May 20, 2024 • 21 mins
In this article my goal is to walk you through another acronym that I have created called TIME. Time is one of our most important resources; as a leader, more importantly, a purposeful, accountable leader, we need to weaponize it. Unquestioningly, allowing the day to bend your actions results in a loss of traction and, eventually, burnout. If you cannot guide your path, you will be five years older one day, wondering where time has gone. To create growth, you MUST be willing to do hard things that require Routines, Accountability, and Discipline (RAD). One of these is developing a battle plan for our day. Let's get to work!
Link to Article: https://www.mcmillionleadershipcoaching.com/blog/tales-of-leadership-time-management
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Tells the Leadership podcast
.
This podcast is for leaders atany phase on their leadership
journey to become a morepurposeful and accountable
leader what I like to call a pal.
Join me on our journey togethertowards transformational
leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right team.
Welcome back to the Tells theLeadership podcast.
I'm your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty Army officer, I am the founder of McMillian
Leadership Coaching and I'm anArmy leadership coach and I'm on
a mission to create a betterleader what I like to call a
purposeful, accountable leaderor a pal and my vision is to
(00:40):
impact 1 million lives in thenext 10 years by promoting
transformational stories andskills is to impact 1 million
lives in the next 10 years bypromoting transformational
stories and skills.
And on this episode I'm goingto be going through a
transformational skill with youusing a acronym and if you
listen to my episodes or youread any of the blogs that I've
done, you know that I absolutelylove acronyms of time, t-i-m-e,
(01:02):
and we'll work through thatthrough this episode.
And before we even start, Iwant to invite you to go to
McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom.
On the top right corner, youcan click Leadership Resources
and you can find this full blogarticle to include this podcast
episode with an additionalarticle summarizing the key
(01:23):
points of this episode.
And I do all of that free ofcharge for you guys, so you can
take these tools and skills andbe a more purposeful and
accountable leader, be theleader that this world needs.
So let's go ahead and jumpright in.
So, time management In theprevious blog, I explained work,
(01:44):
family, self as a framework totake back our time.
We explored the concept of POIS, which is an acronym that I
went over in the previousepisode, and I invite you to go
listen to that, or go tomcmillianleadershipcoachingcom
and you can read that article asan acronym that you can use to
(02:05):
recharge your batteries so youcan better go out into this
world and be a more authenticleader.
In this episode, my goal is towalk you through another acronym
that I call TIME.
Time is something that ismission critical, I believe, for
every single leader.
It is the one and mostimportant resource that we all
(02:28):
have and, as a leader, moreimportantly, as a purposeful and
accountable leader we need toweaponize it.
Unquestionably, allowing theday to bend your actions results
in a loss of momentum andeventually burnout.
If you cannot guide your paththroughout the day, you will be
five years older and theneventually one day wondering
(02:50):
where all the time has went.
To create growth, I trulybelieve you must be willing to
do hard things, and thatrequires being a rad leader,
routines, accountability anddiscipline.
One of these is developing abattle plan for our day.
So let's jump right into it.
(03:10):
And here's a quote to keep youinspired Time is our most
precious resource and should beprotected with ruthless purpose.
So the first one stands fortime bend, which is T.
The first way to take back yourtime is to create time bends.
So we probably all heard theconcept time blocking and if you
(03:33):
read the book Indistractablewhich is a great resource and I
recommend you go read that bookthat goes through time blocking
and that's, in my opinion,creates decision fatigue because
we are constantly trackingevery single moment of the day.
Time bins make a large swath oftime that allows for
(03:53):
flexibility and life to get avote because it's going to
happen.
The enemy will get a votebecause this is life.
It's chaotic, just likeleadership, and we have to be
able to be resilient andflexible enough to change to
that.
Start with a routine week andthis is an exercise that I want
you to go through and use thecategories of work, family, self
(04:16):
, wfs, time bend your day,aiming to create a micro battle
plan.
What are your daily timecommitments going to look like?
Starting at the aerial viewallows you to focus on the
process, not goals.
I started this at the microlevel, planning every moment of
(04:38):
my day, and I quickly learned itwas counterintuitive.
Instead of growing and focusingon my journey, I was focused on
the clock.
Starting at the macro levelallows you to begin taking back
your calendar.
While working towards life'sharmony, remember who you want
(05:01):
to become and if your time isbeing spent intentionally to
achieve it.
Purposeful, accountable leaders, pals, create time bins for the
areas most important to themand their day.
And if you go tomacmillanleadershipcoachingcom,
you'll have an example of whattime blocking looks like.
And when I see that, it justgives me anxiety.
(05:24):
And when I see that it justgives me anxiety because your
calendar is absolutely full withall these little micro level
meetings and engagements.
And that's OK.
Sometimes we can't get aroundthat.
But what I'm saying is when youwake up in the morning between
four and eight a standard dayfor me, that is self and family
time from eight to to 1700because I'm in the army, convert
(05:47):
that that's 5 pm for all youcivilian weirdos out there I'm
joking that is dedicated to thearmy, wherever the army takes me
, whatever meetings I have thatday.
And when I get home, between1700 to 2200 at night or 10
o'clock.
For you civilians, that isdedicated to self and family.
(06:07):
Again, exactly what I'm doingright now.
It's 645 on a Thursday and I'mfilming this episode.
That is time binning versus timeblocking.
Time blocking means you have atime and a purpose for every
single session that you're goingto be doing in a day breaking
out your lunches, breaking outyour coffee breaks, breaking out
(06:28):
your gym time, breaking outother times, breaking out your
workouts, breaking out yourdinner, breaking out all the
micro level meetings that youhave in a day.
And that's great if you chooseto do that and you solve
problems that way.
But for me personally, timebending was significantly easier
and less daunting when Iactually looked at it.
Okay, I know that this is goingto be dedicated to the army,
(06:50):
and wherever I go that day, itwould be absolutely perfect.
The second concept in this is I,and that is identity.
After creating time bins, startlooking at your calendar.
Does it reflect your life andwhat you truly want to spend
your time doing?
Now it's time to make itpersonal right.
(07:10):
Remember, leadership is messy.
It is about leading andaccepting the whole person.
It is refreshing to see teammembers share their lives
through their calendars.
If you're married, place youranniversary on the calendar.
I want to see that as a leader,because I know that that's what
you're truly prioritizing.
That is a OK with me, becausefamily always comes first.
(07:31):
If you have children, ensuretheir doctor's appointments on
there.
Or if you have sports games,put it on the calendar.
There is a balance whendetermining events.
Obviously that should go onyour calendar.
I've created an exercise that Ido through my coaching that
assesses really the work, family, self, areas of importance, and
in this exercise there are fourcategories between those three
(07:55):
bins of what's routine, what'simportant, what's critical and
then what's vital Team.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
an additional leadershipresource with you, and that is
one-on-one leadership coachingthrough McMillian Leadership
Coaching.
So what do I do?
I help leaders discover theirpurpose, create a long-term
(08:17):
growth plan and take inspiredaction.
I believe everything rises andfalls on leadership and,
regardless of where you are inlife, one fact is true you are a
leader of others, you are aleader of your family and, most
importantly, you are a leader ofyourself.
To lead others well, thatstarts by leading yourself well.
(08:38):
If you want to learn more.
You can go toMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
and schedule a free call today.
Back to the episode.
To give you an example of whata vital event would be.
That would be your mother'sdeath and attending her funeral,
because that would be a momentin time that you're never going
to get back.
Nothing is more important thanattending a funeral and should
(09:01):
reflect that on your calendar.
I'm not saying to broadcast thedetails of your calendar with
every single person.
Obviously, people who have SAof your calendar should be
people that you trust and thatshould actively have control or
access to your calendar.
That's up to you and yourcomfort zone.
(09:21):
I share my calendar and give itfreely to everyone because,
again, I lead with windows and Ihave an open door policy, and
an open door policy requiresvulnerability, and a
vulnerability means you havefull access to my calendar.
Here's a question what doesyour calendar look like?
Does it actually reflect yourday or is it just words on a
(09:42):
paper and on a software script?
The next piece of the timeacronym is micro plan.
Think of this as a battle plan.
Once you've created time binsfor your day in the areas that
are most important to you, it'stime to really dig deep.
If you're like me, this step isreally unnecessary when you
(10:03):
first start out, because it'sjust too much.
When trying to find harmonybetween work, family, self
jumping in with both feet can beharmful.
Maybe you need to test out thewaters first and when you're
ready to jump in, jump inwholeheartedly.
Micro planning is not aboutcreating an event for every hour
(10:27):
of the day.
It's about planning out yourweek with intention.
So in a future blog articlethat I'm going to put on
McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom,I'll explain how you can cast a
vision and create a weeklybattle plan at the end of that
vision.
Your day defines your week andfeeds the months that determine
(10:50):
really your year.
Do you have a weekly plan ofattack or do you go into the
week blind?
What are your top three toseven goals that you're trying
to achieve in that week betweenwork, family and self?
I recommend really no more thanseven weekly objectives because
when you get beyond that forcreating a micro plan, you're
(11:14):
creating decision fatigue.
Once you have listed out whatyour three to seven tasks are
going to be, go deeper.
What are the three daily tasksthat you must achieve?
And this is something that I doevery single morning and before
I go to bed and before I leavework I identify what my top
(11:36):
three objectives are going to betomorrow.
So now, walking through this, Ihave a top three every single
day that I shoot for, and then Ihave a top seven every single
week that I try to shoot for,and that is split between work,
family and self.
That is easy to do.
It follows the acronym that Iabsolutely love KISS keep it
(11:59):
simple, stupid, and I wouldrecommend that would be a great
starting point for people thatwant to take back their time.
And at the end you need totrack it.
Get a board.
I got a gigantic whiteboard andif you're watching this, you
would see in my background, overhere to the side, I have a huge
whiteboard with categoriesbroken down into the top seven
(12:22):
things that I want to do, andthat allows me to one, make it
public with my wife because itcreates.
Number two, accountability.
And number three, it createsanother form of intrinsic
motivation to find a way to staythe course.
Remember, weekly goals are notthe point.
(12:42):
That's not the point.
It is about growth.
It's about being accountableand keeping the course and
growing.
My whiteboard is in my officeand my wife and I create our
seven weekly objectives together.
So if you remember going throughthe SMART acronym of specific,
measurable, achievable,realistic, time-based, I always
(13:05):
add an S to it smarts, shared.
You have to share it because ifyou don't share it, you're only
keeping it to yourself and it'seasy to tell yourself well,
today, josh, we don't reallyneed to do that.
Well, today, you do need to dothat, and you have to find an
accountability partner and youhave to find someone that will
keep you motivated to pushthrough when your mind and your
(13:26):
body say no, always remember youare not on this journey alone,
ensuring you incorporate theones that you love most when
your growth is critical andpurposeful.
Accountable leaders do that.
They make intentional battleplans and they begin to take
back their lives.
And if you go to McMillianLeadership Coaching or you're
looking at this article of timemanagement, I wrote up, posted a
(13:47):
picture of me and my wife inGlasgow or sorry, edinburgh,
scotland and this was on abusiness trip that I just
recently went on.
Not only did I crush it at work, I also had the weekend to go
take my wife to Edinburgh, whichis absolutely beautiful.
Ooh, and, by the way, I have aclan in Scotland.
(14:07):
My last name is McMillian, butMcMillan was the common spelling
of that name, and on theWestern shores of Scotland there
is a castle, so I'm thinkingabout going and claiming that
for my birthright, but I digressAlso in that picture if you're
looking at it.
Or you go, and you gotocmillianleadershipcoachingcom
and you look at that articlethat was filmed where Harry
(14:30):
Potter filmed Diagon Alley,which is super cool because I'm
a huge Harry Potter fan.
But I say all of that becauseyou can have everything family,
self work you just have to beintentional and you have to plan
it out, and that's hard to do.
All right, team.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
(14:51):
a leadership resource with you,and that is the
Resiliency-Based LeadershipProgram.
Rblp's vision is to create aworldwide community of practice
committed to building andleading resilient teams.
So why do you need to build andlead a resilient team?
Resilient teams are the key toindividual and organizational
growth, regardless of being inthe military or in the civilian
(15:14):
workforce.
Building collective teamsallows for exponential growth
and the team's ability toovercome adversity, adapt and,
most importantly, grow.
And then bottom line, up front.
Resilient teams are juststronger together.
And here's a fact Ninety-ninepercent of the people who take
that course recommend it toothers, and I'm one of them.
I just completed mycertification and I highly
(15:36):
recommend this.
And the great news is it's mostlikely free to you and if
you're in the military, it is ahundred percent free to you.
And if you want to learn more,you can look in the show notes
for this episode and find thelink and use the discount code
JMCMILLION, and that is also inthe show notes.
(15:58):
Back to the episode and the lastpart of this time acronym is to
evaluate.
The final step of this is tolook at your week.
The goal is to spend less thanfive minutes up to 15, reviewing
your weekly top sevenobjectives of your bins.
Did you achieve them?
What was the plan and what wentwrong?
(16:22):
And why didn't you achieve them?
What surprised you?
Once you've identified thechallenges of your week, you can
slowly refine your bins,personalize those events and
plan out the following week.
Do not spend more than 15minutes reviewing this because
think of it as you'reincrementally improving every
single week, slowly, slowlyrefining, because there may be
(16:43):
anomalies.
Remember, leadership's a journey, right, and it takes time.
It's a marathon.
It is not a sprint marathon.
It is not a sprint.
The most important thing isyou're growing Again.
That is what is truly important, especially in life.
A great way to build harmony isto hire a coach.
I am a leadership coach.
(17:04):
I would be an accountabilitypartner someone.
And Pashto and I learned thisin Afghanistan shona bashana
means shoulder to shouldersomeone that can help you if you
don't have that accountabilitypartner but make no mistake
about it you have to havesomeone, because the enemy is
going to get a revoke.
(17:24):
So how are you reflecting andrefining your time?
This is a picture of me onMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
of going through my weeklybattle plan, something that I
religiously do and then I shareit again with my wife every
(17:45):
single week.
We kind of identify and talkabout what we went through.
So here's the final thoughts onthis episode.
Work, family, self is equallypart of the human condition.
Everyone has to make a livingsomehow.
Everyone has a family thatloves them, regardless of the
season of life they findthemselves in.
(18:06):
Everyone must take care ofthemselves to survive.
However, not everyone achievesharmony in these areas.
Why?
Because it takes intentionalityand time to think.
Remember what we think definesour beliefs.
Our beliefs drive our actionsand our actions forge our legacy
(18:29):
T-Ball, our actions for ourlegacy T-ball.
What areas in your life aremost important to you and how do
your actions align with yourheart?
Remember head, heart, handalignment.
That's what we're trying tocreate.
Taking control of your calendartakes time and it requires
powerful questions, but once youcreate alignment in your life,
(18:51):
you can begin to engage yourhands to do the work.
Always remember to create heartand head alignment.
You need to see where you'regoing by developing intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation to keepthat fire lit to go do the work
.
Purposeful, accountable leaderscontrol their time ruthlessly,
(19:12):
because if they do not, someoneelse will.
So here is our after actionreview, and with these episodes,
there are really three powerfulquestions that I want you to
spend some time reflecting on.
And the first one is what isyour work?
Family self-alignment.
So, if you look at everythingyou do within a week, what is
(19:34):
the total number of hours youspend at work?
What is the total number ofhours that you spend with your
family?
What is the total number ofhours that you're dedicated to
yourself?
Does that shock you?
If it does, why?
And then, most importantly,what are you going to do to
improve it?
Number two how is your calendarpersonal to you?
(19:54):
Are you putting things on therethat just sound really cool to
yours, but are you actuallyfollowing through and doing them
?
And, trust me, if you see mycalendar with work and
everything lined over, it wouldprobably give you anxiety, but I
am extremely, extremely busy,but that's okay.
We all have seasons of lifethat we're in.
And, number three, what wouldyour perfect day and a perfect
(20:19):
week look like?
All right, team, do me a favor.
If you like this episode andthe content that I continuously
produce for you guys for free,share this episode, share it
with other people that are ontheir leadership journey and
make sure that you like andsubscribe to my podcast on
(20:40):
whatever platform you'relistening to, give it a
five-star review and go toMcMillian Leadership Coaching.
Read through all the additionalleadership resources that I
have.
You can go follow me on socialmedia and make sure you go to
Purposeful Accountable Leadersand you go join that private
Facebook group.
I'm trying to grow thatcommunity so we can build a
(21:00):
community of practice focusedaround transformational servant
leadership.
And as always, team, I'm yourhost, josh McMillian, saying
every day is a gift.
Don't waste yours.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'll see you next time.
You're listening to the Tells the Leadership podcast
.
This podcast is for leaders atany phase on their leadership
journey to become a morepurposeful and accountable
leader what I like to call a pal.
Join me on our journey togethertowards transformational
leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right team.
Welcome back to the Tells theLeadership podcast.
I'm your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty Army officer, I am the founder of McMillian
Leadership Coaching and I'm anArmy leadership coach and I'm on
a mission to create a betterleader what I like to call a
purposeful, accountable leaderor a pal and my vision is to
(00:40):
impact 1 million lives in thenext 10 years by promoting
transformational stories andskills is to impact 1 million
lives in the next 10 years bypromoting transformational
stories and skills.
And on this episode I'm goingto be going through a
transformational skill with youusing a acronym and if you
listen to my episodes or youread any of the blogs that I've
done, you know that I absolutelylove acronyms of time, t-i-m-e,
(01:02):
and we'll work through thatthrough this episode.
And before we even start, Iwant to invite you to go to
McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom.
On the top right corner, youcan click Leadership Resources
and you can find this full blogarticle to include this podcast
episode with an additionalarticle summarizing the key
(01:23):
points of this episode.
And I do all of that free ofcharge for you guys, so you can
take these tools and skills andbe a more purposeful and
accountable leader, be theleader that this world needs.
So let's go ahead and jumpright in.
So, time management In theprevious blog, I explained work,
(01:44):
family, self as a framework totake back our time.
We explored the concept of POIS, which is an acronym that I
went over in the previousepisode, and I invite you to go
listen to that, or go tomcmillianleadershipcoachingcom
and you can read that article asan acronym that you can use to
(02:05):
recharge your batteries so youcan better go out into this
world and be a more authenticleader.
In this episode, my goal is towalk you through another acronym
that I call TIME.
Time is something that ismission critical, I believe, for
every single leader.
It is the one and mostimportant resource that we all
(02:28):
have and, as a leader, moreimportantly, as a purposeful and
accountable leader we need toweaponize it.
Unquestionably, allowing theday to bend your actions results
in a loss of momentum andeventually burnout.
If you cannot guide your paththroughout the day, you will be
five years older and theneventually one day wondering
(02:50):
where all the time has went.
To create growth, I trulybelieve you must be willing to
do hard things, and thatrequires being a rad leader,
routines, accountability anddiscipline.
One of these is developing abattle plan for our day.
So let's jump right into it.
(03:10):
And here's a quote to keep youinspired Time is our most
precious resource and should beprotected with ruthless purpose.
So the first one stands fortime bend, which is T.
The first way to take back yourtime is to create time bends.
So we probably all heard theconcept time blocking and if you
(03:33):
read the book Indistractablewhich is a great resource and I
recommend you go read that bookthat goes through time blocking
and that's, in my opinion,creates decision fatigue because
we are constantly trackingevery single moment of the day.
Time bins make a large swath oftime that allows for
(03:53):
flexibility and life to get avote because it's going to
happen.
The enemy will get a votebecause this is life.
It's chaotic, just likeleadership, and we have to be
able to be resilient andflexible enough to change to
that.
Start with a routine week andthis is an exercise that I want
you to go through and use thecategories of work, family, self
(04:16):
, wfs, time bend your day,aiming to create a micro battle
plan.
What are your daily timecommitments going to look like?
Starting at the aerial viewallows you to focus on the
process, not goals.
I started this at the microlevel, planning every moment of
(04:38):
my day, and I quickly learned itwas counterintuitive.
Instead of growing and focusingon my journey, I was focused on
the clock.
Starting at the macro levelallows you to begin taking back
your calendar.
While working towards life'sharmony, remember who you want
(05:01):
to become and if your time isbeing spent intentionally to
achieve it.
Purposeful, accountable leaders, pals, create time bins for the
areas most important to themand their day.
And if you go tomacmillanleadershipcoachingcom,
you'll have an example of whattime blocking looks like.
And when I see that, it justgives me anxiety.
(05:24):
And when I see that it justgives me anxiety because your
calendar is absolutely full withall these little micro level
meetings and engagements.
And that's OK.
Sometimes we can't get aroundthat.
But what I'm saying is when youwake up in the morning between
four and eight a standard dayfor me, that is self and family
time from eight to to 1700because I'm in the army, convert
(05:47):
that that's 5 pm for all youcivilian weirdos out there I'm
joking that is dedicated to thearmy, wherever the army takes me
, whatever meetings I have thatday.
And when I get home, between1700 to 2200 at night or 10
o'clock.
For you civilians, that isdedicated to self and family.
(06:07):
Again, exactly what I'm doingright now.
It's 645 on a Thursday and I'mfilming this episode.
That is time binning versus timeblocking.
Time blocking means you have atime and a purpose for every
single session that you're goingto be doing in a day breaking
out your lunches, breaking outyour coffee breaks, breaking out
(06:28):
your gym time, breaking outother times, breaking out your
workouts, breaking out yourdinner, breaking out all the
micro level meetings that youhave in a day.
And that's great if you chooseto do that and you solve
problems that way.
But for me personally, timebending was significantly easier
and less daunting when Iactually looked at it.
Okay, I know that this is goingto be dedicated to the army,
(06:50):
and wherever I go that day, itwould be absolutely perfect.
The second concept in this is I,and that is identity.
After creating time bins, startlooking at your calendar.
Does it reflect your life andwhat you truly want to spend
your time doing?
Now it's time to make itpersonal right.
(07:10):
Remember, leadership is messy.
It is about leading andaccepting the whole person.
It is refreshing to see teammembers share their lives
through their calendars.
If you're married, place youranniversary on the calendar.
I want to see that as a leader,because I know that that's what
you're truly prioritizing.
That is a OK with me, becausefamily always comes first.
(07:31):
If you have children, ensuretheir doctor's appointments on
there.
Or if you have sports games,put it on the calendar.
There is a balance whendetermining events.
Obviously that should go onyour calendar.
I've created an exercise that Ido through my coaching that
assesses really the work, family, self, areas of importance, and
in this exercise there are fourcategories between those three
(07:55):
bins of what's routine, what'simportant, what's critical and
then what's vital Team.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
an additional leadershipresource with you, and that is
one-on-one leadership coachingthrough McMillian Leadership
Coaching.
So what do I do?
I help leaders discover theirpurpose, create a long-term
(08:17):
growth plan and take inspiredaction.
I believe everything rises andfalls on leadership and,
regardless of where you are inlife, one fact is true you are a
leader of others, you are aleader of your family and, most
importantly, you are a leader ofyourself.
To lead others well, thatstarts by leading yourself well.
(08:38):
If you want to learn more.
You can go toMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
and schedule a free call today.
Back to the episode.
To give you an example of whata vital event would be.
That would be your mother'sdeath and attending her funeral,
because that would be a momentin time that you're never going
to get back.
Nothing is more important thanattending a funeral and should
(09:01):
reflect that on your calendar.
I'm not saying to broadcast thedetails of your calendar with
every single person.
Obviously, people who have SAof your calendar should be
people that you trust and thatshould actively have control or
access to your calendar.
That's up to you and yourcomfort zone.
(09:21):
I share my calendar and give itfreely to everyone because,
again, I lead with windows and Ihave an open door policy, and
an open door policy requiresvulnerability, and a
vulnerability means you havefull access to my calendar.
Here's a question what doesyour calendar look like?
Does it actually reflect yourday or is it just words on a
(09:42):
paper and on a software script?
The next piece of the timeacronym is micro plan.
Think of this as a battle plan.
Once you've created time binsfor your day in the areas that
are most important to you, it'stime to really dig deep.
If you're like me, this step isreally unnecessary when you
(10:03):
first start out, because it'sjust too much.
When trying to find harmonybetween work, family, self
jumping in with both feet can beharmful.
Maybe you need to test out thewaters first and when you're
ready to jump in, jump inwholeheartedly.
Micro planning is not aboutcreating an event for every hour
(10:27):
of the day.
It's about planning out yourweek with intention.
So in a future blog articlethat I'm going to put on
McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom,I'll explain how you can cast a
vision and create a weeklybattle plan at the end of that
vision.
Your day defines your week andfeeds the months that determine
(10:50):
really your year.
Do you have a weekly plan ofattack or do you go into the
week blind?
What are your top three toseven goals that you're trying
to achieve in that week betweenwork, family and self?
I recommend really no more thanseven weekly objectives because
when you get beyond that forcreating a micro plan, you're
(11:14):
creating decision fatigue.
Once you have listed out whatyour three to seven tasks are
going to be, go deeper.
What are the three daily tasksthat you must achieve?
And this is something that I doevery single morning and before
I go to bed and before I leavework I identify what my top
(11:36):
three objectives are going to betomorrow.
So now, walking through this, Ihave a top three every single
day that I shoot for, and then Ihave a top seven every single
week that I try to shoot for,and that is split between work,
family and self.
That is easy to do.
It follows the acronym that Iabsolutely love KISS keep it
(11:59):
simple, stupid, and I wouldrecommend that would be a great
starting point for people thatwant to take back their time.
And at the end you need totrack it.
Get a board.
I got a gigantic whiteboard andif you're watching this, you
would see in my background, overhere to the side, I have a huge
whiteboard with categoriesbroken down into the top seven
(12:22):
things that I want to do, andthat allows me to one, make it
public with my wife because itcreates.
Number two, accountability.
And number three, it createsanother form of intrinsic
motivation to find a way to staythe course.
Remember, weekly goals are notthe point.
(12:42):
That's not the point.
It is about growth.
It's about being accountableand keeping the course and
growing.
My whiteboard is in my officeand my wife and I create our
seven weekly objectives together.
So if you remember going throughthe SMART acronym of specific,
measurable, achievable,realistic, time-based, I always
(13:05):
add an S to it smarts, shared.
You have to share it because ifyou don't share it, you're only
keeping it to yourself and it'seasy to tell yourself well,
today, josh, we don't reallyneed to do that.
Well, today, you do need to dothat, and you have to find an
accountability partner and youhave to find someone that will
keep you motivated to pushthrough when your mind and your
(13:26):
body say no, always remember youare not on this journey alone,
ensuring you incorporate theones that you love most when
your growth is critical andpurposeful.
Accountable leaders do that.
They make intentional battleplans and they begin to take
back their lives.
And if you go to McMillianLeadership Coaching or you're
looking at this article of timemanagement, I wrote up, posted a
(13:47):
picture of me and my wife inGlasgow or sorry, edinburgh,
scotland and this was on abusiness trip that I just
recently went on.
Not only did I crush it at work, I also had the weekend to go
take my wife to Edinburgh, whichis absolutely beautiful.
Ooh, and, by the way, I have aclan in Scotland.
(14:07):
My last name is McMillian, butMcMillan was the common spelling
of that name, and on theWestern shores of Scotland there
is a castle, so I'm thinkingabout going and claiming that
for my birthright, but I digressAlso in that picture if you're
looking at it.
Or you go, and you gotocmillianleadershipcoachingcom
and you look at that articlethat was filmed where Harry
(14:30):
Potter filmed Diagon Alley,which is super cool because I'm
a huge Harry Potter fan.
But I say all of that becauseyou can have everything family,
self work you just have to beintentional and you have to plan
it out, and that's hard to do.
All right, team.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
(14:51):
a leadership resource with you,and that is the
Resiliency-Based LeadershipProgram.
Rblp's vision is to create aworldwide community of practice
committed to building andleading resilient teams.
So why do you need to build andlead a resilient team?
Resilient teams are the key toindividual and organizational
growth, regardless of being inthe military or in the civilian
(15:14):
workforce.
Building collective teamsallows for exponential growth
and the team's ability toovercome adversity, adapt and,
most importantly, grow.
And then bottom line, up front.
Resilient teams are juststronger together.
And here's a fact Ninety-ninepercent of the people who take
that course recommend it toothers, and I'm one of them.
I just completed mycertification and I highly
(15:36):
recommend this.
And the great news is it's mostlikely free to you and if
you're in the military, it is ahundred percent free to you.
And if you want to learn more,you can look in the show notes
for this episode and find thelink and use the discount code
JMCMILLION, and that is also inthe show notes.
(15:58):
Back to the episode and the lastpart of this time acronym is to
evaluate.
The final step of this is tolook at your week.
The goal is to spend less thanfive minutes up to 15, reviewing
your weekly top sevenobjectives of your bins.
Did you achieve them?
What was the plan and what wentwrong?
(16:22):
And why didn't you achieve them?
What surprised you?
Once you've identified thechallenges of your week, you can
slowly refine your bins,personalize those events and
plan out the following week.
Do not spend more than 15minutes reviewing this because
think of it as you'reincrementally improving every
single week, slowly, slowlyrefining, because there may be
(16:43):
anomalies.
Remember, leadership's a journey, right, and it takes time.
It's a marathon.
It is not a sprint marathon.
It is not a sprint.
The most important thing isyou're growing Again.
That is what is truly important, especially in life.
A great way to build harmony isto hire a coach.
I am a leadership coach.
(17:04):
I would be an accountabilitypartner someone.
And Pashto and I learned thisin Afghanistan shona bashana
means shoulder to shouldersomeone that can help you if you
don't have that accountabilitypartner but make no mistake
about it you have to havesomeone, because the enemy is
going to get a revoke.
(17:24):
So how are you reflecting andrefining your time?
This is a picture of me onMcMillianLeadershipCoachingcom
of going through my weeklybattle plan, something that I
religiously do and then I shareit again with my wife every
(17:45):
single week.
We kind of identify and talkabout what we went through.
So here's the final thoughts onthis episode.
Work, family, self is equallypart of the human condition.
Everyone has to make a livingsomehow.
Everyone has a family thatloves them, regardless of the
season of life they findthemselves in.
(18:06):
Everyone must take care ofthemselves to survive.
However, not everyone achievesharmony in these areas.
Why?
Because it takes intentionalityand time to think.
Remember what we think definesour beliefs.
Our beliefs drive our actionsand our actions forge our legacy
(18:29):
T-Ball, our actions for ourlegacy T-ball.
What areas in your life aremost important to you and how do
your actions align with yourheart?
Remember head, heart, handalignment.
That's what we're trying tocreate.
Taking control of your calendartakes time and it requires
powerful questions, but once youcreate alignment in your life,
(18:51):
you can begin to engage yourhands to do the work.
Always remember to create heartand head alignment.
You need to see where you'regoing by developing intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation to keepthat fire lit to go do the work
.
Purposeful, accountable leaderscontrol their time ruthlessly,
(19:12):
because if they do not, someoneelse will.
So here is our after actionreview, and with these episodes,
there are really three powerfulquestions that I want you to
spend some time reflecting on.
And the first one is what isyour work?
Family self-alignment.
So, if you look at everythingyou do within a week, what is
(19:34):
the total number of hours youspend at work?
What is the total number ofhours that you spend with your
family?
What is the total number ofhours that you're dedicated to
yourself?
Does that shock you?
If it does, why?
And then, most importantly,what are you going to do to
improve it?
Number two how is your calendarpersonal to you?
(19:54):
Are you putting things on therethat just sound really cool to
yours, but are you actuallyfollowing through and doing them
?
And, trust me, if you see mycalendar with work and
everything lined over, it wouldprobably give you anxiety, but I
am extremely, extremely busy,but that's okay.
We all have seasons of lifethat we're in.
And, number three, what wouldyour perfect day and a perfect
(20:19):
week look like?
All right, team, do me a favor.
If you like this episode andthe content that I continuously
produce for you guys for free,share this episode, share it
with other people that are ontheir leadership journey and
make sure that you like andsubscribe to my podcast on
(20:40):
whatever platform you'relistening to, give it a
five-star review and go toMcMillian Leadership Coaching.
Read through all the additionalleadership resources that I
have.
You can go follow me on socialmedia and make sure you go to
Purposeful Accountable Leadersand you go join that private
Facebook group.
I'm trying to grow thatcommunity so we can build a
(21:00):
community of practice focusedaround transformational servant
leadership.
And as always, team, I'm yourhost, josh McMillian, saying
every day is a gift.
Don't waste yours.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I'll see you next time.
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