Antonia McCullough 4/8/21 Antonia McCullough 4/8/21

You plan too much… smh :)

I love planning! I am a “list” girl. I have a list for everything. I use “stickies” everywhere and I have stacks of stickers! I usually plan my week, personal and professional on Sundays, in the afternoon, listening to music or sometimes in complete silence. It is definitely a part of my ‘me’ time experience.

During 2020, like many of you, my activities slowed downed a lot, but I noticed that my planning did not. I still spent an equal amount of time and money on planning. Yet, I wasn’t going anywhere and achieving much. I realized that I was in love with the activity, the quiet, meditative time that it brought me and all the pretty purchases I made. However, I still didn’t put a dent into my goals and aspirations for the year.

So for 2021, I wanted to scale down my planning routine. With a quarter of the year gone, I will say that I am still getting used to this new, scaled down approach. While people will say that is it is still a bit much, I am down to three planners, a vision and gratitude notebook and my journal. I also use Google Calendar for appointments, Zoom calls and coursework and Google Keep for my to-do lists. This helped me eliminate carrying my daily planner with me.

I also started to implement the use of systems, developing habits to help me move forward. For example, for my #2021FitnessGoals, where I am setting out to lose this “quarantine 15”. I realized it wasn’t enough to write in my planner to work out daily. So I created a habit, lay out my workout clothes and sneakers at night, next to my mobile phone. So in the morning, I now grab my phone, do a quick Headspace meditation and then put on my workout gear to go take a walk or exercise at home. Still a WIP (Work in Progress), but I’m getting it done.

I’d love to share some of my planner ideas and the habits that I am building now to work on my goals/visions in my upcoming posts! In the meantime, if you are looking to build better habits, here are some books and articles that has helped me. Happy habit building!

System and/or Habit Building books on Amazon

Designing Your Life (Favorite)

Mind Right, Life Right by Ash Cash (Favorite)
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Atomic Habits by James Clear (Best Seller)

#PlannerBabe

#BuildBetterHabits

#2021FitnessGoals

#LoseTheQuaratine15

#ImAWIP

#BGA

#BrownGirlAgility

#GetToGetting

Antonia McCullough 3/8/21 Antonia McCullough 3/8/21

Happy International Women’s Day

Today it was my honor to be a facilitator on the topic of being the “only” at an IWD event at work. While progress is still being made, 54% of Black women have experienced being the “only” on a team, in a group setting or project at work.

Being a facilitator today was fitting as I presented while being an “only” to my audience.

How can you be an ally to the “only’s'“ in your group? Advocate for them, create a welcoming environment for them, see their value and acknowledge their contributions.

As an “only”, be sure to stay confident, know your value and be present. Most importantly, be patient. Change is happening, but there is so much more to do.

So today I #ChooseToChallenge myself and others to advocate for my fellow ‘only’s”, to be present and own what you bring to the table.

Again, Happy International Women’s Day and Happy Women’s History Month.

#ChooseToChallenge

#IWD2021

#IAmAnOnly

Antonia McCullough 1/21/21 Antonia McCullough 1/21/21

Start the New Year with a Team Canvas!

It all begins with an idea.

At the beginning of 2021, I used Team Canvas to reconnect with my teams. It is a wonderful framework that fosters discussion and allows you to reconnect and dive a little deeper with your team mates.

How can you use Team Canvas?

Team Canvas can be used to onboard new team mates, resetting the team’s purpose, mission and values, establishing team agreements as well as starting up a new team.

I used the canvas at the beginning of the year to help reset and realign my teams from the roller coaster of 2020. As a result, both teams were able to reconnect, reset and focus on the year ahead feeling aligned and emboldened to take on the work that is ahead of us in 2021.

While this would be an in-person meeting, we used ZOOM and Miro to fill out the canvas. In doing so, team mates have digital access to the canvas and can access it at any time. We also refer back to the digital copy often, in team norm conversations and retrospectives.

Download a copy of a the Team Canvas and read on how to use it with your team.

Some takeaways from my realignment meetings:

Teams were able to hone in on a few common goals as well as individual goals for the year. We spoke in detail on how we can support each other in accomplishing these goals.
Newer members were able to gain understanding of why we do what we do (teams’ way of working). We were able to address these norms and discuss whether or not an update is needed.
When discussing core values, we’ve learned what is most important to the team. For example, the discussion of Quality and the difference of Done vs. Perfect. (this may be a perfect future post!)
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses to help improve productivity.

Are you going to experiment with the Team Canvas? I would love to hear how it goes! Please share in the comments!