This post provided by Busy.Coach

Coaches often have a handful of great ideas about how to improve their program. For many coaches it is difficult to put those ideas into action. Here are some thoughts getting better at following through.

By Mandy Green

I just finished up speaking at the United Soccer Coaches Association National Soccer Convention.

A big thing that coaches were talking to me about this weekend is that they always have a lot of new ideas for how they can work better, but after the initial excitement wears off, they struggle to follow through and take action.

Although you start the day with the best of intentions, of course, you know what happens right? Life throws you a curveball. Maybe an administrator, another coach or somebody on your team stops by for an unexpected conversation.

Or maybe even for you, an addiction to distraction kicks in. Sorry if this sounds a little harsh, but coach, when you allow yourself to get distracted for long enough, you’ve essentially trained your brain to underperform. As a result, you likely struggle from a lack of focus, perhaps an inability to concentrate for long periods of time, and this near constant feeling of being totally overworked and overstretched and overcommitted.

But here’s the deal: if you want to create and contribute and experience extraordinary things in this life — and I believe you do because you are reading this newsletter — then you have to buck the status quo. You have to break cycle of these addictions and really push back against all these other distractions. You need to develop an unshakable ability to follow through on what is most important to YOU.

I mean, just think about it. When was the last time that you really completed a goal that truly mattered to you? When was the last time you set an important goal and you made it happen? I mean, doesn’t it just feel GREAT to check something off your list or complete an important project or say that something is finally DONE?

You see … no matter how enthusiastic we are at the beginning of any new day or with each new project, there’s one crucial habit that makes all the difference in the world: follow-through. And the ability to finish what we start.

As I continue to try to help you decide what’s most important, then to eliminate what’s not important, and to make doing the work that you need to do as effortless as possible, I can tell you without hesitation that THIS ability — the ability to focus on what matters, to finish what you start — has been invaluable to me as a coach, as a business owner … and quite frankly, as a human.

From my own experience, I have found that there are two big problems that get in our way of following through:

First, most of us are working on way too many things at once. We allow ourselves to be pulled in too many directions. Instead of making meaningful progress on a single project that really, really matters, we wind up feeling constantly overloaded and overstretched and get stuck doing maintenance tasks all day.

Now the second problem? Oftentimes we are fuzzy about our outcome. Meaning, most of the time, we’re just working hard and trying to keep our heads above water without a clearly defined, achievable result that we’re working towards.

The good news here is we have the power to fix both of these problems. And when we do, we gain some serious momentum and we train ourselves to become masters of follow-through.

So the very first step is this: we must decide.

Meaning, DECIDE what’s truly most important. And, to be clear — I’m not talking about several things here, I’m talking about choosing just ONE thing. One TOP priority. One single goal.

For you to develop the habit of finishing what you start – you’ve got to be willing to choose ONE important goal or ONE project that you want to get done.

Did you know that the word “decide” comes from the Latin word, “decidere,” which means “to cut off”? So when you decide on one thing, you cut yourself off from everything else except from that which you’ve said is most important.

As it is Sunday and you are hopefully preparing for kicking ass in the office this week, I want you to think about this question: What’s one thing you could focus on (a single project or goal) that, if you finished it, would make a tremendous positive impact on your program and life?

If you’re having trouble committing to JUST one thing, if you’re unwilling to commit to one thing, I want you to remember this: you’re most likely going to be distracted by EVERYTHING.

Shut off your phone, close email and eliminate all distractions. Have a great week!

If you want to challenge yourself to a Busy Coach 30 Day Productivity Challenge this month, go here to get the details.

Email me at mandy@busy.coach.com to let me know how it goes for you. I love hearing all of your success stories of how this is working for you!!!!!

If you are interested in having me help you get your program and staff organized and firing on all cylinders this year, email me at mandy@busy.coach.

Win the day!

What if you planned your entire day the same way you planned workouts? What if you planned your day so that there was no wasted time and you stayed focused on the things that mattered? The answer is that you would be more productive.

This post was provided by Busy.Coach a site designed to help coaches be more productive

By Mandy Green

I am speaking in a few weeks to all of the amazing coaches who will be at Camp Elevate.  As I am preparing my Time Management 101 speech, I am remembering a conversation that I had with a coach while we were out recruiting a few weeks ago.

It went something like this. “Mandy, I know that I am stressed, overwhelmed, busy doing random stuff all day, and not making the progress I want with my program.   I know I need to manage my time better and get organized, but I don’t even know where to begin.”

My response to this coach was that I believe all coaches need to approach time management in exactly the same way that they approach their practices.

For a typical practice:

1. Every minute of practice is accounted for and no time is wasted.
2. Everything is proactively planned in advance and organized.
3. Top priorities to work on take up the majority of practice and are worked on first.
4. Tasks have been delegated to other coaches based on their strengths.
5. There are water breaks in between activities.
6. Whistles or horns sound when it is time to move onto the next stage of practice
7. Coaches reflect after practice is done on what went well and what didn’t so they can make tomorrow better.

BUT, for some reason when it comes to getting work done in the office, a lot of coaches just simply go into their office with no plan, react to everything around them, take no scheduled breaks, and choose to do whatever grabs their attention next until it is time to leave the office! Doing things this way is very inefficient and a lot of time is wasted.  And worst of all, no progress is made towards building the program of your dreams!!

The more structure you have during your work time means you get more work done.  It means you get further ahead with your program.  It means you have to work less outside of your work time.

Ok, let’s plan your day in the office tomorrow just like you would plan practice.

When you start planning your day in the office, just like you would when planning practices for your team, make sure to strategically think about and write down what you could do during the day to move your program forward.

1. Plan everything in advance the day or night before. While there are exceptions to the rule, generally you can’t expect to just show up for practice with no plan of what you are going to do for the day and have it be a good productive practice.  The same holds true for the office.  Write down on a master to-do list all of the tasks you need to get done the next day.
2. Then decide which of those tasks that need to get done are the most important for moving your program forward and then schedule them into your calendar. Everything else can wait.
3. Coaches tend to set up their practices by doing their most important drills when they know their team is focused and has the best energy. Do the same for your most important work in the office and you will produce higher quality work in a shorter amount of time.
4. When a time limit is put on a drill, it creates urgency for coaches so they will work like crazy to get as much productive stuff done with their team in the time allotted. Like you do for your drills at practice, schedule all office tasks in 15, 30, 60, or 90 minute intervals and then keep to the clock.
5. How much more do you accomplish with your teams when they are paying attention and putting all of their focus and energy into what you are working on in practice?  The same holds true for getting stuff done in the office. The quality of your work declines and the time it takes to get tasks done increases when you not 100% focused on the task at hand.
6. Avoid multi-tasking. You would never jump from drill to drill as new drills pop into your head.  Once you start working on something in the office, continue to work on only that task until it is finished.

I could go on and on but you get the idea.

For you coach, once your to-do list is organized based on your goals and vision for your program, it becomes a map to guide you from morning to evening in the most effective and efficient way. This guide tells you what you have to do. It also helps you decide what is urgent and what is not, saving you a lot of time.  Time that you might have otherwise wasted on less important busy-work that isn’t necessarily going to move your program forward.

 

How can you manage time better so you can perform at the highest level in your career, for your team, and for your family.?

This post was provided by Busy.Coach

By Mandy Green

I know that I am probably preaching to the choir by sending this information to a group of coaches who have committed already to reading a newsletter about productivity for coaches.

I really appreciate that you read my newsletter, I do.  Having said that, just know that I mean this question with no disrespect, “How good are you at actually applying the information you get from me every Sunday?”

I ask this because as I continue to train coaches on how to manage their time better so they can perform at the highest level for their career, their team, and for their family, I’m finding more and more how many coaches actually hate this topic . . . at first.

These are pretty common responses I get all the time when I tell coaches or business professionals that I can help them get higher quality work done in less time with less effort:

“There is no way I can manage my day any better than I already am because I have so many things to do.”

“I am being interrupted all of the time or I have all of these obligations.”

“It is hard to believe that I could actually have harmony in my life, so why even bother trying to do better with my scheduling each day?”

This is my typical response when I hear these things-

“If you don’t have a high level of focus or discipline to work on the right things, you are wasting time and things are taking longer to finish so as a program, you are probably working a lot more hours than you need to, which is taking away your free time to spend at home with family and friends.”

As we head into 2018 tomorrow, I wanted to give you 7 good reasons you should focus on learning to manage your time more of a priority this year:

You can accomplish more with less effort

Better time management can help you do more of what you have to do – faster. This doesn’t mean cutting corners or a decrease in quality. You just do what you have to do quicker (office paperwork) so you can do what you want to do sooner (coaching your sport or going home to spend more time with your family).

You feel calmer and more in control

When you don’t have control of your time, it’s easy to end up feeling rushed and overwhelmed with all there is to do. And when that happens, coaches tend to work harder and longer which leads to burnout and fatigue.  Once you learn how to manage your time, you no longer subject yourself to that level of stress. Besides it being better for your health, you have a clearer picture of the demands on your time.

Free time is necessary

Everyone needs time to relax and unwind. Unfortunately, though, many of us don’t get enough of it. Between office responsibilities, recruiting, family responsibilities, errands, and upkeep on the house and the yard, most of us are hard-pressed to find even 10 minutes to sit and do nothing.

Having good time management skills helps you find that time. When you’re more structured, focused, and disciplined to get the right things done, you’re going to get more done in less time. You accumulate extra time throughout your day that you can use later to relax, unwind, and prepare for a good night’s sleep.

You have more energy

Your ability to manage time has a direct effect on your energy levels.  Strange but true — the act of finishing tasks often brings a level of satisfaction and energy that makes you feel good. The importance of time management here? It will help you do more of those endorphin releasing activities.

Become more successful in your career

Time management is the key to success. It allows you to take control of your life and career rather than following the flow of others. As you accomplish more each day, make more sound decisions, and feel more in control, people notice. Your team will notice that you are more organized and have more energy to lead and run your practices.  Your administration will notice that you are happier, more organized, and will see it in your team’s results.

You enjoy your life more

After all, that’s what it’s about, isn’t it? What’s the importance of time management in your life? The more value you put on your time, the greater your ability to learn how to do what matters so you can enjoy life more.

Managing how you use your time is a means to an end, but it brings enjoyment and satisfaction in its own right as well.

Accomplish your vision and goals

Time management is ultimately about working a vision backwards into strategic and scheduled chunks of time and tasks.  If you are not being strategic about what you want to accomplish in your life or with your program, then I feel you are just kind of doing random tasks each day and you find yourself doing busy work instead of work what is going to move your life, career, or program forward.

Time management is not just about improving your efficiency at work. The efficient utilization of time gives you as a coach the opportunity to maximize your potential to do what it is you want to do with your time. The efficient utilization of your time improves efficiency, productivity, and personal satisfaction. Learning to manage your time, will greatly improve your coaching life quality by whatever definition you choose.  Commit to making time management a high priority for 2018. Good luck and as always, let me know if there is anything I can do to help!