PS - ​Tip #18 – What doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done

“The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.”- Oswald Chambers

Scheduling and tracking are key parts of business productivity. Time management in a virtual business includes:

• Discernment – Knowing what is, and what is not important. In the big picture, in the immediate. For you. For the business.
• Prioritizing – Being clear on your Top 3-5 activities. Today, this month, this quarter.
• Scheduling it in- Making sure the big tasks and smaller tasks are scheduled in, particularly those things which are important to you and the business (review time, planning time, renewal time, maintenance, systems etc). Some research has also started pointing to the need for significant enough blocks of time being required to help you focus. For some this may be 90 minutes, others 3 hours.
• Saying NO - tactfully!  Given that we are usually operating in isolation, negotiation skills are key. Being able to say “I can help you with this, however, that may not be feasible…”, being able to delegate, defer or even say no, are all key skills. It’s not surprising that training I deliver on Communicating and Negotiating for Impact is popular!
• Being ruthless with your time.  Time is non-renewable. How do you choose to spend it?

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Activity
Consider the questions listed above. What do you notice about Discernment? Priorities, Scheduling, saying no, being ruthless with time. What is important for you in staying the course?
Take 15 minutes to make sure your schedule is up to date and includes time for the important activities in the short, medium and long term.
Add an additional 10% of time to projects or tasks which are not yet visible but need to get done.
Consider what your line in the sand is around tasks and new requests. Are you operating at 100%? If you had a new request come in, what would you do? How could you defer other tasks?

• What your successes have been?
• Where your focus has been?
• What products or services have you been focusing on offering?

Schedule it in. If you have not left space now, it’s unlikely it will emerge on its own!

Conversation Sparkers

• What projects, tasks or activities are important to schedule this month?
• What is your line in the sand around what more you can take on?
• What are the Top 3-5 priorities for you today? This week? This month? This quarter?

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Best wishes,
Jennifer

PS - If you have enjoyed these tips, do be sure to check out the new on-demand, video based course I have created around these. The program can be taken at your own pace, You can stretch the tips out daily, weekly or monthly. Join me this year for bi-weekly calls as part of your registration. Cost: $129 US. Learn more and register here. 

Tip #17 – Set a start & an end date: Parkinson’s Rule

“To the person who does not know where (S)he wants to go there is no favorable wind” – Seneca

There’s an old project management adage, known as Parkinson’s Rule, that tasks expand to the amount of time we give them. In other words, if we set a deadline of getting something done by end of day tomorrow, we’ll get it done. Conversely, we could have fixed another deadline of early next week, and the task might have stretched out to then as well.
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Considering our start and end dates is critical in juggling multiple projects. From program and product design, to administration and finances, to actually coaching, there are a lot of varied tasks which make up a successful coaching business.
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What are the tasks and activities which could benefit from a more fixed start and end date?

Related to this concept is that of time estimation.

Activity
​Consider the major activities, tasks and projects which are a priority this month. Where are they scheduled?
Ask yourself:

• What is the start date for this project or task?
• What is the end date I have set?
• Could the end date be a bit more aggressive so that the task could be completed in a more condensed manner? If not, why not?
• What is important to notice about start and end dates? How my tasks are expanding to the time I give them?
• What’s currently not getting done, which I wish it was?
• If it’s not about changing time windows, WHO can help me get it done? WHAT other resources do I need to allocate?
• What changes would I like to make?

Conversation Sparkers

• How do tasks expand to the amount of time I give them?
• Where could I be more aggressive or lenient with my scheduling?

Best,
​Jennifer

​#5 – Know Where your Time Goes

Productivity Tip #4 was Ruthless Time Management, and an invitation to do some data generation around where you are really spending your time. If you have not yet completed this activity, do it now. You’ll need it for this week’s tip, which is to do some assessment on where your time is going.

In today’s busy world, it is very easy to get side-tracked with the “shiny red objects”. These often look very alluring – perhaps promising a quick return or getting things done more quickly. Many times however they become a “rabbit hole” taking you off-course and away from the most important things.

In most of the planning frameworks I have created for the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder Planners, I usually include a small box to be filled in with your Top 5 Goals for the month (or quarter). This is a prompt to consider what is most important for you at any given moment.

Where we spend our time should be aligned with our priorities, as well as our values and what’s important for us.

This week, take stock of how your time is being spent in service to your:
Immediate priorities – what is your top 5 for the month/quarter?
Values – What are the elements that are essential to you and your work? Is it excellence, quality, customer service? Note how much time you are spending in values-based activities.
Vision – What % of activities are being spent towards your big picture goals? Towards what is really important for you?

In the Teams365 series of Time Management workshops I share a Time Tracker resource. I’ll be offering this in 2019 as both an on-demand and live program for professionals of all levels. If you are interested in staying connected around all things planning and time management, do sign up for the PlanDoTrack newsletter list.

As you review your data, what are the adjustments you want to make in service to your priorities, values and vision?

Touchpoint with PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner.
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If you have not yet completed your Quarter 1 Goals, refer to the Quarterly  Planning Tools. There you will be encouraged to note your high-level goals and your Top 5. Next, lay them out across the first 3 months of the year. After doing this, you may then want to flip into the monthly pages, and start noting the key activities in the monthly calendars. Start breaking down each activity with smaller steps, adding them to the Monthly To-Dos or the Month in  Focus sheet.

Enjoy,
​Jennifer

​Last month here at the Teams365 blog I intentionally focused on posts to support you in wrapping up the year. We usually never have enough time at this time of the year, so for today’s FlashbackFriday I want to reconnect you to these five posts. Do make a point of checking at least one of them out!

5 things to get in your calendar for 2019, right now! 
Have you got all 5 of these items in your calendar for 2019? Click on over to the post to explore what I’ve written and linked to around team meetings, team development, feedback, mentoring and skill development.
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Planning for Year End Activities with your Team 

Year end productivity reminders – 4 things to keep in mind
In addition to the 19 Productivity Tips for 2019, you may also want to check out this post which includes 4 key things to keep in mind around productivity (Going back to the basics including  - understanding your Pareto Ratio)

18 Questions for 2018 Year-end one on ones
While I have flagged these questions for year-end one-on-ones, these are just as good for the start of the year conversations. What have you already scheduled for 2019 conversations and 1-1 time with your team?

Bringing projects to a close
Some of you may still be moving to get projects to a close. Check out this post for several tips for bringing projects to a close.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

​Time is a non-renewable resource. Once we spend it, we can’t get it back.
Where are you getting good leverage from your time. Where are you not?
One activity I have shared with many professionals over the years is that of a Time Tracker. Our memory is an interesting thing. We may think we’ve spent time one way, when in fact, we’ve spent it in other ways.

This week, you are invited to track where your time is going. Grab a notebook, or an app like TopTracker, or Toggl, to start noting where your time is being spent (in 15 or 30 minute blocks). You’ll want to note things like:

• Commute times
• Time spent on social media (you can now use your iphone to immediately see your usage on different sites)
• At work
• In meetings

At the end of the week, do a summary of where your time was spent.  Ask yourself:

• What’s surprising?
  
• What could be consolidated or changed?
• What’s the impact of spending time as it is?
• What changes do you want to make?
• Where do you want to be more intentional with this?

Tracking is key to productivity. The more aware we can become around where and what we are doing with our time, the better able we can make intentional choices about where this is spent. When operating in a lot of uncertainty (which is the context for many business professionals today, especially remote and virtual professionals) having more control over our choices around time, can help with focus and confidence.
If your year-end schedule is different than the

Best,
​Jennifer

As you consider your work or business right now, where are you getting your results?
The Pareto Principle asserts that you get a bulk of your results from a significant part of your work. It’s also known as the 80/20 rule, specifying that you get 80% of you results from 20% of your activities.
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Activity:
Identify the key tasks and activities you undertake on regular basis. At this time of year you may want to identify the top 20 activities you have undertaken this week, or this month.

Looking at each activity at a time, which ones are giving you results?
Which activities are taking a lot of time, but not leading to results?

Be careful here as sometimes our actions do not translate into results right away. For example, speaking at an annual conference may not lead to immediate business, however, it could lead to some new connections with decision makers or visibility in your field.

Do a litmus test of what activities are important for planting the seed for longer term initiatives.

As you look at your list of high-impact activities, where are they scheduled?
As you look to lower yielding activities, what can you do to minimize them, outsource them or delegate them? These are activities which may need to be said NO to on the longer term.

As with any activity in time management, we need to put this into practice. What will you do to regularly review this?

Best,
​Jennifer

I’m really pleased to announce my latest publication, geared specifically for virtual and remote team members. On December 14th the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner for Remote and Virtual Professionals will be available for sale on Amazon.

Part workbook, part planner, it’s geared for virtual and remote team members, leaders and virtual businesses. Based on the success of the release of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner in July, I’ve adjusted the workbook for the virtual and remote team space.

It’s an analog, desk sized calendar, to reflect the importance of having one “Go to” resource to place your “To Dos”, project ideas, content plans and monthly reflections.

Divided into four sections, the workbook covers:

• Virtual and Remote Business Foundations – for teams and also businesses. This includes a series of skill checks and some of the latest stats on virtual and remote work.
  
• The Primer – Success tips and focus areas which you can integrate into your business, or further refine for a great prime.
  
• Marketing Essentials – Whether we are sharing what our virtual team is doing, positioning our services, or going out to promote on social media, the marketing essentials.
  
• The Ecosystem – At the heart of a successful virtual team, business or leader is ourselves. The Ecosystem section focuses on who YOU are as a leader – your strengths, values and opportunities. This section has evolved out of the Inner Business leader Virtual Retreats I have hosted for years.
  

 
The planner section covers Annual, Quarterly and Monthly planning resources, along with a robust content planning section. Including more than 28 resources you’ll find :

• Monthly Trackers – to track different elements for your business
• Annual project planners
• Quarterly Reviews
• Monthly In Focus
• Monthly

The planner pages are undated so you will benefit from starting the resource at any time.

In addition to the workbook and planner, I also host regular virtual events around planning. Each month end I host a virtual reflection hour, and
The workbook is more than 285 pages and costs $29.95. You can pick up a copy on Amazon. 

If this is a topic you are interested in (and most people are at this time of year), do consider joining me for the 14 days of PlanDoTrack series, which includes a mix of live virtual calls (open to everyone), blog posts and some other special events. Check out the daily schedule here and download a copy.
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Best wishes,
Jennifer

This week's #FlashbackFriday takes us back to Teams365 Blog Post #1432. Read it here or below:

"This week's weekend quote comes from Winston Churchill who wrote "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it". Is there a  project you have been wanting to complete for a while but haven't found the time? Would an extra hour a day move that project forward?

This past month I participated in NANOWRIMO for the third year. It's National Writing Month and by getting up early (a little more than an hour earlier than my usual) I was able to get on paper a new book for virtual team leaders and team members. While many hours of editing lay ahead, to know that it's there to be molded is a great feeling, and one that will let me rest this holiday season. I've come to appreciate the "focused push" I create for myself in a limited time window, so that important projects get attention, and don't swamp every day. Last year's NANOWRIMO project was my latest book, Effective Virtual Conversations. So stay tuned in later 2018 for the new, new book!"

Flashforward to end of 2018...what's interesting is that I've just wrapped up NANOWRIMO for the 4th year in a row. While the manuscript from last year is still in draft form, it spurred on two other publications this year -
The Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner AND
The PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner

I have been enjoying taking professionals of all kinds through 4 hour virtual retreats, supporting them in creating a pause of plan, tackle important projects and consider how they want to track it going forward. Join us for an upcoming PlanDoTrack Retreat and learn more about them here.

What project would you like to move forward? When might be a good time to do a focused push on this?"

Best,
​Jennifer