​This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt is “If I could choose one resource to add for our current challenge, what would it be”? Consider the elements which would help you, individually or as a team, move forward.

If you haven’t joined us for other Weekly Journaling prompts, be sure to check out the Journaling Prompts from the last six months here. 

Why Journal?
“Writing in a journal reminds you of your goals and of your learning in life. It offers a place where you can hold a deliberate, thoughtful conversation with yourself.” – Robin S. Sharma[1]
Here are 10 reasons why journaling can be a valuable process:

1. A place to capture your ideas
2. Clarifying your thinking through writing
3. Reflective pause
4. Prioritization
5. Connecting one dot to another
6. Slowing down the pace
7. Reframing issues
8. Thinking things through via a variety of different perspectives
9. Summary of what’s going on
10. A clearing space to get ideas out of your head into a place you can review at a later date

Think about what benefits journaling would have for you.
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Enjoy your writing!
Jennifer

[1] https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/benefits-of-journaling/, accessed 11.15.18

​As we round out 2018 and get set up for 2019, I’m dedicating Tuesday and Wednesday posts to a series I’m entitling 19 Productivity Hacks for 2019.

As some of you may know, support around performance improvement – on the individual, team and organizational level – has been a significant part of my work and our focus here at Potentials Realized since 2004. This takes us into a range of conversations from a focus on team effectiveness to discussion around work-life issues to support to project management.

In these 19 posts over the Tuesdays and Wednesdays in December 2018 and January 2019 I will be lasering into 19 discrete focus areas which can be looked at step-by-step or independently. Depending on how you work and what your style is, you may want to look at each one of these daily or on a weekly basis.

1. Have a clear vision.
The starting point for our 19 productivity hacks for 2019 starts with the big picture. What’s your vision? As Seneca wrote during the times of Ancient Greece,
“To the person who does not know where (S)he wants to go there is no favorable wind”

In other words, without a clear vision it’s hard to get where you want to go.
Creating a vision at this time of year is not just a nice-to-do activity, it is an essential productivity measure as it gets us clear on where we want to go.

Visioning work doesn’t have to take a long time, in fact, you might only dedicate 10 -15 minutes to the activity. Since 2014 I’ve offered up a short 10 minute vision audio for leaders, entrepreneurs and other professionals to listen to. Grab a pen and you can listen in here.

If you prefer to free-style it, set your timer to write and complete the statement
It’s December 31 2019 and……

Provide details about what you are doing this year, what you are focusing on, what’s working and what’s not.

You might also want to use these questions as a prompt.  Consider these questions

It is December 31, 2019 and you are reflecting back on the year that was.
Note:

• What your successes have been?
• Where your focus has been?
• What products or services have you been focusing on offering?
• Who have you have been working with?
• What’s been happening?
• What have you taken a stand for?
• What have you become known for?
• What have been the major milestones?
• What goals have you achieved?
• What’s your vision for the new year? If you haven’t had time to think about it, now’s the time?

I hope that you will find a few minutes in the coming days to reflect on what your vision is for 2019, WRITING it down and possibly posting elements of it around you. Some of my clients have been creating visual reminders on their phone, through vision boards and other elements.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Coming December 14, 2019 – PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner 
Join us for a year-end virtual planning retreat!
Pre-order a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner for Virtual and Remote Professionals on Amazon (Available December 14). Check it out here.

Welcome to December! As we step into December and also the new year, we’ll be covering a range of productivity tips.

This week’s journaling prompt is “Our most effective team ritual/practice is…” If you are a solopreneur you can think about this in terms of your extended team (any VAs – Virtual Assistants, Graphic Designers, Finance professionals etc) you work with.

I hope that you'll grab a pen and some paper and take note of your replies to these questions.

Enjoy your reflections!

Best,
​Jennifer

​This week’s Weekly Journaling prompt gets you to think about the question “What will wild success look like?”
As you think about the next month, or the next year, what do you want to create? What will wild success look like?
If you had no barriers, what could you achieve?
Writing in an aspirational way about what we envision can be a powerful process. Don’t self-censure. Allow yourself the ability to dream big, and then let it go.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago in a speaking engagement, part of vision work is about letting things go. It’s about dreaming big, letting it go and trusting that what needs to happen will.
What WILL (not can) wild success look like for you?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

​This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt shifts your attention to the workplace and business context. Even if we are solopreneurs, where we work alone, we do need to rely on others to help us in getting things done. Maybe we go to an accountant or reach out to an assistant to help you in peak periods.
This week’s journaling prompt is  “Other teams we can learn from are….”
Many of today’s business requirements take us into new terrain regularly. What models do you have which you can learn from? Which teams may have already chartered the course?
This week I hope you will spend a few minutes looking at others you can learn from as you seek to maximize your current opportunities, or leap above your current challenges.

With best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of several books including the 2018 Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner & Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt brings us to #23 in the series. It’s the prompt, “What are three things you are grateful for?”.
This question comes from the positive psychology movement that found that people who asked themselves this question were happier.
Action for Happiness goes into a great description of some of the research and other supports, such as apps, that can support you with this gratitude practice. Check out their post here.
It’s a great time of the year to start developing the practice of thinking about, and also speaking to, what we are grateful for, letting those around us know what we are thankful for.
This week, build in some time to reflect regularly about the three things you are grateful for each day. You don’t have to do it every day, just a few times a week.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

This week our journaling prompt focuses on the question “The fear that’s holding me back….”
Think about this year. What’s one thing you have not done this year. Why? Why not? What’s held you back from doing this. Make a list of the things that got in the way of doing that one item. Was it fear or some other emotion?
Today’s context and ongoing change leads to a lot of different emotions for our team member. For some it may be fear, for others, it may be feelings of overwhelm, incompetence, or lack of control.
As you journal this week, notice what emotions get activated for you….

Enjoy your reflections!
​Jennifer

​This week’s journaling prompt is “our greatest opportunity is….”. Focusing on the positive and the opportunities is not always a key focus in organizations today. We are often quick to focus in on what doesn’t work. By focusing on what’s possible or opportunities, it has been shown that we activate a different part of the brain, “opening up” possibilities.
Given that we are now months into the weekly journaling prompts, it can be very useful to revisit and review what you have written already.
As you review your blog posts, what do you notice?
What are some of the core themes across posts?
What are some of the common elements or threads you are noticing?
If you haven’t been following along with the weekly journaling prompts, perhaps today is the day to start writing and capturing your ideas.
​
Enjoy!
Jennifer

This week’s Journaling prompt gets you to reflect and write on the statement of “I am most looking forward to…”

Building in time each week to reflect ad write in an unstructured way helps to focus, clarify and sometimes even ease the mind.
​
The Huffington Post published an article last year by Thai Nguyen entitled “Ten surprising benefits you’ll get from keeping a journal” highlighting some of the benefits of journaling ranging from support to goals, mindfulness, emotional intelligence and others such as. Read the article here.

What do you see as the benefits from writing a journal?

For more than a decade as I lived and worked throughout Central and South America, working for the UN and several grassroots development organizations, I kept a regular daily journal. Journaling has always been an amazing tool for me to:

• Capture ideas and events
• Clarify thoughts and explore options
• Identify themes in my work and life I may not have connected before
• Help to identify and focus on priorities

If you have missed any of the past Saturday journaling prompts, view them here. 
 
Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer

This week’s Weekly Journaling Prompt is a fun one. This week consider using “If I were to describe myself as a superpower, it would be….”
​
Everyone is unique, and being aware of what you are “GREAT” at, and what gives you a competitive edge is critical. With a quickly evolving business context, being able to articulate what values, skills and strengths you bring to the table, helps you, and helps others that you team with.
Here are a few prompting questions to help you think about your superpowers:

• What are you great at?
• What are your strengths?
• As you look back to your accomplishments this year, what skills have you honed or developed?
• How do others you work with describe your top 3-5 skills and strengths?
• What is the “kryptonite” to your superpower (in other words, what has the potential to decimate it?)?

This is one of those weekly journaling prompts that may inspire you to draw or look for some inspiration visually or graphically.
Let us know by using the comments below what you see as your superpower.

Enjoy your weekend,
Jennifer