Life is a blur during quarantine. We have lost track of the time, the day of the week, even the place in the year. It’s July already? According to psychologists interviewed by the Huffington Post, this complete loss of time is not uncommon. The blur is caused by our lack of routine and ability to focus. Many of us have worked to establish new daily routines but I am regularly asked how I get so much done, especially right now. The answer lies in not trying to get it “all” done but in getting the right things done. The key is the weekly review.
What is a weekly review? It is a dedicated time each week to allow you to review what has happened and is coming on the near horizon in your life, professional and personal, allowing you to tie up loose ends, plan your coming week and set targets which will move your most important goals in life forward. I was first introduced to this concept through Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I used his paper planner for years and it included a weekly review which reinforced the first three habits. I then became a David Allen Getting Things Done raving fan. I still follow much of this solution today. The link I have provided will give you a kick start if you are not ready to invest in the book. I have been and continue to use Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner system. He has a great article about The Importance of the Weekly Review. These are all great resources for organization, time management and life planning.
I can hear you now. “Tina - Those are a lot of books to read. You are crazy. I want to be super productive but I cannot read three books tomorrow. Give me some tips I can use now.” Ok, my friend, let me help you first understand why you should make time to implement the weekly review starting today.
Carving out 60 min for the weekly review - high value activity
This needs to be a habit. When I am completing my weekly review, life feels in control and on track. When I am not, things are out of control and I feel like I am wasting time regularly. If you will set a timer, maybe even use the guided weekly review provided by David Allen’s team, here is what you will get done in 60 minutes:
Gather all your stuff - clean off your desk, clean out your in-boxes, write down your text messages, etc. Gather everything you need to handle.
Handle all your stuff - Decide quickly what to do with everything. If you can complete the task in under 2 min, do it. If not, get it on the todo list and move on. (This part alone is very cleansing.)
Review and update your todo list - We often have forgotten to check off things, add things, etc.
Review and update your calendar - Go back a week and ensure you have not forgotten promises you made. Look forward and plan time to prepare for meetings and fulfill promises you made. You are not doing work now. You are capturing things on your todo list or adding things to your calendar.
Determine what THREE targets you are setting for the week that will move your most important goals (professional and personal) forward - this is the most important step!
Wow! That sounds awesome, right? Trust me, it is. Every time I finish a weekly review I feel like I have closed one week and am ready for the next. This is usually the highest value hour of my week. This is work so do this during your work day. Make this a habit and your stress level will go down and your productivity will go up.
Getting the right things done
The reason people believe I “get so much done” is because I usually get the “right things done”. Because of the investment in the weekly review, I take the time to think about what items will most move my goals forward. Let me give you an example from one week. A while back I had the following goals (adjusted to remove specific details):
Parent - Attend all events and volunteer for main musical
Leader - Write 2025 strategy for both teams
There were a couple more but you get the idea. These are personal and professional. During one of my weekly reviews, as part of my big three, to move those goals forward, I had:
Parent - Main musical - Take pics, write posts, and get social media out to help with ticket sales
Leader - Review strategy draft one with my direct reports
If I hit both of these targets that week, it would obviously move my goals for the quarter forward. Every day, as I started my day, I looked at those targets and worked on how I could achieve those targets.
So many people I know just move through their day one appointment to another, one request to another. They have not actually considered the personal and professional outcomes they would like to achieve in a quarter, a month, a week or a day. Invest in yourself. Balance your time each day and week between professional and personal goals. Before you know it, people will see you as highly productive without you actually working more hours. The difference? You will be working mostly on “the right things”.
Most of us really cannot work harder. We really should not work more hours. Much of the research shows we need to invest in ourselves to determine what we want from life, set measurable goals and then review regularly to ensure our actions are helping us meet these goals. I challenge you to implement some form of a weekly review to your routine. I would love to hear if this helps with your Covid-19 drift and helps you do more of the “right things” for you.
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