Category: #focus

Teams365 #3288: Day 4 – 23 for 23 – Focus: What are your Priorities?

1/4/2023

Welcome back to day 4 of the 23 for 23, a series where you are invited to earmark 23 minutes each day to focus on key tasks and activities.

Day 4 questions in the series get you to think about the most important priorities. Consider these questions today

Looking at my list of goals (for the year, month, day), what is most important?
What time have I scheduled to get these done?
When will I be most effective on working on my priorities?
What could get in the way of me attending to these priorities?
What do I need to say YES to, in order to knock these priorities out of the park?
What do I need to say NO to, in order to focus more on my top priorities?
Who can support me in being successful with these priorities?
What other resources do I need for my priorities?
What do I need to delegate, or defer, to get the priorities attended to?
What’s the hard end date to get these done? As we know, many tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. This is commonly known as Parkinson’s Rule.

Enjoy the reflection and be sure to pick up a copy of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder.

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my new book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon.

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teams365 #3168: 10 Areas for Back to Work Focus

9/7/2022

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For many, this is the first week back to work, post-summer holidays. Here's a quick checklist to take the pulse on the types of habits you want to cultivate post-summer holiday. I hope that you'll take 5-10 minutes today to think about what habits you want to create in each of these areas until the end of the year, or into 2018. As we've said for decades in the area of project management - 10 minutes of planning a day, saves 1 hour of unfocused effort.

Here are 10 areas to think about in terms of your back to work routines:

1. Meetings - There's an opportunity this fall to get more strategic with our meetings. Saying yes to more productive meetings, and being selective with ones that may not be as efficient. In my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations, I cover 8 Essential Questions to Ask Before Your next Virtual Meeting. I put them into a bookmark which you can download here, just so they are always top of mind. Want a hard copy? Email me with your mailing address and I will pop one in the mail to you! (First 100 who do!)

2. Staying on top of email - While it may take a little more time that just one day, this week survey the types of emails you receive. Are you on a number of mailing lists that you can unsubscribe from? How many times are you touching email? More than once? Consider what's going to help you stay on top of email and not let it leak all over. I heard a recent statistic that most workers are receiving 150 emails a day - I have to fact check this but I'm sure if you are like me you will see the value in potentially corralling your inbox.

3. Managing Interruptions - there are dozens of interruptions we face every day - from the ding of an email to someone dropping by. What's going to help keep you focused? Some work time spent out of the office (whether at home or a library?). One study found that it takes 23 minutes to recover from an interruption.

4. One-on-ones - If you are a leader, one on one time with each staff pays off in spades. What is the routine you want to adopt in this area this fall? How will you track it? What type of one-on-ones do people prefer (face to face, phone time, length, structure?). Take a few minutes to take the pulse on your one-on-ones. You may also want to check out some of the past posts I have written on this topic as well.

5. Getting away from your desk at lunch - a recent CBC poll here in Canada found that 39% of employees surveyed eat their lunch at their desk. You can read it here.
Stepping away from our desks at regular intervals is good to let our brains relax as well as enabling our body to move. While some might advocate that it gets you out the door earlier at night, what's going to be realistic around taking lunch away from your desk each week?

6. Clearing the clutter - Whether it's clutter on the desk, in the car, briefcase of home, clutter can weigh us down over time. What's the regular routine you want to get into this fall around clearing the clutter. Perhaps it is dedicating 10 minutes a day or several times a week to clearing clutter in a different place. Set your timer and see how much of an impact it makes!

7. Leaving time for exercise - Exercise provides us with a recharge to our body as well as our mind. What routine do you want to adopt for exercise this fall. Is there a class you have always wanted to take? Exercise is one of those things we may not do unless we schedule it in. Take a few minutes today to schedule in your exercise routine.

8. Taking time to cultivate important relationships - Another area that often gets short changed is spending time fostering peer relationships. Whether it's connecting with your boss, your peers, or other stakeholders, what needs attention this fall? Take a few minutes today to note this, and schedule it in. As Peter Drucker said, "What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done!"

9. Tackling that one project that's been hanging over your head, or finally saying no to it. Most of us have one project that's been on the back burner, or side burner or front burner and just isn't going anywhere. What can you do to finally finish this or say no to it. Take a few minutes this week to get this one moving to completion, or deletion.

10. Spending time on your development - In today's VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambigous), our continued development is paramount. Business changes in an instance. What professional, and personal, development will keep you growing and learning? Take a few minutes to note and schedule what you want to do for yourself this fall.

And of course, spending time with loved ones. At the end of the day, does anyone remember how much time at work or do they remember us for the time we have spent with them.

I hope that you'll take a few minutes today, or this week, to reflect on these areas as you get back to work.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

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#Teams365 #3122: Weekly Journaling Prompt: Where do I want to focus?

7/23/2022

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This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt asks you to consider the question “Where do I want to focus?”.

As you consider your work and your work right now, what’s important to note?

You may wish to consider the following questions as well:

Where do you want to focus your attention?
What type of focus will benefit you?
What will help with focus?

Enjoy the reflections!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized |Reconnecting Workspaces | Group Coaching Essentials

Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Instagram @ReconnectingWorkspaces
Phone: (416)996-8326

Check out my TEDx talk - Virtual, Remote and Hybrid Checklist

Looking to bring your workplaces back together, whether you are remote, hybrid, or face-to-face? Pick up a copy of my book, Reconnecting Workspaces, at Amazon

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Teams365 #2724 - Brain tip – Make it visual/focus

6/15/2021

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Today we get to the first Brain tip of Chapter 1 in Reconnecting Workspaces.

Visuals are an important anchor and focus point for professionals in the virtual, remote and hybrid space. In addition to visuals creating an anchor, they also serve to make complex issues more understandable.
Here’s a short excerpt from Reconnecting Workspaces

BRAIN TIP: MAKE IT VISUAL/FOCUS
Visuals are powerful. While commonly debated as a point of potential “fake news,” a 1982 IBM brochure indicated that our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text.44

A study by Crocket found that “people can remember the content of 2500 pictures with over 90 percent accuracy 72 hours after looking at them for only 10 seconds. A year later participants
had 63 percent recall of those same images. With traditional lecture format delivery, students only remember 10 percent of the material 72 hours later.”45

Think about how metaphor, and how visual metaphors, i.e., pictures, can capture and encode ideas in a much different way than just words.

It’s one of the reasons why we’re exploring this here, and you’ll notice across this book that each chapter has icons to signify some of the key tips of the chapter, along with other illustrations.”

Excerpt – Reconnecting Workspaces: Jennifer Britton, page 20, All Rights Reserved.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the book at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0993791557

Enjoy your conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

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Teams365 #2698 - Team Building Tip 292- “What is not in focus right now?”

5/20/2021

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The last year has accelerated disruption and uncertainty. It’s also meant that businesses have had to grow in new areas, and double down in others. As many places look to transition yet again, it’s interesting to ask “What’s not in focus right now?”.

In other words, what aren’t you looking at?
Take some time to focus in on what’s not in focus.

Enjoy the conversation,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

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Teams365 #2693 - Weekly Journaling Prompt 151: I Want to Zoom Into ...

5/15/2021

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This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt focuses on the question “I want to zoom into….”

What are the things you want to focus on more? Explore more? Dive into?

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Coaching Skills Training | Leadership Development | Teamwork
Growing Team Leaders, One Conversation at a Time™ in the Remote Space
Contact us to discuss leadership, coaching or performance needs for your and your team
Phone: (416)996-8326

0 Comments

Teams365 Blog

Teams365 #3288: Day 4 – 23 for 23 – Focus: What are your Priorities?

teams365 #3168: 10 Areas for Back to Work Focus

#Teams365 #3122: Weekly Journaling Prompt: Where do I want to focus?

Teams365 #2724 - Brain tip – Make it visual/focus

Teams365 #2698 - Team Building Tip 292- “What is not in focus right now?”

Teams365 #2693 - Weekly Journaling Prompt 151: I Want to Zoom Into ...

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