I opened my doors here at Potentials Realized on April 7, 2004. Having celebrated 15 years in business earlier this year, I continue to be thankful that the fruits of my labor continue to pay off.

While it is possible to build, and grow things quickly, building a sustainable business that will weather economic ups and downs (think 2008 economics, current flux, and…)  usually needs more than the initial meteoric rise.

This is where things like VISION, Systems and Business Foundations come in.
If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder OR PlanDoTrack, check out the different activities and reflections in Section #1.

It’s our work around creating clarity and alignment around our values and behaviors, clarifying our vision, and creating exceptional offerings which create a sustainable business.
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Questions to consider:

• What values is your business grounded in?
• How are your behaviors translated into action and behaviors?
• How clear is your vision?

Creating a sustainable business is also about you as the business owner. In the medium term, our own leadership and endurance may be what helps the business move to another inflection point.

Questions for you to consider:

• What’s going to help you be at your best?
• Grow or refine your skills?
• Develop the endurance needed to run a business?
• What fuels you?
• When do you work best?
• When do you need to take a break and/o renew?
• What else is important for you in the short term? Medium term? Long term?

Sustainable business is also about doing things for the long haul. What is the work you really love to do? How does it capitalize on your strengths? What taps into what you uniquely do well?

I hope that you will enjoy this week’s questions and exploration,
Jennifer

This week marks what is often known as the Second New Year. It’s back to work and back to school for many of us.
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With a new year mindset, it’s a great time to pause and take stock of where you are at, what’s working, and what’s not.

Here are a few ideas of things you might want to do this week (or today if you are enjoying the holiday):
1. Set or review your goals for the next 4 months to the end of the year.

2. Make your goals visible – where can you view or review these?

3. Spend a few minutes going through a guided session -you can use the quarterly prompts I included in the Q1 reflection session. Grab a pen and your journal and earmark 30 minutes to go thorough this 30 minute quarterly planning session.

4. If you do consider September to be the start of your new year, check out the post on Creating an Annual To Do List .

5. Review your schedule for the fall. Have you included:

• Time to focus on the high impact, high importance projects?
• Time for renewal?
• Time for action/execution?
• Time for learning?
• Time for relationships?
• Time to TRACK your results? Consider joining me for the Month End Reflection Sessions.

6. Consider what habits are going to help you do the things you want. Habits allow us to do things consistently and efficiently, often without as much thought.

7. Consider what you want to say YES to this fall AND consider what you want to let go of and NOT do.  
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What are your goals this fall? What do you want to focus on?

Enjoy your first Monday of September AND some Labor Day magic!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

The tagline at the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder is that Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum. In other words, action creates action. This is key for business success today. What does momentum mean in your business? Like the metaphor of a rolling stone, more energy is required to get the stone rolling, and then it takes a life of its own.

Practically:
Make a list. Do things consistently. Figure out what the best rhythm for the project or task is going to be.

In many creative projects it is easy to think that we don’t know where to go, when often it is more important to just get started and see where the creative process ensues.

While starting new tasks may take a lot of effort, over time these actions become habits and “how we do things”.

Resources:
Momentum: How to Build It, Keep It or Get it Back – Michael McQueen

Best,
Jennifer

In both the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack, I include four business philosophies which are critical to all types of virtual and remote professionals, and business owners today – Focus, Experimentation, Momentum and Reflective Pause.

In my work with teams, and individuals, over the last fifteen years in my business I’ve seen that these make the difference between good and exceptional.

With this in mind, over the next few weeks I’ll be taking a deeper dive into the realm of these four areas looking at:

• What it means in today’s business context
• Why it’s important
• Ideas for putting it into practice
• And resources you may want to follow up around

​A reminder that if you like these topics you may want to check out my weekly Facebook Live, where I put into voice quick planning ideas and activities. You will find it over at the PlanDoTrack Facebook page.

Let’s turn our attention to the first topic of FOCUS.

We live and operate today in what is often considered an era of distraction. Our ability to focus and keep our eye on what is important to us, and to our work, is key.
Did you know that:

• The average worker receives 90 emails in the span of a day?
• It takes 22 minutes to get back on track after an interruption?

It’s not uncommon for workers (not just managers) to be spending 5-10 hours a week in meetings? I’ve met managers who wear the badge of
Focused work and attention are critical, and essential in order to create foundations, and grow a business.

How To- Creating Focus:

• Consider building in focused blocks of work – turn off email, move into a conference room, or take your work mobile. What will give you the space and time to do the focused work you need in your job/business?
• Leverage the circadian rhythm. Science continues to show that we have different times of day when we are at our best. What are those times for you? What can you do to ensure you have focused work times within those blocks.
• Create your to-do list of Top 5. With change being the norm for many workplaces, having a top five list each day is important. It’s interesting as the writing of James Clear has pointed to the early 1900s productivity hack from Ivy who asserted that a focus on a top 6 list every day would lead to productivity advances. Whether it’s five or six, being able to check core items off the list can help with efficiency and also motivation.
• Know your priorities – and your teams. Priorities also keep us grounded. They will help us shape our top five as well as discern where our time needs to go. What are your priorities for the week? The month? The quarter?

 
Refer To - Focus
When: The Science of Perfect Timing – Daniel Pink
Atomic Habits – James Clear
Outer Order and Inner Calm – Gretchen Rubin
Deep Work and Digital Minimalism – Cal Newport

Check out my April 3, 2019 Facebook Live 

Wishing you all the best,
Jennifer

This week’s post gets you to explore the habits you have developed in your work and with your business.
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Habits defined = Habits are the activities we undertake on a regular basis, consistently and often sub-consciously so we don’t know what they are. They are the things we revert back to in times of stress or pressure. It’s important that we are aware of these as they may, or may not, be in service to us.

Why they are important? Habits become automatic and sometimes unconscious ways of doing things. These can be in support of the business or not.
Consider these different habits coaches may find themselves practicing. Decide whether they would be in support to your work, or not:

• Spending 30 minutes a day on social media
• Dedicating several hours once a month to making sure invoicing is complete, and expenses are entered
• Dedicating an hour a week to writing blog posts so they are ready for scheduling
• Getting to the gym, or pool, for a workout several times a week
• Earmarking time each month for a professional development activity

In the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner on pages 23- 29, I get you to consider your habits as part of the things “below the waterline” of your business.

If you have the book, take a few minutes to work through this section. Otherwise, reflect on what habits you have developed in your business, and how these are helping, and hindering, you.

Make a list and note any changes you want to make.

Historically, it has been thought that we take about 21 days to develop a new habit, whereas now it seems like it it more in the 60-day range. Check out this article by James Clear.
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Enjoy your reflections,
Jennifer

It’s officially the end of Q1 of the year, and yet another reason to pause and take stock of your successes from the last quarter and some planning for the month ahead.
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Looking backwards to the last quarter:

• What successes did you have over the last quarter?
• ​What major accomplishments did you have?
• ​What were key lessons learned?
• ​What habits or practices helped you?

• What role did planning play?
• What forms/templates and practices supported your focus and planning?
• What got in the way?
• What do you want to make sure you don't carry forward into this season?

Now turning to the next quarter’s planning:

• What are your goals for April, May and June?

• ​Narrowing it down, what are your top 3- 5 priorities? (Think - by June 21st I hope to have achieved)
• What time are you earmarking for planning?
• What time is earmarked for projects?
• What new habits and practices do you want to put into place?
• What relationships do you want to put more focus around?
• ​What is one thing you could do on a daily basis each day of spring to move your goals forward?
• What relationships do you want to put attention around?
• ​What do you need to, and want to take action on?
• What needs clearing up?
• What else is significant for you this quarter?

Finally...
​What pauses and renewal periods do you want to build in? Grab a calendar and schedule that now.

​What else will help you remain at your peak?
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Enjoy your reflection and be sure to update your Monthly Tracking Forms in the Coaching Business Builder/PlanDoTrack.

You will also want to fill out some new Quarterly To-Dos and do a weekly breakdown (check out pages 140 and 141 of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner and Coaching Business Builder).

Enjoy the planning and celebrations!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Looking to grow your coaching business this year? Check out the Coaching BizGrowth Lab. We meet the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month for 1 hour group coaching conversations. Focus this month is on collaboration and building community. In addition to the group calls you have access to a growing resource library of monthly articles, templates and recordings. Join us this quarter or for the rest of the year!