Calling an Audible

I have missed the past two Saturday newsletters. Life got in the way. I also am testing a Monday time. Let me know which you prefer - Saturday or Monday?

Speaking of Monday -

I have a 2024 challenge for you, and it involves two specific days of the week. Friday and Monday. We are going to turn them into action verbs:

How to Monday Well -

• First Thing: Put your phone on airplane mode. Review your list from Friday, put things in priority order and then do the first three things.

• AFTER 10:00 am: check in with your team. Give them the space to re-enter first thing, and then check-in. When you check in - ask them how the weekend was and then listen to the answer. That’ll give you more intel on how the week is going to go than almost anything else.

• Before 4:00 pm: Confirm your appointments. Make a note of 3 things you want to accomplish in each appointment, Catch up on the news of the industry, and read your favorite newsletters.

How to Friday Well:

• Before 10:00 am: Check in with your team. See what they need to do to finish the week well and enjoy the weekend. Do not do this in a meeting.

• Before noon: review your email from the week, and tie up any loose ends. Send a thank-you note to anyone you met with during the week.

• Before 2:00 pm: Circle back with your team. If there is something you can do to help them finish up for the week, do it. Let them know if something can wait until Monday.

• Before 3:00 pm: Review your calendar for the week. If a meeting doesn’t have an agenda, cancel it.

• After 3:00 pm: tie is all up, make a list for Monday morning, and send everyone off to have a good weekend.

I wrote about both of these this week. Download the Friday slide deck here and the Monday deck here.

Happy Holidays!

This is the final edition of the Chronicles for 2023. What a year this has been! Thank you for going on this ride with me. I hope you end 2023 well and are ready to take 2024 by storm.

Until January - keep blowing up boxes!