Do you review your week?

And if so, to what extent?

I will be honest with you, I never used to, but I found that days and weeks would fly by and I would be living my life with little intention.

I mean, of course, I had goals, but I wasn’t checking in on them to see how they were impacting my life regularly, if at all.

I think a weekly review is also great for my mental health; it allows me to debrief, to disconnect to reconnect and to download all that is on my mind.

Another great benefit of doing a weekly review is that you get to have a fresh start every single Monday.

So in this post, I wanted to share with you some ideas of what to include in your weekly review.

Of course, not all of them will work for you, but use this as a pick and mix and take what you need right now.

SETTING THE SCENE

First, you want to see this as an enjoyable process, not a chore.

Set the scene and make your environment in which you complete your weekly review calming and focussed.

Here are some suggestions:

• Light a candle.
• Clear the space.
• Get a beverage.
• Put on some music.

Next, there is, no doubt, a lot on your mind so before we can start thinking clearly and proactively you will want to clear your mind.

BRAIN DUMP

Dump everything down that is on your mind, big or small, action or no action. Just unload.

Some people like to do this in the forms of lists, and others prefer a spider diagram type set up. If I want to make creative connections and links between the things on my mind I tend to lean to the latter.

The idea is that it frees up your mind- seriously, if you have never done it before, give it a go because I would say it is one of the most therapeutic ways of clearing your mind, of course; however there is a ‘but’.

But, you need to have a system in place that you can trust; that will capture all of your thoughts and ideas. So whether you are a pen and paper or digital type planner, you want to have a system that works.

For a digital planner, we love Bear.

CATEGORISE YOUR TO-DO LIST

We want this to be an easy process, not a huge to-do list with no end. So I recommend categorising your tasks so that you know where you are at.

Let’s look into the lists that you may find useful to keep; these lists are a way of capturing your ideas.

Lists to have:

DUMPING AREA

A place where you put random ideas,  shopping lists, book recommendations, the list goes on. This list is where you capture your thoughts when you are on the go.

Every week you can then come in and organise these notes.

ACTION

This is like a master to-do list. Again, I use Bear for this as it automatically stores anything with a to-do list box under the section ‘To-do’ so you can go in on a weekly or daily basis to see where you are at.

SOMEDAY MAYBE

This list is where you store the ideas that you want to act on, but not right now, this prevents overwhelm.

FILE AWAY

For me, this looks like going through Bear and tagging (aka filing) any untagged notes. The thing I adore about Bear is that it allows you to be an organised mess.

I do not know if you can relate, but one of my most significant problems is that I struggle to keep things organised and filed away.

Bear files things instantly as soon as you hashtag a word.

But regardless of the way you do it, you want to set aside time to review your lists.

REVISIT YOU TO DOS

Evaluate the tasks that have been hanging around for a while; how can you move them along?

• Do they need to be on your to-do list, are they essential?
• Do you need to break down the process even further?
• What are you resisting when it comes to this task?
  

INBOX ZERO

Clearing through the inbox is much less of a struggle when you do it weekly.

Create email templates for the replies you do more than once.

Create folders to move things to the relevant places.

CLEARING OUT YOUR DOWNLOADS + DESKTOP

Your downloads and desktop can build up pretty quick. Organise and clear your digital desktop on a weekly basis and you will be able to keep on top of it all. Which leads me to talk about the paper side of things.

LOOSE PAPER

I still cannot believe the amount of paper we receive, even though we are a paperless business and household (excluding the notebooks of course).

So each week, I look at the paper that we have accumulated (typically via post) and sort it as need be. This process prevents messy worktops and build up.

CLEARING OUT YOUR BAG

Not only is it nice to have, but a clear bag and wallet is also good money mindset practice. It is a form of respect to yourself and your money.

Get rid of old receipts, tokens, and vouchers that you no longer require. It is such a refreshing step to take weekly.

THE CALENDAR

Look over your calendar and asses the appointments you have. Now is the time to add any new appointments. That is, if you do not do this immediately.

NEXT STEPS

So that is it!

What are you going to take from this post? I suggest picking 1-3 that you can implement this week.

Let us know how you get on by direct messaging us on Instagram!