How To Do Your Weekly Review

 

how to do your weekly review

#GrowYourLife

Life Area: Personal

 

You probably notice on my Ideal Week Sample that I do a Weekly Review every Sunday evening…well, not EVERY Sunday evening, but that would be my ideal 🙂 Anyway, I’m often asked, “How do you do a weekly review?”

A Harvard study found that practicing reflection makes what we’ve learned stick in our minds better, as well as improving our performance. In fact, they proved that we reach a point in our work or training when we’ve learned enough such that reflecting on our experience can actually boost our performance more than further practice.

Reflecting is good for us, whether tracking our progress on goals or taking note of what we’ve learned, reflecting regularly helps us refocus and re-motivate. The weekly review is a chance to tie up loos ends, prepare for the week ahead and monitor short-term goals progress.

How To Do A Weekly Review

 

If you’re just getting started with your own weekly review you’ll probably go through a phase of trial and error to find your sweet spot as to what works for you. What I share here is what I do and it may be a place for you to get started.

Step 1: Sort through paperwork. Some will need to be scanned and digitally filed, some may need action, and others simply tossed.

Step 2: Review meeting notes from the week. When I take notes I use various symbols to depict a personal action item, a delegated item, an in-progress item, etc. During my Weekly Review, I review my notes and find those items that need further action or follow-up next week.

Step 3: Review last week’s Weekly Task List and calendar. As mentioned here before, you all know I keep, and advise you keep, a simple task management system in Evernote which includes a Master Task List, a Weekly Task List, and a ToDo Today list. During my Weekly Review, I review my Weekly Task List and my calendar to cross off items accomplished and find any items needing follow-up…ok, true confession, I don’t wait for my weekly review to check-off items accomplished, I usually do it immediately (and yes, if the item is not on my Weekly Task List, I add it and then check it off!).

Step 4: Review goals. Doing this at this point grounds me in my priorities for the week ahead. Inevitably we get pulled away from our visions by the day-to-day mundane. By looking at my goals before establishing my week ahead reminds me what to prioritize.

Step 5: Review upcoming week’s calendar. I’m usually putting meetings in the calendar the moment they’re requested. At this point in my Weekly Review, I am looking for any meetings or events that need scheduled preparation time.

Step 6: Look over my Master Task List. Here is where I move tasks and projects from my Master Task List to my Weekly Task List and calendar any related time blocks.

Step 7: Review delegated tasks. I make a mental note of what has been delegated to me by others and what I have delegated to others and then calendar times next week that I will follow-through or follow-up.

This process may or may not work for you. Please find a system that does and benefit from doing a Weekly Review each week. Doing one will not only help you prepare for the week ahead, but it also ensures that nothing from the past week gets forgotten or overlooked.

YOUR ACTION STEP

Download my FREE Ideal Week excel template and sample from my FREE Resources page on my website and perform your own Weekly Review using the outline above as a guide. If you find that the method that I practice doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, modify it in a way that works for you. Let me know by commenting below how your Weekly Review is benefiting you.

 

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