Navigating the Drift: March 2025 Tips (Productive Flourishing Pulse #491)
How to plan for, and through, you or your team's drift arcs
What? The Pulse AND Monthly Tips? Yes, we’ve again combined our Monthly Tips into the last Pulse of the previous month. Same useful content, one less email.
True confession time: I (Steve) had big plans for how Charlie’s forthcoming post on team / organization drift arcs would seed today’s Pulse topic and the monthly theme for March: team and personal drift. But we ran out of time to push that post across the finish line yesterday. Which left me “drifting” to reconfigure those plans and the Pulse to get it to you today.
Nonetheless, today’s Pulse/Planning Tips combo is still about drift:
Charlie’s upcoming post explores the “drift arc”: that natural lag between when a leader sets a new direction and when the team fully aligns with it. Understanding this phenomenon helps leaders anticipate resistance and develop strategies to smooth the transition. (Look for this next week.)
This concept of a drift arc also applies to personal productivity: even a team of one (you!) takes time to switch gears between time blocks (context switching), let alone switch between larger projects and priorities. Many of our best planning tools and ideas — time blocking, 5 projects rule, breadcrumbs, etc. — can help keep that drift arc shallow and short.
The other type of drift we’ll be talking about is the kind you might be noticing now: that subtle (or not so subtle) feeling of having drifted off course from the priorities set in January. Competing or changing priorities, OPP, distractions — these and more can cause us to drift from our original “itinerary” and need to course-correct.
It’s typically at this time of year, the end of Q1, when we start to see and feel the drift. Which makes it a good time to address it: to recalibrate as needed — the course, the destination, or maybe both — before we end up in Q4 somewhere we don’t want to be.
Finding Your Way Through the Drift
As we move from February to March, we're seeing how capacity challenges left unaddressed often lead to drift. With Q1 coming to a close, it's the perfect moment to check if we're still heading toward the destination we set in January. Here are four perspectives to help you understand and navigate both personal and team drift:
These resources offer practical strategies for both recognizing when you're drifting and finding your way back to alignment as we approach the end of Q1.
Take a Moment
A prompt to pause and reflect.
Looking at your projects and priorities from January, where have you noticed the most drift? What's one small course correction you could make this week to realign with your original intentions?
We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.
Navigate Team Drift with Expert Support
When teams drift off course from their strategic objectives, it's often a sign of underlying challenges in collaboration, communication, or clarity. Our workshops help teams recognize drift patterns and develop practices to maintain alignment:
Team Habits
Team Meeting Makeover
Team Readiness
Team Roles and Responsibilities
These workshops equip your team with tools to shorten the drift arc and get everyone navigating in the same direction.
Explore our different workshops or other ways we can support your team.
Not sure where your team might be drifting? Our free Team Habits Quiz is a great way to identify where your team could benefit from building more consistent alignment practices.
Get Back on Course with Productivity Coaching
Recognizing when you've drifted from your most important work is the first step — but charting a path back requires intention and support. Our Productivity Coaching helps you:
Identify when and why drift occurs in your work patterns
Create navigational tools to keep you aligned with your priorities
Develop course-correction strategies for when unexpected winds blow
Build resilience to maintain direction through challenging periods
Not sure how your natural work style might be contributing to drift? Take our free Momentum Quiz to discover your productivity persona and get personalized insights about your natural working style.
In Case You Missed It
Join Us in March
This month, we're exploring drift — how to recognize when you've veered off course and strategies to realign with what matters most. Join us for one or both of our upcoming calls to navigate the drift arc in your personal and professional life.
Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 11:00 am PST
March Focus: Understanding the Drift Arc in Team DynamicsLearn to recognize when your team is drifting and strategies to gently realign focus and energy.
Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at 11:00 am PST
March Focus: Reclaiming Your Creative MomentumDiscover how to compassionately reconnect with projects that matter when life pulls you off course.
Want to revisit February's conversation on capacity? Catch the replays here.
March Momentum Planners
The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our March planners to help you fight back against drift and refocus on your best work.
Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don't see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.