The Power of Reflection: Developing a System for Effective Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Reviews
Picture this: It’s Wednesday afternoon — and you get a “wya?” text from your friend.
‘What do you mean, where am I — I’m at home working?’
And then it hits you — you were supposed to meet them for lunch at the place down the street.
Thankfully, you live close, so they’re not waiting long, but the damage has been done (you’re embarrassed).
What if I told you that this could all be avoided?
Enter the personal review system. Why should you consider incorporating reviews as a part of your daily, weekly, and monthly routines?
Having these regular check-ins with yourself provides more clarity around what you’ve accomplished AND paints a clear picture of what you need to prioritize to achieve your goals every day, week, and month.
In this post, I’ll explain to why these personal reviews are vital and how you can develop a system to consistently monitor your progress.
The Benefits of Self-Check-ins
Having a set of regular self-reviews helps you gain clarity regarding the current state of your life. For example, after several days of daily reviews, you realize you’ve been avoiding a particular task. Without having this routine check-in, you might continue down this aspirational path without realizing that something in your approach needs to be adjusted.
Additionally, regular check-ins can help you stay focused on your goals and ensure that you take the necessary steps to reach them. I’ve found that my weekly and monthly reviews are great for understanding whether I’ve acted in alignment with my goals or if I need to pivot my schedule for the next week/month to focus. Ultimately, by looking back, you can adjust your future trajectory.
Developing your Reviews
For most, the process for establishing these personal check-ins doesn’t automatically present itself. Thinking back to when I first started, I played around with multiple formats before I settled on one that worked for me (even now, I’m still iterating).
Here is how I set up my daily, weekly, and monthly reviews:
Daily
Tasks/To-dos: My daily review is simple. Each morning, I write out the 1–3 items I’d like to accomplish. This pushes me to focus on the things that matter while ignoring *most* of the things that do not. While I log both my personal and professional to-dos in the same place, I only group like tasks together (i.e. personal with personal and professional with professional).
Events & Meetings: I then review my calendar and add any appointments or events I have scheduled for the day (again, both personal and work).
How much I spent: A feature that is not an official part of my daily review but something that I aim to log daily is writing down the amount of money I’ve spent for the day. While eyes may gloss over at the idea of tracking money, I find that by keeping it top of mind I am more intentional about my spending.
Overall, my daily review gives me a clear overview of where my attention, energy, and even money go throughout the day (of course, there are always exceptions).
Weekly
If there’s one thing you take away from this piece, I hope it’s my weekly review. This review has saved me from disaster several times. In my weekly sessions, I review the following:
Papers/Physical items: I use this space to file, action, or get rid of mostly mail, bills, or other documents.
Notes from last week: I review any notes taken during the week to ensure I don’t miss any action items, necessary follow-ups, or any info that needs to be transferred for more permanent storage.
Last week’s calendar: I check for outstanding items and any follow-up needed for the previous week.
Review my annual goals: I review my goals for the year and ensure each goal has the next step planned out.
Upcoming week: I check my upcoming events and see if any require to-dos in preparation.
Altogether, this may seem like a lengthy process. I’ve found when I have a picture of everything for the week, I can keep a lot of items from falling through the cracks.
Tasks that pop up during the week: Something that I’ve newly added to my routine is adding a new section for tasks that pop up during the week. As we’re all aware, ‘even the best-laid plans often go awry’. By keeping track of these mostly one-off items, I can ensure to tie up these loose ends later in the week (or at least keep track of them if I’m not able to get to them).
Monthly
Monthly Calendar: In many ways, my monthly review starts as I build out my calendar for the month (I use a bullet journal, but this is unnecessary if you already have a system of trackers). My spread includes two sets of dates, one for events and one for tracking habits (right now, I’m tracking my sleep, meditation practice, reading, workouts, and productivity). Additionally, I have a list of activities that I try to feed into my plans every month (yes, I borrowed it from Twitter):
Monthly Check-in: For my actual monthly review, I take a look at the following:
My top highlights (I pick three): It’s great to record some amazing (and not-so-amazing) moments in my life.
Outcomes from last month’s goals: I review the three priorities outlined in the previous month.
Goals for the next month: I set my priorities for the month based on my annual goals.
A set of milestones: Though similar to the highlights, I review one personal milestone, one professional win, and one lesson/takeaway I learned last month.
One Big (read—reach) goal: Usually, I will challenge myself in an area aligned with my other goals, but not a direct focus. If I achieve it, great, if I don’t, it’s not the end of the world.
Start/Stop/Continue: For each, I list three things I want to start, stop, and continue doing over the next month. This a great place to pause and be reminded of my intentions and assess my behaviors.
Scheduling your Reviews
I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “wow, this is a lot.”
And you’re right — it can be if you don’t think about scheduling these reviews to properly establish them as routine. If you can find times that work for you, you’ll be better able to cement these check-ins right into your life. Here are my suggestions:
Daily — For your daily reviews, the most obvious time might seem like the morning, but don’t rule out doing them the night before. When life gets busy for me, doing my review right before I go to bed allows me to protect against urgent requests wrecking my schedule when I wake up the next day.
Weekly — Depending on which day of the week you believe the week starts on (I’m a Monday person), it might be best to do this on the day prior (I’ve recently switched my weekly reviews to Sunday).
Monthly — I feel it’s best to set aside time on the first of each month, but I’ve been able to hold just as effective monthly reviews on the 5th of the month as the 1st. The important thing is to do your review sometime within the first week so you can best take action on your goals.
Gaining Clarity Through Check-Ins
Overall, these regular check-ins can be a powerful tool for gaining clarity and understanding in our lives. By taking time to reflect and outline our focus in life, we can gain insight into our thoughts/feelings. In effect, we can make better choices, reach our goals faster, and live our best lives. So my challenge to you — use these methods for the next three months and let me know whether your life has improved in any way. I guarantee you’ll see progress with your goals, but more importantly, you’ll have the clarity to align with your priorities (that or you’ll stand your friends up less!).
If you enjoyed this article, consider reading my article on journaling or download my free list of journal prompts.
P.S. Want more tips/advice on how to live your best life? You can listen to my podcast, “So I Was Thinking,” or join my fortnightly “Random Thoughts” newsletter (max 10 mins out of your day). Don’t forget to share this article if you found it helpful.