We are moving onto productivity tips #8.

“One look at an email can rob you of 15 minutes of focus. One call on your cell phone, one tweet, one instant message can destroy your schedule, forcing you to move meetings, or blow off really important things, like love, and friendship.” -  Jacqueline Leo

The Front Blog has some provocative figures about 2018 email  - They write that in the amount of time we spend checking email in a year, someone could climb Everest twice!  Check out these statistics here!
Taming the inbox is an important part of efficiency in today’s work environment. Email is an essential communication vehicle, but it can disrupt our attention. Becoming more selective and more disciplined with email can go a long way in business success, especially in terms of getting more significant work completed (i.e. projects, new initiatives).
Consider these questions:

• How many emails do you get a day?
• How efficient are you at replying (i.e. how much time does it take to reply)?
• How does email disrupt your focus?

Several pointers around email management include:

• Notice where your email comes from. What emails do you receive? Are there any you want to unsubscribe from?
• Dedicate time to cull your email OR simply archive older ones.
• Consider what filters could support your focus and less time spent on email.
• Streamline. Can any things be batched (i.e. daily summary instead of regular alerts)?
• Turn it off for periods of the day. The disruption an email ping can make could significantly dilute your focus. Would it be useful to establish “check points” during the day?

Activity:

• Review the emails that you have received over the last two weeks. 
• What do you notice?
• How many of them are still outstanding?
• How many are no longer applicable and could be culled by unsubscribing?
• How many could be funneled to their own form?

Conversation Sparkers:

• What’s one tweak you could make to your inbox?
• When are you going to dedicate time for email review?

Enjoy!
​Jennifer

​It’s Sunday and time for another weekly video montage from the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series. Back on the first day of fall 2018, I started a daily series over at my Instagram feed (@CoachingBizBuilder). Called the 90 Days PlanDoTrack series it is focused on providing a daily question or journaling prompt to get you thinking about your work or business.

Take a look at the Weekly Video Montage which covers week 4. You can view it above.

​As you view this week’s video:

• What’s your favorite question?
• Which one resonated most with you?
• Which one is most important for you to consider with your work right now?

I've included a copy of 3 of my favorite shots from week 4 of the PlanDoTrack series below. We're just past the 100 day mark now and you can follow along at any time over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder. Hope you will join us for a daily prompt to support you into thinking and action!

Enjoy your weekend!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This week we’re taking a look back at the Teams365 January 2018 posts where I kicked off the year with the 2018 kickstart. Over the first month I included tips around creating momentum and boosting your productivity through 18 posts. January posts last year covered 8 days of focus on your goals.
Today we are going to take a look back at Teams 365 1469.

Here’s what I wrote:

“In today’s busy world, it’s very common to get on the treadmill of doing, without taking time to stop, and reflect on what’s working and what’s not. While we might not have a full day to dedicate to planning regularly “micro-bursts” of 5-15 minutes regularly can make a difference.

Peter Drucker wrote “Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  Peter Drucker

Over the last 8 days we have explored:
Take stock of your achievements and successes from the year that was – Day 1. Read it here.
Create a clear and compelling vision of your year – Day 2. Read it here
Be specific with your goals – Day 3. Read it here.
Identify and focus on priorities first – Day 4. Read it here.
Create habits and practices that will support you in what you want to achieve – Day 5. Read it here.
Be ruthless with your time and scheduling – Day 6
Develop a community of support around you – Day 7
In the same vein, building in time to celebrate is Day 8

Consider these questions for today’s prompts:
1. As you think back to the last 8 days, what have you achieved?
2. What needs a change from the original goals you mapped out last week?
3. What momentum have you created for yourself? 
4. What are you most surprised about?
5. What have you learned about yourself, your vision and your goals?
6. What have you noticed about your pace of action and reflection (i.e. when do you do this best – early morning? Late at night? In chunks?) 
7. What time do you want to build in to make planning, and “quiet reflection” a regular part of your world?
8. What will you do to celebrate your movement forward?
9. Complete this sentence, by the end of January I will have…..
10. By the end of the year I will have….

We will be continuing our journey through the 19 for 2019 Productivity tips.. Check out # 1 – 7 here.
 
Enjoy your first weekend of 2019,
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.
​
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

​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.
​
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.
​
Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Welcome to the December and January series of 19 productivity tips for 2019. It’s that time of year when we pause and take stock of what’s working and what’s not. One of the number one issues I have heard throughout this year is “how do I become more effective in leveraging my time?”. This can mean different things for different people throughout the year – from being more clear on goals, to managing distractions, to focusing more on those activities which give leverage.

As some of you may know, back in August, I launched an analog (hard copy) workbook and planner for coaches, called the Coaching Business Builder. Many people I spoke with said – I’m not a coach, but work virtually, so can you create one for me?

So… In a couple of weeks I will be launching a new planner and workbook called PlanDoTrack™. Geared for virtual and remote professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders, everyone will find it of interest. Just like the name says – it’s about Planning. Doing. Tracking.
It is about getting focused on what you want to do.
Planning – being clear on what our priorities are;
Doing  - Getting into focused action and;
Tracking the results – What’s working and what’s not.

In leading up to the launch, I am pleased to share a 19 days series I’ve entitled 19 Productivity Hacks for 2019. Over the next few weeks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays we will be focusing on these 19 productivity tips.
​
If you are interested in learning more about the new workbook and planner, the new PlanDoTrack website will be available soon, or you can sign up for the monthly PlanDoTrack newsletter here. 

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
Join Jennifer for a year-end virtual planning retreat in the PlanDoTrack Series!
Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
YouTube – Teams365 Leadership Channel
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326
Pre-order a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner for Virtual and Remote Professionals on Amazon (Available December 14). Check it out here.

As we start creeping to the close of the year, pressure ramps up to “Get it done!”. There may not seem to be enough hours in the day, or even the rest of the year, to get EVERY. THING. DONE!

Today’s post gets you thinking about a number of “year-end productivity hacks” which bring us back to some of the tried and true prioritization tools:

#1 – Understanding your Pareto Ratio – The 80/20 rule asserts that we get 80% of our results from 20% of our efforts. While it may not be truly 80% it can be very useful to think about the areas that provide the most impact in your work, and the results you are aiming towards.
It can be very useful to understand where we get our impact, particularly at crunch time, so that we know what to say yes to, and what we want to say no to.
 
#2 – Going back to Covey’s Urgent/Important Framework – I have written about how a five day training around Steven Covey’s work as a younger manager more than 15 years ago, still influences my thinking about time management. If you haven’t read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, do it now! With the volume of distractions at a peak (from social media, to tech, to diffuse focus):

• What’s really important to be focusing on now?
• What’s important in the mid-term so that you are setting yourself up for success in the new year?
• What are distractions and time wasters?
  

#3 – What can you delegate and defer?
Delegation continues to be a stretch area for most professionals today. Many times we feel we can’t delegate or we have no one to delegate to? What are the tasks that only you can do? What are the tasks that could be chunked down/broken down, so others might be able to complete?
For more on delegation – check out this LinkedIn article “Your Key To Success: Effective Delegation” I wrote on delegation.

#4 – What is absolutely essential?
Sometimes we really need to get ruthless with  our time, asking “what’s absolutely essential?”. As we get into crunch time, what are the things we need to move to the finish line this year, no matter what? What are the elements that can carry over? What elements need to be put on hold?
 
For more on these prioritization tools, take a look at what I wrote in Teams365 #951 on prioritization.

Getting Things Done Across Borders: 3 Ways Technology Boosts Remote Team Productivity
 
By 2020, more than 50% of employees will work remotely.
 
The mantra “work is something you do, not a place you go to” rings truer today and even more in the coming years. A physical office is no longer a prerequisite to running a successful business, which is especially beneficial for startups and small businesses unable to afford an office lease.
 
However, there are issues about working remotely that are characteristic of going this route. One of the biggest challenges distributed teams need to address is productivity. Many companies have retracted their telecommuting benefit due to this reason.
 
One of the most infamous — Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo!, recalled it’s work from home benefit. A memo sent to employees stated: “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.” It added: “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”
 
The reality is this: Productivity is a challenge faced by all businesses, whether its employees are co-located in a single office or scattered worldwide. It is not necessarily a function of being physically together. If it is, how can you explain the success of 100% remote companies such as WordPress, Zapier, and Buffer?
 
The common denominator among productive remote companies is their strategic and well thought out use of technology. It bridges the physical distance between remote team members. Apps and tools make it possible for remote companies to achieve a high level of productivity notwithstanding location differences and time zone.
 
If you have a remote team and they are experiencing a productivity slump, here’s how you can use technology to improve it:
 
1. Create a Virtual HQ
 
Even though you’re not co-located, distributed teams need a place to come together, a virtual headquarters of sorts. “Virtual corridors” and “virtual water coolers” can be created in order for employees to brainstorm ideas and even have non-work-related discussions.
 
These avenues are important in fostering camaraderie, strengthening employee engagement, and building a remote team culture — intangible things that significantly contribute to productivity.
 
Technology provides an easy way to do this via group chat platforms. There are several options to choose from — from free to premium — depending on the size of your team and unique communication needs.
 
2. Improve Project Management and Collaboration
 
When working with a remote team, it is difficult to trust they will remember all their tasks. Likewise, as a remote team manager, you should not assume that you will remember all the tasks and projects that you assign to virtual employees.
 
All successful remote teams use project management tools to maintain productivity, if not improve it. It is also useful to track project status, and collaborate. Many remote teams take these project management tools seriously. If a project is not on their project management board, it’s not getting done.
 
Additionally, establish a strict policy that no file should be saved in the local storage of your employees’ devices. Provide cloud file storage that you own and control. This provides better collaboration for your team, as well as safeguarding your files.
 
3. Understand How Team Members Are Spending Their Time
 
Remote work experts often say that working remotely is all about productivity, not availability. With team members working in different time zones, being available all the time and at the same time should not be the focus. Rather, it’s having an agreed time every day to get together and being able to meet deadlines.
 
That said, remote team leaders should know how their team members are spending their time. This is especially important for businesses in the client servicing industry. You should be able to assess the number of hours your employees are putting into meeting your clients’ requirements and properly factor this into your service charges.
 
Time tracking also allows you to provide coaching to remote employees. If they are spending too much time on non-core tasks, you can coach them on how to better spend their time. Additionally, if they are spending too much time on a specific core task, review your processes and look for ways to do things more efficiently.
 
Technology Brings Remote Workers Together
 
The advantages of building a remote business are well documented, from reduced operating costs to happier employees. 100% remote companies that are successful and profitable are living proof that running a successful business powered by a remote workforce is possible.
 
That said, using technology and implementing the right tools to increase productivity should be a core pillar in your company. This ensures your team is on the same page, even though you’re not in the same place.
 
Looking at successful remote companies, each one has its own processes and systems, but the strategic and appropriate use of technology is a common denominator. Technology determines the quality of communication and collaboration, and the level of productivity that your team will achieve.
 
To some extent, your remote team is only as good as the tools that you use.
 
Author Bio
 
Dean Mathews is the founder and CEO of OnTheClock, an online employee time tracking app that helps over 8,000 companies all around the world track time.
 
Dean has over 20 years of experience designing and developing business apps. He views software development as a form of art. If the artist creates a masterpiece, many peoples lives are touched and changed for the better.
 
When he is not perfecting time tracking, Dean enjoys expanding his faith, spending time with family, friends and finding ways to make the world just a little better. You can find Dean on LinkedIn.
 

Best wishes,
​Jennifer