If you are going to keep yourself fresh, you have to take time to review what you set out to do. Too many people get started with excitement but fade away during the follow-through. It’s not that they didn’t want to follow through, but instead, they didn’t have a system to keep them following through. You’re only as good as your system allows. Unfortunately, most people do not have a good system for reviewing what they should be working on.
You have to check in consistently to see how you’re doing. Setting goals and coming up with actionable plans does nothing if you don’t review them to remind yourself to stay on track. I see many leaders who are great at coming up with ideas and even action steps, but terrible at remembering what those were day to day. If you forget to check-in it’s easy to get off course. You need to have a check-in system to keep yourself from mission drifting.
Here’s how you can create a system to review.
1) Check In Monthly
The beginning of the month is a great way to reset and review where you’re at and what you need to be doing. I love to sit down for a few hours before each month and plan out the journey ahead. This allows me to take my macro goals and micro engineer them into the monthly calendar. I can quickly go through the month at a high level and set actionable dates for my projects and to do’s. The start of the month is a great natural reset to start fresh. I recommend scheduling a review the last few days of each month to look back over the previous month and plan ahead for the next. I plan everything from professional to personal to do’s during this time. Having a monthly check-in will help you stay on track.
2) Check In Weekly
Your weekly check-in should get more detailed from your monthly check-in. This is an opportunity to map out your week and be more specific with what’s ahead. I sit down every Sunday night and spend an hour or two mapping out my goals for the week and the schedule to make sure I fit everything in. I look at the entire week and make sure all the areas of my roles (check out my post RESET TO REFLECT to find out more about your roles) are accounted for. I love the challenge of piecing together the whole puzzle for the week as I get a clear picture of what needs to be done. Don’t ever start the week without knowing what it will look like.
3) Daily Check In
You should have a daily check-in where you get painstakingly intentional about your day. This does not need to be drawn out, but you should give yourself at least 20-30 minutes setting your game plan to win the day. Living a reactive life creates a resentful life. You need to be proactive about controlling your day or someone else will. Typically I will plan my day out the night before to make sure I know exactly what to expect when I wake up. However, sometimes I will do it the first thing in the morning if need be. But I always try to go through my day and pick the top 3 things that will get my most attention. I call it The Big 3, and I write down, in order of importance, the most vital things to accomplish that day. You have to get ahead of your schedule, or you’ll miss out on a productive life.
If you need help with creating a schedule that is intentionally successful, please don’t hesitate to reach out and schedule a coaching session.
