When I say, “weekly review session”, you might say…
I don’t have time.
I’m too busy.
There’s not enough time in the day.
Today’s podcast episode is going to help you make more time. You do have time. You just have to focus on the right things. You don’t have time to do everything. You do have time to do your priorities. You make the time for your priorities and your goals.
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How to Have the Best Week Ever?
I know it’s hard to find the time, I’m a mama of two and preparing for this presentation I did with many kid distractions so I get it. But there’s a mental commitment of taking control of your calendar instead of letting your calendar rule you that you need to make.
This is a picture of my first online course workbook, The Get Unstuck Bootcamp. In one of those 15 minutes before work, I sent out an email to my small list with a link to buy this course I hadn’t created yet. Someone bought it from the UK and I got the PayPal order while sitting in my cubicle at my day job. AHHH I have to create this course now! So I did it in the mornings and held the classes at night and 4 people joined my first course and I’ve been doing it ever since!
THAT got me to believe that anyone can launch their dream business.
Here’s a big secret I have learned.
The Pareto Principle, have you heard of this?
It states that 20% of your input creates 80% of your results. Focus on the 20% that will get you the results you want. That means you must really focus on what is working when launching your dream career or business. You need to focus on the 20% of what is going to make the difference to save time and get faster results. 80% of what you are doing right now could be a waste of time.
Here are some examples….
- 80% of job leads are found through networking.
- The top 20% of your resume is the most important section.
- The first 1-2 minutes of your interviews are the most important.
- If you are an entrepreneur, figure out which 20% of your time produces 80% of your business’ results, then you can spend more time on those activities and less time on others.
- Identify the characteristics of the top 20% of your customers (who represent 80% of your sales). Then, you can find more customers like them and grow your sales and profits.
Objective: Schedule a weekly review session in your calendar.
Now you can get my weekly to-do list it’s inside of my free 90-day planner.
So this is a habit. At first it won’t be easy. You’ll have to put a reminder on your calendar. But once you keep doing this, you’ll be addicted. Getting organized is addicting. You are taking control of your to-do list and schedule instead of letting it control you. You are making yourself and your goals a priority. Because you are important and you ARE worth it!!
Now in the beginning it might take 20-30 minutes but now I can do this in 5-10 minutes each week. It’s a system and I’ve got it down.
It’s going to get easier and easier. But the goal is to do this weekly plan every single week and to set up a regular time on your calendar where you are creating and reviewing your plan. So your Monday doesn’t start until you have that plan.
All right. In this lesson, you are going to learn how to create your weekly review session. This is something I do every single week, every single Friday. It’s on my calendar for first thing in the morning. I do a couple of different things that I’m going to walk you through that I highly recommend.
This is going to help you so you can be super focused on Monday of what you need to get done that week by having this review session prior to the week’s start. So I recommend Friday. I used to do it on Sundays. You’re welcome to do it on Sundays, but I love doing it on Fridays so my Sunday isn’t as stressed.
How to Create a Weekly Review Session
So, the first thing I do is make a long list of all the things that still need to get done before Monday. I make a list of everything that I didn’t get done that week.
All the administrative stuff that’s still on my plate that I didn’t do that week, and I make a big long list of everything that I still need to get done by Monday. I also make a list of everything that can wait until next week. That’s really not that important that I don’t want to have to do on a Friday or Saturday or Sunday. And I also make a list for next week.
Then, on Friday I try and knock out as many of those administrative items as possible that I can while also prioritizing next week’s list. So I take the list for next week and I take out my top three tasks that I need to get done for the next week. And those are my top three priorities. So when things come up on Monday morning, I wake up and I know exactly what my priorities are and then whatever didn’t get done on that needs to get done on Friday’s list, I’ll move to the next week as more administrative things need to get done.
But my focus is always on my priorities. So I really want you every week to get in some sort of habit where you’re writing down what are your three priorities for every week. Reviewing your prior week, reviewing what didn’t get done, writing it down, writing down what still needs to get done for the future, and then prioritizing it every week. Your top three priorities.
Completing a weekly review session will help you identify exactly what needs to be done when you wake up on Monday. Get in a habit of doing this session at the same time and day each week.
- Make a long list of all the tasks that still need to get done for the week.
- Knock out as many administrative items that you can.
- Make another list of tasks that can wait until next week.
- Prioritize the top 3 tasks for next week.
Anna’s weekly review sessions are normally held on Friday but you can also do weekly sessions on Saturday or Sunday too.
Your focus should always be on your priorities each week. Every week, get in the habit of writing down your top three priorities for every week. Now you know what to focus on! When you know what to focus on, you’ll have much more success reaching your big goals and vision.
Get in the habit of doing a weekly review session. Block out 15-30 minutes in your calendar right now on the same day every week for this session. You’ll be able to do this quicker the more you get used to it but in the beginning it might take more time.
Weekly Review Session Questions:
- What are the urgent tasks that you still need to get done this week?
- What are the tasks that can wait until next week?
- What are my top 3 priorities next week?
Overall
I highly recommend having a weekly review process where you review your prior tasks and your prior goals, see what you didn’t get done, write it down, and then plan out what you’re going to do the next week. But focusing on those top three priorities. So writing down all this stuff that you could do next week, what’s the most important, like what’s going to get you to that 90-day goal, to that one-year goal to that five-year goal? Those are the things that are most important that we want to make our priorities. All right, let me know if you do the weekly planning session in the Facebook group. I would love to know how it goes.
In a future episode, I’ll cover actually planning out your calendar for the week. But that is the next step. I pull out my Google calendar. I plan my workouts. I plan my kids’ activities. I plan out the blocks of time when I’ll work on my top priorities.
