How To Get Back On Track When Your Plan Goes to S%*t

Hey Coach,

I asked you this question in last weeks newsletter: “I know what I should be doing to stay on top of my job, but what usually gets in the way is __________.”

A bunch of you replied. And while the wording was different, I kept hearing versions of the same answer:

Everything.

Life happens. Coaching happens. The day is unpredictable. There are too many different roles to play. The plan looks great until the actual workday starts.

One coach described being at a small Division III school where everyone has to be a jack of all trades. He said that because coaching is a human service profession, especially in season, the flow of the day can be almost impossible to predict.

Several of you basically said, I know planning is important. I just don't know how I'm supposed to follow the plan when my job doesn't cooperate.

I get it.

And your responses have actually changed what I've been thinking about.

Maybe I've spend too much time teaching coaches how to plan and not enough time teaching them how to recover when the plan stops working.

Because that's a different skill.

The 10:17 A.M. Problem

Let's say you planned your day well.  You knew what mattered. You blocked the time. You had every intention of following through.

Then at 10:17 a.m., you realize the day you planned isn't happening.  It doesn't really matter why.

The important question becomes:  

What do you do at 10:18?

I think that's where a lot of our productivity gets lost.  We don't necessarily make a conscious decision to abandon the day. We just start reacting to whatever comes next.   One thing leads to another. We keep moving. We're still working hard.

Then somehow it's 4:30 and the things we said were most important that morning are still sitting there.

I've done it plenty of times.

And I'm starting to think the skill we need isn't getting better at preventing 10:17 from happening.

It's getting really good at 10:18.

Come Back

What if your goal wasn't to perfectly follow your plan?  What if your goal was simply to keep coming back to it?

Your morning goes sideways.   Come back.

You lose the hour you planned for recruiting.  Come back and ask, What are the three recruiting actions that would matter most now?

You on ly have 30 minutes left before practice.   Come back and ask, What is the one thing I wanted to move forward today?

It's 4:30 and you didn't get half of what you planned done.  Come back and decide what actually needs your attention before you leave and what can wait until tomorrow.

That's a different standard for a productive coach.

You don't have to win every hour to win the day.

Maybe that's what we should be getting better at.

I'm Still Learning From You

The responses to that last newsletter were incredibly helpful to me because I don't want Busy Coach to become a place where I give you productivity advice that sounds great on Sunday and falls apart by Tuesday.

I'd love to keep hearing from you how this actually works for you as you put it into play. 

So I have another question for you.  When your day gets blown up, what happens next?

Do you have a way to reset?

Do you look back at your priorities?

Do you make a shorter list?

Do you just keep reacting and hope tomorrow is better?

Or have you found something that actually helps you get back on track?

Hit reply and tell me.

And if you've never replied to one of these emails before, I'd especially love to hear from you.  You might have figured out something that would help another coach.

And your answer will help me keep figuring out how we make productivity actually work in the unpredictable world we chose to work in. 

Trying to Help You Win the Day Coach.

Mandy Green
Helping coaches win at work without losing at home. 

If you'd like to book a free 30 minute strategy call with me, book your call here: https://calendly.com/busy-coach

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