You may recall that I talked earlier this week about school for my kids being closed because of a Covid outbreak. This was something that was definitely unplanned and it came very sudden. This happens from time to time in peoples life – but how do you deal with it when it happens. Because it will happen, it is just a matter of time when…
I am a huge productivity nerd. I love anything that is about productivity and can make my life smarter and better. One of the major things was when I found Getting Things Done or GTD way back. I was in a though place in my life. A lot of stress and anxiety was going on and I was burning out. Not a comfortable place to be in, but looking back, it was something that changed and formed by life forever.
At this time I was given the advice to write lists. Use that as a way to get a better overview and reduce stress. I did that and it helped. But I wanted to find a better way to create my lists. Potentially an application or a tool. You know, the naivë idea that a gadget that could solve my issues or take some of the hard decisions away from me. This was when I found the methodology – I bought the book. I read it during a summer vacation and when I got back to normality I implemented the ideas. This completely changed my life. I have used it ever since.
One part of the GTD methodology is the Weekly Review. This is a meeting with your self, preferably once a week, where you go through your system and make sure it is current and up-to-date. This is a perfect time to take those executive decisions and to make sure your prioritization in the short term and in the long term is correct and lined up with your higher horizons.
In the past I had a scheduled time every week where I sat down and went through the process. But now adays I have it a little bit more loose. I try to do it during the weekend but it can also slipa a few days. But it is roughly once a week. Sometimes when something happens I do it more often. I have developed the feeling, when it is time to do it. It is like eating, you feel hungry and you know you need to eat. You start to feel that nagging feeling in your belly and you know it is time to sit down and do your weekly review. This is of course not something that comes natural. But by having had a working system for a long time – I know what it means to be in control. And that is what I want to do.
Looking at the best practices there is nothing that says you should have it in your calendar or a reminder in your system. You should only do it regularly.
I was lucky this week. I completed my weekly review during the Monday morning. During the afternoon I got the message from School that they where closing down. I could recalibrate and replan very easy. And it took me minutes to know what I needed to do – and there was no real stress about the issue. If I wouldn’t have been so lucky to have my system up-to-date when I received the message from school, I would probably have needed to sit down and make sure my system get’s up to date.
This is what I do when something bigger, unexpected, happens. Sit down, make sure my system is updated. Then I can take the right decisions and start moving in the right direction. The weekly review is a super powerful tool.
Do you do a weekly review? And if so, what do you do to make sure it happens? Send me a message and let me know. You can find my contact details on martinhaage.se/about (links in the show notes).
This was all for today. Have a fantastic day and see you tomorrow!
