY steps to create momentum.
​
Over time, we may also start to notice how valuable it is to have blocked off time so we can focus in on tasks that require more than a short amount of our attention. Some writers and researchers point to the need for 90-minute windows for “Deep Work” (as Cal Newport would say).

What are the blocks of time you have available? Some possibilities include:

• Scheduling out time blocks: (i.e. 90 minutes for important projects) at the start of a quarter.
• Creating new working schedule: ie. Waking up earlier and dedicating that time to work on a project. For many years now I have adopted the practice of starting my work day around 5 or 5:30 am. I find that the first hour or two are often my most productive, and critical for success.
• Letting go of activities that aren’t supporting you as much:  We can easily fall into the pattern of doing things “just because we do them”. This might be binging on shows or participating in a seasonal activity you don’t really enjoy, “just because”. In service to the things you really want to create in your work, what are the things you can let go of this year to free up time so you can do what’s important?

Best,
Jennifer 

Scattered throughout some of the 28 different planning tools of PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business builder is the question “what will wild success look like?”. I love asking this question to people I am coaching as it gets us to think about WHAT IS POSSIBLE, often without a lot of censure.
​
There are several ways to reword this question:

• What’s possible?
• If you were to wave a magic wand, what would be the end result?
• If there were no limits, what would you do?

​The benefit of these questions is that it:

• Helps us look larger and bigger
• It may shift some of the limiting beliefs and inner critical voices we face around that goal and the related change we need to take in order to make it happen
• Helps us stretch
• Supports more ideas and possibilities

As you go about your planning for the next month or quarter, what can wild success look like for you around your most important goals?

Best wishes,
Jennifer 

Week 32 Focus – One Percent Rule to Business Development
Focus Question: What are the consistent daily steps you want to undertake?
​
Description
Since 2005 I have been sharing what I call the One Percent Rule to Business Development. I've heard from a lot of entrepreneurs that they like this notion of incremental business action. So here it is!
The 1% rule to business development consists of a series of 8 different stages:
1. Create the Vision: Our vision sets the broad swath of possibility. It gets us thinking about what is possible. It also helps to anchor us when we think about where we want to go and what we want to do. Making our vision detailed and keeping it visible can be important. How are you enshrining your vision?
2. Prepare. During the preparation phase we want to get clear on what the requirements are for our work and projects. We want to know what a successful result looks like. We want to be clear on what resourcing is needed. During the preparation phase we will gather all the information we have so we can pull together a plan.
3. Create an action plan. In my work as a coach, I usually get my clients to create a One-Page Action Plan. The value of the One-Page Plan is that it contains all of the most important information in one page. The One-Pager be placed in a visual location so that you can refer to it quickly AND regularly. What’s on your action plan?
4. Seek out support. What is going to help you achieve the key goals you have set out for yourself? Support can take many forms – financial, technical, people. What do you need to be successful?
5. Take ongoing small steps. As my father, a retired entrepreneur himself, always reminds me that “Rome was not built in a day”. The premise behind the workbook planners is about taking REGULAR, CONSISTENT action. In building a business by ourselves burnout may be a possibility if we move too fast. It can be important to take regular small steps to create the momentum needed for things done quickly.
6. Test, Learn, Retest. In the sixth step were going to test things out. Today's volatility and complexity requires that we experiment regularly.  With the data we receive from the initial test or action we can learn and apply then retest and learn again. This is an iterative process which continues. Throughout the business cycle we may move through different bouts of experimentation. Each cycle creates an opportunity for learning and growth.
7. Learn, Iterate and Act. Each action creates a reaction, which over time creates its own momentum, making it easier to achieve the goal. Along the way learning and feedback will help to shape what we do.
8. Ultimately our goal is achieved. Based on our experience we will further refine the vision that we set out for ourselves, expanding it or modifying it based on our experience. This will further support and shape our actions are we move forward with the next cycle and process.
This cycle may take place in a short amount of time, for example a day or it may be phased over the longer term of a project.
 
Activity
Using your business or a current project, work through the One Percent Rule. What can action and learning look like around one of your most important goals? Map out the 8 steps of the One Percent Rule.

​Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Refer to the One Percent Rule to Business in Section 1 on page 29 of the Coaching Business Builder, or page 31 of PlanDoTrack.

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
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

​In today’s Digitally Disrupted world, the skill set of discernment and focus are taking precedence. The ability to find “micro-pauses” where you can stop, assess and make decisions plays a critical role in productivity, teams and leadership.
​
Here’s what I wrote bout the skill of discernment earlier this year here at the PlanDoTrack Blog in February:

​“Leveraging our time is as much about getting organized, as it is getting clear on what’s important. Against the backdrop of complexity, ongoing change and disruption, getting ruthless with our time management can be so important to many. As a business owner, or remote worker, this is especially true. We can’t get out time back. So, when we go down a rabbit hole (whether it’s doing too much research online, following a shiny red object or thinking we just need to learn “one more thing”), the costs can be tremendous. Not just in NOT getting things done, but in terms of our focus, our motivation and also our profit line!

Discernment is about getting clear on what’s important and what’s not. It is about being clear of what’s going to provide impact now, later or never.
​
As a remote worker or virtual business owner, we are quite control of our time. Our colleagues and/or superiors may be hundreds of miles away, or several time zones ahead. As remote workers, it’s not always about how we manage our time, but how we get our results. Those who feel the crunch in getting something over the finish line is usually only us (and those loved ones around us!).

With this in mind, what is the cost of not being discerning around where your time goes, or how clear your projects are, or what is a more important priority than another?
​
As we embark on new projects, or start a new week, it can be useful to be asking (ourselves, and our stakeholders):

• What’s most important today?
• What are the top 3-5 things I want to get completed?
• What are the MUST Dos?
• What will success look like with this project/task?
• As it relates to this project/task, what’s important?
• Have I considered the short-term, medium-term and long-term in making decisions?
• What would my colleague/boss/peer/customer say is most important to focus on today?
• What impact will this activity have? And that one?

 
What questions do you want to consider asking as you decide one priority to another?”

How can discernment help you in your work and focus right now?

Let us know!
​Jennifer

Week 31 Focus – Marketing Review
Focus Question: What needs a tweak with your 5 P’s?
​
Description
Last week we started to take stock of where you are around dialogue and marketing of your work. Whether you are internal, or external, we are regularly marketing ourselves. Internally we may be focused on personal branding and/or creating and positioning a business case for our work. Externally, we want to offer the best item of value to our customers or clients.
 
When we explore the topic of marketing and program/product design, we often talk about the Marketing Mix or the 5 P’s– Product, Placement, Promotion, People, and Price. Knowing our 5 P’s and reviewing it regularly ensures that we are on target with what our customers or stakeholders want.
 
This week, as review, note what’s worked, and what hasn’t recently in the five different areas of the 5 P’s.

Activity
Use associated worksheet to note what’s worked and what hasn’t around the 5 P’s around your product or service offering.
Undertake a review of your metrics. This could include numbers of subscribers, engagement, posts, views, follows, comments etc. What do you notice?
What’s working around your marketing right now?
Consider the business which has come in, over last six months. What sources led to it? What is in the pipeline? What has shaped this?
 
Do an audit on your content. Consider:

• Content to be created
• Content which is being consumed
• Content which could be repurposed
• Syndication options – WHERE and THROUGH WHOM could you expand your web of followers and readership?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Part of doing a marketing review is reviewing metrics and trends. Take a look back at your notes. What do you notice? You may want to:

• Review the Annual planners and quarterly tools
• Review the monthly daily planners – what do you notice?
• Use the Content Creation Tools in the Coaching Business Builder or PlanDoTrack to Track and note ideas you want to action
• Use brainstorm list to capture these ideas around marketing

 
 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
Check out the new 19 Productivity Tips on-demand program. Explore this video based program at  your own pace, and join Jennifer for bi-weekly calls as part of your course.
Follow the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series on Instagram

This week’s Weekly Planning Hack focuses on the Power of a Post It. From being an important visual reminder, to helping teams focus on what’s important, the power of a post-it can become a colorful way to prioritize and focus.
Here are a couple of ways you might consider using post its to help you with your productivity:

1. Grabbing a set of post-its at the start of the quarter and listing one key activity per post it. Using a whiteboard, then schedule these into each month, or each week of the quarter. Because they are post its, they are easy to move around.
2. Bring post its into your next staff meeting. As you get started have everyone write out the one thing they want out of the meeting on one post it. One at a time have them share their idea/need and have them post this on the wall or whiteboard of your meeting room. If you are working virtually, have each person write up their need/focus on a blank slide using annotation. This approach allows for more time for reflection before speaking, and also ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard and represented.

 
Here’s what I wrote in a 2008 blog posts on post its called A Facilitator’s Ally: Post Its and Index Cards:


I love post it notes and index cards! Many of you will know that it made my top 10 list of most useful tips and tools for 2007. Today's post, builds on a much older post of mine from last year, about how post it notes and index cards can be a really valuable tool in your toolbox.

Here are some ideas on how you can use post-its and/or index cards:

1. For program development. Using a new post it or index card, brain storm all the ideas you have about upcoming programs. Lay them out on a table or floor to start sorting/grouping.

2. To get quick feedback from all participants during a program. As an evaluation tool, have participants write out their responses to your evaluation questions (1 question/answer per card), and have them post them on the wall.

3. For business planning or strategic planning sessions. The photo above is from a recent team planning session I facilitated late last year. There is nothing like getting people up and moving to boost engagement, excitement and ownership of their work!

4. As a quick poll of the group regarding what questions are popping for the group.

5. To ensure that all voices of the group are being heard. It is quite common for groups to be dominated by certain members. As a facilitator it's important to ensure that all voices are heard. Having participants write out their questions or responses, and then post them, or share them, can provide participants who introverts are, shyer or those who require more time to process questions, the opportunity to participate and "be heard".

6. As a "vote" regarding where to go. Have participants show their support for a discussion item by putting up a post it note. (Different colours can represent different categories.)

7. As a brainstorming tool. You can bring post-its/index cards into exercises where participants want to/need to brainstorm. For example,

• small business owners working on their business vision
• professionals who are in career transition
• stay at home moms who are returning to the workforce
• teams working on their quarterly/annual planning
• couples who are creating their budget or a plan for their year

The possibilities are endless. How would you like to bring post-it notes or index cards into your next program?
Here’s a link to that original post.
 
Enjoy your use of post its!
​Jennifer