Stop Everything-Review Weekly

Why should we review?

In our busy, distracted lives we don’t take the time to reflect and review.

What I am suggesting is to make this a habit, a weekly habit. This habit allows you to reflect on your past week; review and update your ongoing projects; check in with your goals.

Are you making progress; refocus, pray and ask God:

What are the most important things you want me to be doing?

Quote from Steven Covey:

“How different out lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manger ourselves each day to be and todo what really matters most.”

Many of us are athletes. We remember our coaches saying “Practice makes Perfect.” Of course practice is essential to becoming good at anything but new research is suggesting there is more.

According to a study from the Harvard Business School:

“It turns out that once you’ve accumulated enough experience, reflecting on that experience to “articulate and codify” what you’ve learned is the most powerful way to improve your performance in the future.”

Jocelyn K. Glei-Take a Load Off: The Missing Key to Productivity Is Reflection

So if we want to be more productive, we need to be reviewing and reflecting.

What does a weekly review look like?

According to the productivity guru and author of (Getting Things Done) or GTD®, David Allen we should incorporate three things:

• Get Clear: decide and clarify anything that needs your attention.
• Get Current: Eliminate outdated reminders in your system, review your past weeks calendar, review your upcoming weeks calendar, review projects for updating potential “next actions,” review your role and goals, Grab every OH! That reminds me….! With its associated actions.
• Get Creative: “The challenge is not to be creative-it’s to eliminate the barriers to the natural flow of our creative energies.” If you are clear and current our natural creative side will emerge. This is a great time to be asking God, How else can you use me? How can I serve you better? Guide me to new and creative ways to serve you and build my relationship with you.

When and how long should my review be?

In my experiences you should allow around 60 to 90 minutes to conduct a review. I personally like doing my review on Friday afternoon. This is a repeating appointment on my calendar. The benefit of doing this on Friday is going into the weekend with a clear mind, a focused plan for the upcoming week.

Going slow to reflect and review will set you up for going faster later. Make the investment to review your life weekly. Remember always to include God in your plans!

Have Faith, Love People!

Originally published at The Productivity DJ.