Have you ever performed a weekly review? Up until last year, I’d never tried. It seemed like a lot of effort and I was a bit unclear on what it would look like. Once I finally decided to give it a chance, I was hooked.
Weekly reviews have dramatically shifted the way I approach my weeks, and I’m confident they buy me back more time than I put into them each week. I didn’t do these while I was traveling. Could I have? Probably. Should I have? Also probably in some form, even if abbreviated. But such is life. I’m back doing them now. Even just doing this again for the first time last week, all the reasons why they’re so valuable came flooding back to me.
I’d like to share why I think you should give it a shot as well. This newsletter will be a condensed version of a longer post I wrote on the same topic this week. This should give you enough to get started, but if you want alllll the good stuff, you can read it below!
WHAT’S THE POINT?
Each of our lives has a trajectory. If we don’t pay much attention to where we want to go, we end up doing a lot of drifting rather than moving intentionally down a single path. If we have an idea of where we want to be going, weekly reviews serve as checkpoints as to how our current course aligns with our intended trajectory. They ensure we are moving along the right path, and help us course correct quickly if we get off.
Weekly reviews are a great tool, yet they are insufficient on their own. We need to perform occasional larger scale reviews around our priorities, our values, and our identity. We need this information in order to extract the most value from our weekly checkpoints. If we don’t know where we are trying to go, it’s tough to gather much meaning from where we are.
THE VALUE I GET
If you’re wondering how this relates to more concrete value, here are what I’ve found to be the greatest benefits of weekly reviews.
- I find insight into the alignment between how I want to be spending my time and how I am actually spending my time.
- Celebrating the smallest wins allows me to remember I accomplished something even in the worst of weeks. I’m able to view weeks from a more objective perspective.
- I feel significantly more prepared stepping into the week ahead. This leads to greater flexibility, a reduction in anxiety, and greater regulation of my own energy levels.
- I approach undesirable patterns with curiosity. I can then interpret them as simple cause and effect. Once I see the effect of a pattern, I’m more motivated to determine how to change the cause.
- It’s developed an actively reflective posture throughout the other six days of the week. I find myself more intentional and more present in what I am doing.
MY STRUCTURE
My weekly review is comprised of six questions that I feel comprehensively cover the axes of life that are important to me. For the sake of not wanting to make this newsletter too dense, I’m just going to list the questions here.
- Where am I?
- What voices am I listening to?
- What am I doing with my hunger?
- What went well this week?
- What do I want to change for this week?
- What do I want to prioritize this week?
In my blog post I provide more detail as to what the heart behind each of these questions is, how to go about answering them, and what I get out of each one. I’m clearly biased, but I do think that even reading this single section of the post will provide a lot more value than just reading the questions below. Click here to go straight to this section.
BUILDING YOUR OWN STRUCTURE
My weekly review is comprised of six questions that I feel comprehensively cover the axes of life that are important to me. For the sake of not wanting to make this newsletter too dense, I’m just going to list the questions here.
- Clarity – each question in your review should have a clear purpose.
- Simplicity – your review should be as streamlined as possible. Don’t try to do too much or you’ll end up not doing anything at all.
- Elasticity – or flexibility if you prefer. Your overall system should be able to condense accordion style if you happen to be short on time one week. Some of your questions should also be “stretchy” and be able to capture information that you feel is important, but might not fit clearly into an answer. (My elastic question is Where Am I? I can answer it nearly an infinite number of ways, and it’s pretty much a “capture anything on my mind” type of question)
- Repeatability – Once you have your system that works, don’t change it. Consistency makes it easier to identify patterns that need addressing.
- Neutrality – This is more of an attitude while reviewing than it is a creation tool. Don’t get all pouty at how unproductive your week was. Instead, take a week for what it was. If things need changing, simply address them. You’ll make a lot more progress that way. (This isn’t to say shut off all your emotions. Please, please, please don’t do that. Process them if they need to be processed, but try to keep your overall focus forward instead of being dragged backwards.)
FINAL NOTES
There’s my pitch. At this point I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t be convinced. But if that is you, I’d encourage you to give it a shot anyway. Don’t knock it until you try it. You might be surprised at what you find. Let me know how it goes!
To make it even easier for you, here’s a link to a timer you can start up when you have the time.
This weekend, I’m out on a three day trip climbing Glacier Peak. At a minimum, you can expect some pictures and a bit of a trip report next newsletter.
I have also been informed that the link I attempted to put to my newsletter archive last week did not work. If you want to be taken to the newsletter archive, CLICK HERE!
As always, if you know anyone that you think would be interested in anything I’m writing about, I’d ask that you consider sharing this with them.
Thanks for being here. Talk to you soon.
– Trevor
Cover Photo:
Mount Sefton overlooking Mueller Lake
Aoraki/Mount Cook Natl. Park, New Zealand