How are you making a difference in this universe?

Have you ever attended an event that you can't stop thinking about? This happened to me last week at a networking session. 

It was an invitation only, two-hour get-together hosted by Kevin O'Leary at Optimum Talent, a prominent HR consulting firm.

Twelve people from different industries were asked three questions:

• How are you making a difference in this universe? (starting with the easy one!)
• What is your passion?
• What is your personal formula for success?

Each participant told their story and each one was fascinating. Industries included software development, social media, marketing, nutrition, leadership, robotics, sustainability, security, big data, government and public affairs, media and change management. 

Most people told both professional and personal stories. All had deep experience that they were using (or planning to use) in new ways. Most had made a conscious decision to change what they did or where they did it to improved the quality of their lives. Most had started their own businesses.

I was third up, which gave me a few minutes to think about my answers. My story included both Barb's and my careers (we are a team). I talked about how working with leaders around the world had shaped Change  with Confidence. How I observed that many could not answer change-related questions based on their operational experience. That my goal was to help change leaders build their confidence and skills by understanding the questions they must answer and the information they need to make the best decisions. 

I said that I make a difference by filling the gap between what leaders know and need to know about change to lead confidently and well. In my notes I had jotted down that confidence is built by moving people from fear to belief. 

Since our conversation, I have made many positive connections. Most attendees are part of my LinkedIn community and I have exchanged emails with five others. I will be introducing one person to someone in my network and someone has offered to introduce me to someone in theirs. I also had coffee with another person Monday. 

After the session, I thought of how this powerful experience had been created by one person who saw the benefit of helping others. During my story, I forgot to say that my personal success comes from "giving first". That might be Kevin's too. Thanks Kevin.

Phil

Five Minutes a Week Can Help Two Friends for Life

My blog post was delayed today because I was waiting for permission to include someone's name and company. I didn't anticipate that this would take hours and therefore found myself in a self-created dilemma: should I continue to wait or write a new blog post. Posting on Fridays is a personal commitment so here I go.

A week ago, I received an email from someone who had just bought Change with Confidence. Reading his note gave me an immediate energy boost. His taking the time to reach out to me meant a lot. 

In his note he said he was looking for change help from someone with experience in his specific industry. Since I didn't have it I started looking for someone who did. Fortunately, I identified two people who had excellent experience and skills that could meet his needs. Excitedly I wrote him to share the good news. 

My final step in professional matchmaking was to make introductions. LinkedIn seemed the best medium given its excellent personal profiles and ability to make connections. My first exploration into the help site was unsuccessful. All I could find was instructions on how to request an introduction to someone in a connection's network. Not what I was looking for.

My next attempt directed me to a chat stream about introductions. Margaret A. Ost provided the solution. Uncannily, the person who posted the question wanted to know how to request an introduction to someone in a connection's network. I could have helped.

Courtesy of Margaret, here are the steps to introducing two connections that could benefit from knowing each other:

• Search for one of the connection's profiles from the top of your home page
• From results, click their name
• Click the share icon from the profile overview section
• Enter each recipient's name
• Modify the message to explain how they could benefit from knowing each other
• Click send message

A new relationship can help each person gain perspectives, information, opportunities, money and ongoing support they need to be successful. Can you imagine the good you could do by connecting two of your friends each week? I have decided to invest five minutes each week to connect two people in my network. 

My friends are worth it and the energy boosts will be great too.

Phil

How would you teach the world to sing?

A primary motivation for writing Change with Confidence was to build people's skills and confidence to successfully lead change. The more people the better. This goal has shaped my approach to marketing. Every opportunity to promote my thinking and my book is a good one.

I was thrilled when Soundview approached me to partner on a new product offering with the tag line "Reach More. Teach More." SoundviewPro is an online open-enrollment academy where courses are available to everyone including its half million subscribers around the world. I am excited by the prospect of many people in different countries watching my course at the same time.

This teaching delivery format is called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and is being offered by more and more universities and private learning organizations. It has sparked debate in education communities and attracted the attention of the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

My change management course will include strategies, stories, observations, approaches and tactics. It will also offer interactive elements such as questions, quizzes and and follow-on exercises. Each module will be ten to fifteen minutes totaling three hours of content. 

I will be filming Change with Confidence U in Philadelphia in mid-November. I am looking forward to once again work with Ursula and Andrew from Soundview. Also it will be exciting and challenging to design learning in a new medium. This is a personal growth opportunity. 

Soundview's aspiration for SoundviewPro is "to permanently change how people and organizations grow their skills to succeed." That's music to my ears and I am eager to write my new song.

Phil

The Art and Science of Creating Something New

Our first Change with Confidence newsletter launched this week after six weeks of development.

This initiative is part art project and part science experiment. The selection of the articles that Mel, Tim and I made is the art; our commentary explaining why we selected them is the science. 

The most interesting part of creating the first issue was its design. Kro, my website developer, designed the template from rough drawings made in Powerpoint. He also added layout and design elements. Mel, Tim and I made revisions the same way we do on our consulting assignments - quickly, building on each other's thoughts.

We selected MailChimp as the vehicle to create, send and track our newsletter. It was Kro's program of choice. Also, I remember Michael Hyatt, an excellent business blogger, recommending it. MailChimp's website boasts 6,000 new users a day and we decided to become one of them.

MailChimp is powerful, flexible and easy to use, at least when you use it correctly. I had neglected to fill in the first and last name fields in the distribution database which resulted in blank salutations during our test run. It was an easy fix that required two hours of typing. It didn't feel easy at the time.

I really appreciate the feedback we received. Most of the notes were sent the day of distribution. There were many thanks, good ideas for future issues and offers to forward it to friends and colleagues. Some people even noted the articles they read.

Like all ongoing, repeatable projects, I am intrigued by how it will evolve. Will we make any immediate design changes, what articles will we select next time, will the tones of our commentary change? I know that each issue will be shaped by our interests, experiences and learnings, like all art and science.

Phil

How would you measure up against yourself 5 years ago?

Last week I did something I haven't done in years. I created a mix CD of songs. This used to be a hobby of mine in the days of cassettes and early CDs. 

All good mixed tapes have a theme and this one was songs I had heard with our son Sam while driving to and from his job at McDonald's. We listen to CFNY, an alternative rock station, and critique the songs based on melody, lyrics, etc. It's fun and often we have the same views.

When I shared my project with Sam, I said it was an activity from a different era. He said, "Like the dinosaur era?" Ouch. Undaunted, I started collecting the songs we liked. I was searching for a song by Metric on Youtube and noticed there were multiple live clips of it that people had posted.  

Metric, Dead Disco (2008 Coachella Festival) - Click Title 

What caught my eye was that Dead Disco had been performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2008 and 2013. Watching the clips, the location, size of crowd and weather were the same, just five years apart. I wondered how the band's performance had changed. 

Metric, Dead Disco (2013 Coachella Festival) - Click Title

Watching them back to back, the earlier performance is more raw and energetic. The later one is more stylized, better played with less but more focused energy. The later one is my favourite.

I wonder how our organizations, teams and ourselves would measure up with five year old versions. How have they changed? Would we be more stylized, better skilled and more focused?

My business notebook said that five years ago today,July 31st, I was in London leading Global Commercial Human Resources for Cadbury. I had five meetings and fifteen actions listed for the day. I had used a highlighter to mark the highest priorities and there are multiple "must," "need to" and "urgent priority" references. It's hard to say whether today I am more stylized, better skilled and more focused, but it feels that way and this version is definitely my favourite. How about you?

Phil

What I Learned in School Last Week

In high school, my career ambition was to be a history teacher. Although my career path led to business, teaching played a significant part, from training frozen yogurt franchisees, to running a bank's corporate learning and development consultancy, to teaching college courses in my spare time. Teaching has always been in my blood.

My latest teaching experience happened last Sunday when I guest presented at a Master's level change management course at York University. I met the professor, Len Karakowsky, through a mutual friend and I was delighted to share my perspectives on change with his students.

Len is the professor you wished you had in university: friendly, interesting, engaged, intelligent, funny, positively cynical and exploratory. He is also someone you wished you met earlier in your life. What a great person.

The session was entitled "Change Management and the Cultural Connection," which is an area I love. This was a hot topic for the students too who were all human resources professionals with personal change experience from different private and public industries. 

My session was planned for ninety minutes followed by a lunch where I would get the chance to chat with the students. I shared my insights on how people, leaders and organizations change and then asked the group to solve change challenges that I had experienced through the Kraft - Cadbury integration. 

My opening presentation was very interactive including excellent conversations about people's current situations. The time flew and we ended up reconvening after lunch and talking for over three hours. I didn't want it to end.

As I was driving home I thought about what I had learned. I reaffirmed that change management is about helping people move from where they are to where they need to be with the least amount of disruption; it's not about 'being right' about how to change. The business of change management with its frameworks and proprietary methods can forget this purpose. Selling certifications can get in the way of ensuring people get the hands-on experience and support they need to effectively change.

Len kindly mentioned that Change with Confidence will be on the course's reading list next year. I am thrilled because having my book available for students was one of my primary objectives for writing it. 

I learned a lot in school last week. Maybe the biggest lesson is that teachers learn as much or more from their students. I am looking forward to the next time I get to learn from them.

Phil

Why say good-bye when you can say see you next time?

Journeys are a series of beginnings and endings. Each phase starts with exploration, followed by understanding and capability. Just when you are getting good at something it is time to move on to the next phase, and the cycle begins again.

This has been true for me with the creating and marketing of Change with Confidence. First it was the concept phase, then writing, editing, pitching, formatting and promoting. Each one followed this development cycle.

One of my favourite phases has been the promotion phase.  I hired Media Connect, a New York-based book promotion and author publicity firm to support my book in the U.S. A best-selling author had given me a great reference and my initial conversation was David, Managing Director, was excellent. Have you found that there are some people you meet and just know you will get along with famously? This is how I felt about David. 

Steve Matteo, David Hahn and Eric Glover

I felt like a sponge when I met David and his team members, Steve and Eric at their office. I kept saying, "And what else, is there anything else, from your experience, what else should we do." I also invited them to use me as a guinea pig if they wanted to try new things. 

I learned so much from my five-month campaign. Their expertise was evident from day one. They worked with Wiley to get promotional galley (first-print soft-bound copies  for journalists). They also quickly leveraged their network across print, radio, public speaking and internet media channels. I was in good hands from the start.

Here is what the team triggered for Change with Confidence:

- 6 Reviews                           

- 8 Articles/Guest Posts   

- 3 Interviews                      

- 1 Talk/Event            

- 1 Webinar                      

I am thrilled with the coverage! I won't attempt to pick my favourite experiences. Each one taught me something new, whether it was approach, format or customization to a particular audience. Each one built my promotion skills. 

Beyond PR, the team shared their knowledge of the publishing industry. For example, David said there are two types of authors: one that puts out a book every two years and the other who does so every five years. The first type tends to repeat themselves while the other writes something new and uniquely profound."

Why say good-bye when you can say see you next time? It will be a little while longer than I originally thought. Thanks guys!

Phil

Less is More When Speaking in London

I received great news last week. My proposal to speak at the Association of Change Management Professionals' Europe Conference was accepted!

This achievement is important in many ways. It's my first speaking engagement outside North America, which begins the global phase of marketing Change with Confidence. Also, it is a premiere conference with excellent speakers, run by a distinguished organization−it's a five star event. Another reason is that it is being held in London where I was based at Cadbury for three years. I will have the opportunity to visit old friends. It's going to be a great week.

The speaker review process was thorough and included a written proposal, a submission of additional information and a Skype-recorded presentation on my content, audience target and level of interaction.

I was intrigued by the focus on attendees' participation. Many years ago, I realized that when leading training sessions, the less I spoke  the more people learned. Their engagement and exploration of concepts is where most of the learning takes place.

The approach I am taking for my session is new to me. After sharing my key insights on change, I will "crowd source" the direction the conversation will take: the participants will determine what real-life scenario we will discuss, what questions we will answer and what approach we will take to do so? Self-directed learning to the power of 75-150 people.

My preparation will take longer than usual because I need to be ready for all combinations of options.  I will also need to design a way for people to interact with each other as they progress through the choices. 

This will be the most adventurous presentation I have given on change: spontaneous, dynamic and perhaps even chaotic. Like dealing with change, the destination is clear but how you really will get there is not. As long as I talk less than the participants, we will learn a lot.

Phil

What would it take for you to subscribe to a newsletter?

One of the simplest and most important design elements of my web site is the newsletter registration form.

Kro and Mel, the designers of my site, and I discussed how it should look and where it should be located to maximize subscriptions. Our goal was for everyone who advanced past the home page to have the opportunity to sign up. We agreed to put the form on every page that had space for it. 

I have always been a fan of newsletters. They provide relevant information in short, easy-to-read articles. The content is tailored to one of my interests and sourcing them myself would be difficult and time consuming. 

The Change with Confidence newsletter needs to offer these attributes to people delivering change. Our aspiration is to create a clipping service of change-related articles that have caught our eye. Each one will include an introduction explaining the reasons for selecting it and how it could be helpful to the reader. Given this context, readers will decide whether each article is worth reading (if any of them).

The format of the newsletter is important too. It needs to be a clean design that is easily scanable. It should take less than a minute to identify what is worthy of someone's time.

Digg and  Stumbleupon are inspirations for the look of the newsletter. They are simple, easy to read and visually appealing. 

Newsletter Format Prototype

Kro created a prototype that we are populating for the first issue. Each monthly newsletter will begin with a summary blurb of the articles we select followed by the articles and commentary. We will launch a six-article format because nine seemed too long and three seemed too short. Ultimately, the readers will decide what is the best length for the newsletter. 

The first issue will be distributed in less than two weeks. My hope is that readers will find the articles current, eclectic and thought provoking. Ultimately, they will decide what types of articles are best for them.

I am excited by the launch. Our newsletter provides one more way to help people deliver change. If interested, you can subscribe here.

Phil

The Only Entrance Requirement is Interest

My sister-in-law, Ellen, sent me a text saying that Change with Confidence had been purchased by the Toronto Public Library system. Seven hard copies and one e-copy were catalogued in their on-line database, and the e-copy had already been reserved!

This is big news to me. A library bought my book. More people will now be reading it. I wrote a library book. Like other milestones, I thought, "This is a real book."

I am nostalgic about libraries. I remember as a boy signing-out books for school projects. As an adult, I searching through research manuals for publishers to pitch. I had a purpose and the library enabled me to accomplish it.

Toronto Reference Library
Home of Change with Confidence

Who will be using my book and how it will be used? Will people take notes, reference quotes, write in the margins or maybe even rip out pages instead of copying them (the horror)? Will someone owe fines for keeping my book past its due date? 

Mostly, I think about my book reaching a new audience. People with their own purposes using my book for free. Lady Bird Johnson said, "Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest."

Like most great opportunities, I am thinking about how to scale it. If one library system is interested in Change with Confidence, how do I engage others who may feel similarly. I have to believe there is lots of interest.

Phil

One Thing Leads to Another, and Another...

On June 6th, I gave a webinar about the biggest questions of change. It was sponsored by Soundview, a company that provides professionals with business intelligence in time-efficient ways. It offers business book summaries, author webinars, and video interviews to build awareness and skills on the latest business thinking.

A webinar is an on line seminar where participants hear your voice and watch your slides on screen. They also have the ability to ask questions and leave comments. There are both benefits and challenges to this presentation format.

On the benefits side, you are presenting in a controlled environment with the freedom to review your notes and pace your talk. Also, it is easier to answer questions and discuss comments because the moderator frames and sequences them. Another benefit is that you are not distracted by the participants because their phones are muted and they are invisible, which is helpful, especially when the audience is in the hundreds, like this one.

On the challenges side, you are talking into a speaker phone for forty-five minutes non-stop. Your voice needs to modulate to make points and create excitement so that people stay engaged. 

My friend, Michael, who is an excellent speaker, suggested I adopt a conversational tone. He also suggested that I ask people to reflect on my points and invite them to consider their relevance based on what they were experiencing.  Both tips were helpful and made my talk sound more personal. It felt like a conversation every time I posed a question to participants.

It's always helpful to be a member of a great team. Ursula, the executive producer, and Andrew, the moderator, were incredibly helpful. They shared presentation tips and examples of other successful sessions. They were also very supportive and personable. By the time we went "live," I felt like I knew them personally although we had never met in person. 

The 3-2-1 countdown before starting a presentation is always a "time stands still" moment for me. This is when I straddle between  preparation and action just before I take my step into delivery. I started my talk with a story about my first change project and went on from there. My time flew by and forty-eight minutes later I asked Andrew if there were any questions.

The participant questions were ones that I had answered in Change with Confidence. It was good to see that people were interested in what I had dealt with. They included changing priorities during a change project, dealing with resistance, and avoiding slipping back into old ways of working. This part of the session was the most dynamic and enjoyable.

Attendees were invited to leave a comment on my website if they wanted a copy of my slides. Over seventy-five people left comments and received my Powerpoint slide deck. I thought about  sending a PDF file of my slides but my goal was to help people delivering change, not to protect my work. I hope they use my slides in their change presentations. 

A couple of weeks before my presentation, I got the great news that Soundview had awarded "30 Best Business Books of 2013" status to Change with Confidence. This means they will write an Executive Book Summary and record a twenty-minute audio version of it. They will also record an author interview that will be distributed to all members. I couldn't be more thrilled.

The Soundview experience has been tremendous. One thing did lead to another and another. It may even lead to another. That's how it works.

Phil

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

I am really enjoying presenting at conferences. Attendees are interested in my topics and are willing participants in dialogues. They also have a host of good and bad experiences around change that adds flavour and relevance to the sessions.

Marshall Goldsmith

Beyond the thrill of presenting, I have the opportunity to learn from other presenters. I was keen to see Marshall Goldsmith open the HRANS conference a week ago. He was voted the #1 leadership thinker and #7 business thinker in the world at the Thinkers 50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. He is also a million-selling author and editor of 31 books. His list of accomplishment is massive.

Marshall was sharing concepts from his latest book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. I like the title, which reminds me of the saying, "If you keep doing the same things you will get the same results"; you need new thinking, actions and behaviours to get to the next level.

I'm In Very Good Company

I sat up front to get the most out of his talk. Marshall was a fun speaker. He said that he is a Buddhist and gives everything away that he creates on his website. Marshall explained, "We all will be equally dead, so might as well. The world becomes a better place because of what we do." I liked him before he started speaking on his topic.

Here is what I learned from his presentation style:

• Laugh at your jokes, it makes them funnier
• Engage attendees in an activity every 20 minutes, even if it is a group of over 150 people!
• Illustrate points with as many personal life examples as professional ones
• Be generous  ̶  it shows
• Invite people to choose one idea they believe will help them and reinforce the need to do it to get the benefit
• Leave the audience with three key messages

After Marshall's talk, I approached him and thanked him for his advice. I asked him if anyone had come up to him after a talk to offer their help to him with no strings attached. Marshall said he would have to think about that but he didn't think so. That was my one idea from his session and I am now sending him an email with my offer of help. No strings attached.

Phil

Everyone has a fifth gear. When does yours kick in?

I realized I had a fifth gear in 1987 when I took three months off to travel Europe. It had been four years since graduating and I felt I wasn't achieving my life goals. Traveling by backpack alone was one of my goals.

I had arrived in Brindisi, Italy to board a ferry to Santorini to meet some new friends. There was one more ship leaving before the port would be closed due to a general strike. If I missed it I would miss my friends. 

The ticket office was mayhem. I push my way (a new behaviour) to the counter and bought a ticket. With ticket in hand, I ran a half a mile with my heavy backpack to the ferry.  Exhausted, I presented my ticket to the attendant but something was wrong. My ticket hadn't been stamped. No stamp to entry. My look of horror had no effect on the situation. With a shrug the guy started unwrapping the ropes holding the boat to the dock. They were about to set sail. 

 I hoisted my pack on my back and bolted back to the ticket station. It was blistering hot and humid and I was wearing a jean jacket. I was drenched. I ran up to the counter (most people were now on the boat) and waved my arms wildly in large "stamp my ticket now" motions. My look of horror didn't speed up the process. 

When I finally got my stamp I dashed out the door, more hunched than when I arrived. I had no energy left and there was a moment when stopping seemed like the only option. Suddenly,  my pace quickened. I was just as tired but energy surged through my body. 

When I got to the boat it was inching away from the dock. The same guy that had sent me away was on board shaking his head. I flung my pack through the air onto the deck. I then took a running jump and fell onto the deck. The guy started screaming but it was too late to eject me. I had made it.  It was great to see my friends.

Since then, I have used my fifth gear many times, both personally and professionally. It can take the form of operating on little sleep  or attempting something I have never done before. 

I also use my fifth gear in the same way that I found it: through running. No matter how tired I am in races I always bolt to the finish. In the last 400 metres, I will select a fellow runner to pass and then speed up. It's never let me down and usually I pass my mark unless his fifth gear is faster than mine.

My fifth gear kicks in when the odds are steep and my resources are low. The trigger could be the realization that I need help, the thrill of the adventure, or the need to test that it's still there. Whatever the motivation,it has always been there when I need it. It doesn't always lead to success but it has made me more successful. That's what counts.

Phil

How to Make Presentations that are Seen, Heard and Felt

This week, I have been preparing for back-to-back presentations that are being given 3753 kilometers apart; Calgary in the west and Halifax in the east. 

After hours of writing I noticed that my design process hasn't changed much since the early 90s when I was a full-time trainer. I wrote and facilitated many custom-designed sessions in industries as diverse as steel making, cosmetics, book publishing, non-destructive testing, farming and retail. It was a fascinating time.

Like many trainers, my biggest challenge is to not create talks or workshops based solely on my own learning preferences. For example, I am a visual learner who loves pictures and I prefer to work in small groups solving problems. But the best presentations appeal equally to all learning styles.

Here is how I make presentations that can be seen, heard and felt:

• Write objectives based on needs and session length
• List key learning points
• Arrange points in a logical order
• Add exercises (validate with peers if required. Will it work?)
• Create slides (text only)
• Test  design to see if it delivers objectives
• Add visuals for interest and emotional appeal (my favourite step)
• Write the script including stories and examples
• Dry run the slides with the script to test flow, pacing and interest level
• Read the script out loud as I cycle through the slides the night before and morning of the presentation
• Present with no notes, amplifying points through passion, gestures and humour 

There are a lot of steps but like all patterns, it has become a seamless routine. I jot down notes after presenting based on what worked and what could be improved. There are always things that could have been better seen, heard or felt.

Phil

Are we a collection of our highlights?

I was in Florida this week working with a senior team. The people were great and I had the chance to get to know them over two dinners. Our conversations focused on our highlights, both personally and professionally; we were introducing ourselves through our best moments. 

I do the same when people ask me about my book. The first thing I share is the most recognizable accolade. I highlight the best of what people value in Change with Confidence. 

This week I got a new highlight. On Wednesday at 11 am, I received an email from a friend saying, "Great review by Harvey in the Globe and Mail today". This is a big deal. For those outside of Canada, the Globe and Mail is Canada's national newspaper with paid weekly circulation of 143,000. Harvey Schachter is an award winning and highly respected writer who specializes in management and business issues. 

Harvey Schachter

When I met my publicist team at Media Connect in New York, they mentioned Harvey by name and said he is one of the few business book reviewers who reads the entire books he reviews. The Wiley team also talked glowingly of his journalism and influence. He's the best.

Given the unlikeliness of finding a printed copy of the Globe and Mail in Miami, I searched for the article on my Blackberry. My mind was working faster than my fingers and I impatiently tapped on the Google search button while it was in mid-search. Once the article appeared, I reread the title and my name a few times before going further, as if to confirm, "Yes, that's my book and yes that's my name." It's funny what you do when you are excited.

The Change with Confidence review, "A nuts an bolts guide to managing change", is long (845 words), comprehensive and thorough. It provides an excellent overview of the content and format of my book. I am grateful.

Another friend emailed me today asking how my book was doing. I responded, "Really well. It was reviewed in the Globe and Mail this week."

Phil

How would you spend my time?

For the last year, I have been carrying around a fortune from a cookie. It says, "Value time over money. Only time cannot be replenished." I like it, especially since as families grow and careers grow longer, I have realize that life doesn't last forever. 

Everyone's challenge is to spend their finite time in ways that gives them an amazing life and success (whatever that means to them). 

I asked myself this question this week about how I am spending my time promoting Change with Confidence. Have I distributed my time wisely? Am I maximizing my potential? How will I know?

I am spending time on all activities in my marketing plan. Fortunately, all of them are building awareness and, if I had more time, I could do more of each one. The best I can do is track my results by activity and adjust the percentages accordingly. Also, I need to add other activities to make sure I don't miss any opportunities. 

Like most things you are trying to perfect, testing and learning provides a solid path to better results, maximizing your potential and success. Since time cannot be replenished, every second counts.

Phil