Week 44 Focus — Circadian Rhythm
Focus Question: Consider the rhythm of your day. When can you do your best work? Around what tasks?

​Description
When are you at your best?
 
There has been a lot of research done on our natural body rhythms. The study of chronobiology explores our natural rhythms. While some of us are “early birds” and love to get things done in the early hours of the morning as the world wakes up, others may find they get their “next wind” in the evening.
 
What do you notice about when you are at your best for completing different tasks?
 
There may be different times of the day when it is good for you to complete different tasks such as:

• Complete finances and accounting work
• Engaging in writing projects
• Reviewing reports
• Hold one-on-one or coaching calls
• Undertake performance conversations with your team

While not everyone may have the opportunity to adjust their schedule, remote work can make this an even more important issue for many. Undertaking tasks when we are more inclined to have the focus we need, may allow us to get more done, more quickly.
 
Activity
In an ideal state, what would your ideal day or week of work look like? WHAT would you do WHEN?

Make a list of the different tasks you need to complete in the next 1-3 weeks. What time of the day might you be best placed to complete them in?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Consider using the time trackers (Monthly Planning Tools) to track when in the month you are completing core tasks, but also the time of day. Instead of tracking by one color per activity, you may consider tracking by M, A, N – Morning (M), Afternoon (A), Night (N).

After tracking your time of day rhythms (could be a week or more), what do you notice?
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What adjustments could support you in maximizing your work routine?

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 program design, 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 43 Focus — Delegation
Focus Question: What are the tasks which you need to let go of and have others complete? 

Description
There’s usually never enough time to get things done in our work. One area which most professionals struggle with is delegation. This is particularly challenging when working in the remote space as we need to be even more specific and strategic in what we can delegate, to whom and what it can look like.
 
Delegation is successful when we are clear about the task that needs to be completed, when we ensure that the person doing has the resources and authority to get it done, and that we also follow up regularly with the task.
 
Throughout the last three decades of my career, in teams large and small, intact and remote, I’ve found delegation to be a growth edge for everyone – leaders and team members alike.
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In the spirit of keeping things simple, I have had people reflect on the 5Ws and an H of delegation as they think about:

• WHAT they want to delegate?
• WHO has the skills to do it?
• WHEN can they do it? What are key milestones towards project completion? When will you get things done?
• WHERE can the person being delegated to go for information and resources?
• WHY? What’s important about this task? What does the person need to know about WHY the task needs to be completed on time, with accuracy etc. Provide context around this.
• HOW can they do it? What are some of the key steps and resources required? Are there specific decision points they need to be aware of?

Using these questions as a conversation prompter can be valuable in terms of making sure that delegation is successful for everyone.
 
Activity
In this week’s post, I’m inviting you to take stock of all the things that are on your plate. As you consider past focus areas like the 80/20 Rule, what do you notice about where you are getting your impact and results in your work? You may recall that the 80/20 Rule – also known as Pareto’s Principle - indicates that we tend to get 80% of our impact from approximately 20% of our efforts.

Key Tasks I need to do (or delegate): _____________________________
 
Identify one or two tasks you would consider delegating. Using the following chart, work through the associated questions:

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Delegation is covered in Section 4 of the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack. Review the sections in either these.

Review your current Monthly To Do List – you’ll find 12 of them in the Planner Section at the back. Each month be sure to make a list of all the tasks, projects and activities you have on your plate. While this can feel overwhelming you may get good at “triaging” the list early in the month, so that there is ample time to delegate tasks, schedule and defer others.

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

​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

​This week’s planning hack gets you to touch things ONLY once. This hack originally derived from the realm of paper management, where many organizers encourage sorters to make decisions as they go. For example, if you were to sort through a pile of papers you would make a decision around where each of the items would go, actioning it right away.

For example, professional organizer, Helen Buttigieg, recommends that papers are sorted via RAFT – Things that need to be READ (R), Actioned (A), Filed (F), Tossed (T). Rather than reading something and putting it back in the main pile, it would be read and then filed or recycled. 
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This week you will want to consider applying this tip by tackling a pile (or box) of paper which has been sitting there. Apply the RAFT and/or sort it for once and all! I have a pile of file papers which have been accumulating for many months now that are going to get this 15-minute treatment. I’ll set a timer for 15 minutes and see how far I get. Rather than thinking I need “oodles” of time, 15 minutes is doable TODAY.

Enjoy this week’s prompt.

Best,
​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

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.
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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 

​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

This week's Weekly Planning Hack is about Time Tracking. Where does your time really go? On a Personal and Professional level, time tracking can be a significant issue. One study noted in the Harvard Business Review found that "not filling out time sheets properly costs the U.S. economy $7.4 billion a day in productivity".
​
One of the first Weekly Planning Hacks here was around the Pomdoro Technique, a time management function where you use alarms and focus in on 25-50 minute bursts of work.
Last week we explored different apps for time management. Note what you have available to you through your phone and dedicated apps to track your time through bursts of focus.

This week, consider focusing in on tracking your time. In the 19 Productivity Tips course I share a time tracking template so you can note on a 15-30 minute basis throughout the day where your time is actually being spent. This can be very instructive over the course of a week or month to note where your time is actually going.  Create your own time tracker using a blank page of paper, segmenting it into 15 minute blocks, or refer to the lecture in the 19 Productivity Course I released earlier this year.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

In this week’s Weekly Planning Hack, I’m exploring some of the varied apps that are available to support you in time management. Many of us have periods where everything is digital. This may be your daily practice OR it may be the way you do things while traveling or on the road for work.

Apps around time management can support many functions including:

• Project Management
• Time Tracking – where your time is going
• Calendaring
• Scheduling
• Contents
• Invoicing
• Learning

Let’s take a look at some of the options under these umbrellas:

Project Management – Two of my favorite project management apps are Trello and Asana. While a little different in focus and look, they are both mobile and desk top friendly. I find I use Trello more for writing and creative projects like program design, while turning to Asana for projects that require collaboration.

Time Tracking – One of the first Weekly Planning Hacks here was around the Pomdoro Technique, a time management function where you use alarms and burst of work. Note what you have available to you through your phone and dedicated apps to track your time through bursts of focus.
There is also an opportunity to track your time through a multitude of apps such as Toggl, Timeline, Tsheets and many others. What do you use? Let us know in the comments below what you use and what you like about it?
 
Learning Apps – As an educator in both formal and informal contexts for many years, there are so many great ways to take “learning with you”. From podcasts to on-demand video-based courses. 

One of the applications I use with my clients is Teachable. You’ll note the Teams365 series of programming continues to grow in scope. The Teams365 Teamwork Foundations course has been joined this year by the 19 Productivity Tips and Time Management program. Having been involved in creating both corporate and public programming for many years I know how valuable it is for students to be able to learn in this flexible format. While it’s not for everyone, when there ‘s an urgent need, nothing beats taking a quick on-demand program.

Invoicing – for those involved in running a business, invoicing and financial apps are critical to keeping a business running and doors open. From PayPal to Quick books, along with other tracking systems, it makes it easy to receive and send money at the press of a button.
 
As you may have noticed, I did not touch on all of these and will be covering some of them in future posts. Stay tuned next week for Time Tracking and Time Tracker Apps.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday  here.
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)
Just announced - July's Facilitator Training for PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder. Are you interested incorporating these resources into your own work. Help me bring the resource out to 20,000 virtual entrepreneurs, remote workers and team leaders by 2020! Early bird rate on to June 21st.

​For many of us, our work revolves around projects – some which last weeks, others which may last months or years.
​
Throughout the Planners in the Coaching Business Builder and Plan Do Track, I invite you to consider the Projects, Tasks and Activities you are focusing on this month.
​
As it relates to projects, these might include projects which are focused in on creating new processes or procedures or designing and running a program. Projects are usually the larger umbrella which houses discrete tasks and activities.

Tasks and activities are discrete steps. They might be as small as reviewing a report, or as complex as creating an e-book. You’ll want to consider what level of granularity supports you as a professional. Personally, I find that I may include larger projects first as a task, until I figure out how to break it down into smaller, more discrete pieces.

As you consider projects, tasks and activities, you might note every month what you want to:

• START
• Complete/Wrap up
• Continue

For projects that are completing and getting wrapped up, consider these questions:

• What do you want to note in terms of learning – what worked, what didn’t?
• What helped to facilitate and what derailed things?

Spending time on a monthly basis reviewing these elements can ensure that our ideas get carried forward. Seeing them in one place helps us to be more methodical, as well as be able to communicate what needs to get done when, how, and by/with whom. Projects also benefit from time estimation – estimating how much time it really takes to get something done.

What’s important to consider around projects you are managing right now?

Check out recent posts on the topic of Project Management from:
The Teams365 blog for Leaders
Coaching Business Builder blog for Coaches

​Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Week 16 Focus – Project Management 101
Focus Question: What are the projects you are involved in with your business and work right now?
​
Description
As small business owners we will often be managing a series of projects. Not all of us are trained in the areas of project management. Quality of a project is determined by a balance of Time, Cost and Scope. If one of these qualities change, there will be an impact on the other two elements.

Projects may be as big as a book creation which is scaled over several months or years, or as discrete as writing a newsletter.

• Certain elements are key in managing projects
• What are the main tasks?
• What do you need to ensure you get done?
• Who is responsible for what?
• What are the tasks which are required?
• What will success look like?

Story - Project Management 101
As a former project manager my world was always framed in program starts, mid-points and end of project reviews. Spending time on end-of-project review helps us reduce learning and mistakes in a second iteration.
Regardless of how big or small the project is it can be useful to talk stop and pause and see how things are going.
​
Some of the questions at the midpoint could include:

• What's working well?
• What changes are needed?
• What resourcing needs to change?  (Think: human resource is, IT, other resources…)?
• Who else can we learn from?
• Are there other projects with have experienced a similar status?

In the world of project management, we want to make sure that projects are on time, on scope, and on budget. This is often known as the triple constraint and in any given project these three elements are interdependent. Think about a triangle.
If time changes, the budget or scope needs to change. For example, if you had originally ear-marked 6 months to have a book published, and all of a sudden it needs to be ready in the next 3 months, you will need to explore:
Adding more resources – paying for rush service, or bringing other people on board to help
OR perhaps you need to make the book shorter, so instead of having it be 20 chapters, publishing it as a 10 chapter book this year, and aiming to publish Part 2 of the book as a follow-up next year. 

There is a whole slew of project management tools available. Tools to explore include Asana, Trello, or other apps. 

Activity
Consider a project you are working on. What is the time, scope and budget?
Break things down into project tasks and activities.
What are the major milestones?
What needs to be done by when?
What do you want to do each month or week of the project?  Map it out/create a timeline.
Who are the key stakeholders you need to engage with and keep updated?

​Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Every month use Monthly Daily Tracker to capture key learning from projects. Noting data (milestones, completions, meetings) may help with things like Time Estimation, Process mapping or other learning for this project or others.
As you complete your Monthly To-Dos each month note any projects, tasks and activities you are working on.

There is space in each of the Monthly One-Page Planners to note projects you are starting, continuing and ending.

You can also adapt the Content Trackers or monthly trackers to track the different stages of the projects you are engaging with.
 
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
​