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 our 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 do often have greater control over 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 ask 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 ask as you decide one priority to another?

Let us know using the comments below!
Jennifer

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

Welcome to the first of a series of weekly Wednesday planning hacks. In the spirit of all things planning, doing and tracking, I’m pleased to offer this new weekly series here at the PlanDoTrack blog. Similar to other weekly series I host at my sister blog, Teams365 blog (found at Potentials Realized.com), my hope is that these weekly posts will not only serve as a quick focus area for you, and over time will add up to be a valuable resource. I'll also be doing a live video on each of the tips every week, sharing it over at the PlanDoTrack Facebook page.

Let’s get started with the Pomodoro Technique, the focus of weekly planning hack #1.

Have you heard about the Pomodoro Technique (often associated with the icon of the Tomato)?

As I wrote last January 2018 at the Teams365 blog, the Pomodoro Technique is an invaluable tool in creating focus in today’s digitally distracted world. Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #1470 on Minimizing Distractions – 

“Creating "focused work" periods. Whether it's 30 or 60 minutes a day, focused times, which have no immediate distraction allow us to get things done. Many studies find that our immediate productivity can be boosted by giving projects time windows and time frames. The Pomodoro technique is one example of accelerating productivity. It posits that focused activity for 25 minutes can be followed by a 5-minute break. Read more about the Pomodoro Technique from its' creator here.”
 
How might more focused bursts of attention support you and your projects right now?
What would it be like to experiment with more focused bursts of time where the rings and bings of everyday digital life are silenced?"
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Let us know if you get the chance to experiment with this!
Jennifer

​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

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)