by Mandy Green, Coaching Productivity Strategies
As fall sports are wrapping up, how has this year been going for you so far? Are you getting the recruits you want? Is your team progressing and as successful as you want it to be? How is your health and energy? Is your staff firing on all cylinders?
If you are not where you want to be, don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. Most coaches I’d say are not where they want to be at this point in the year.
So, let’s fix it!
I want to share with you what has become my ultimate weapon. This very powerful tool is something we all have access to every single day and yet most people never even use it, or are not using it in the right way.
So what is this great personal development tool that can guide our yearly, monthly, and daily actions and could be the key to having your best year of growth and accomplishment for you individually and for your program?
It is your calendar.
How do you currently use your calendar? Whether your use paper or a computer calendar, do you use it just to record your to-do list busy work like go to a game here, recruiting call there, pick up groceries, etc.
Or do you use your calendar to think bigger picture? If you are not doing so already, I want you to use the strategic 12 months that we are all given every year to grow and develop into a better coach, a better recruiter, a better leader, get healthier, etc. Bottom line, to achieve the next level of achievement for us individually and with our programs, we need to use our calendars more strategically.
I learned how to set up my calendar this way from Brendon Burchard, who is one of the best personal development trainers out there. In the training I did with him, he had me think about 5 different areas of my life where I could have significant growth and then strategically map out the next 12 months of my life. Those 5 areas were in skill development, health, fun, relationships, and joy.
I am more than willing to share how I did this in all 5 areas, but for now, this is how I took this training and applied to what we do as coaches in the area of skill development.
My Goal: Be a better recruiter.
Ultimate Outcome: I was low on staff, budget, and time. I was annoyed and frustrated that every task pertaining to recruiting was taking so long so decided to solve my own problem and come up with a solution. I wanted to have set up a better recruiting system for my staff and I by the end of the year. I set out to find a way to do each recruiting task more efficiently and done in a way so it could get broken down, analyzed, and improved upon to produce good predictable results.
This was the plan I created for skill acquisition:
January: Map out a year-long communication/recruiting plan
February: Write faster and more compelling messages
March: Subject lines that get opened
April: Exercise, nutrition, sleep, and water
May: Manage my time and focus
June: Close the sale
July: Track our recruiting and team results
August: Standard operating procedures for my staff and myself written down
September: Automate or execute repetitive tasks
October: Save time and money with recruiting travel
November: Learn how to speak on the phone and in person better with recruits and their parents
December: Create a better way to manage my email.
The most critical part of executing this plan was that I scheduled it into my calendar. I time blocked 55 minutes of my day into my Game Changing Results Action Plan. I set my stopwatch and then I focused on nothing else but acquiring this skill to become a better recruiter. At the end of the 55 minutes, I took the last 5 minutes of the hour to get up out of my chair and did something physical so I could clear my head, refocus, and get my energy back up.
At the end of each month, I didn’t always completely master the topic, but I learned a heck of a lot and knew that I was getting better. At the end of the year, I was able to come up with a better recruiting system that was a lot of work to set up, but in the long run I am saving so much time and energy. I can measure and track results. We can smoothly transition if a new coach comes on board because we have a standard operating procedure for our recruiting tasks. I have checklists to reduce the time it takes us to do things and now nothing gets forgotten.
Utilize your calendar better this year by mapping out a 12 month skill development plan that will push and challenge yourself. Every single month set a monthly personal development challenge for yourself. Every 30 days make yourself a personal challenge to become a better person, coach, friend, or leader. At the end of the month you can look to see how well you did.
If you are interested in seeing a page of my daily planning system, email me at mandy@mandygreencps.com. Also, let me know if you would be interested in seeing the recruiting system that I created for myself? I am working on creating one place that you can have access to that will have all of my checklists, my best subject lines, and all of the systems that I have created.