avatarDerek Hughes

Summary

Regularly conducting a brief weekly self-check-in can significantly enhance one's ability to maintain progress towards personal goals.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of consistent self-evaluation to ensure steady personal development. It acknowledges the common human tendency to deviate from planned objectives, often resulting in a sense of stagnation or failure. To counteract this, the author suggests a simple yet effective strategy: a weekly check-in. This practice involves setting aside a short period to review one's progress, refocus on goals, and make necessary adjustments. The benefits of this habit include increased motivation, the ability to make proactive corrections, and the reinforcement of positive behaviors. The author provides four tips for an effective weekly check-in: choosing an appropriate time and place, focusing on progress rather than shortcomings, adhering to a structured format, and writing down thoughts and plans. By implementing these steps, individuals can avoid the pitfalls of inertia and make meaningful strides towards their aspirations.

Opinions

  • The author believes that without regular self-assessment, people tend to walk in circles, metaphorically speaking, and fail to make forward progress.
  • It is suggested that external tools like maps and compasses, or in the context of personal growth, a structured weekly check-in, are crucial for maintaining direction and focus.
  • The author values the role of writing in the process of self-reflection, emphasizing that writing down one's thoughts and plans can have a more profound impact than merely thinking about them.
  • There is an emphasis on celebrating small victories and learning from experiences, rather than dwelling on failures or gaps in achieving one's ideals.
  • The author advocates for the practice of a weekly check-in as a method to not only stay on track but also to boost confidence and energy levels for future endeavors.

Want to make more progress in life? Then do this one action every week.

It is so frustrating when you realise you haven’t made much progress isn’t it.

You can have a sudden moment when you remember you were suppose to be getting up thirty minutes earlier to exercise. Or you wonder when you stopped reading that book. Or your spouse comments how you don’t talk to her much and you realise you recall your ill-fated plan to spend the first 15 minutes after work asking about her day.

It can be so demoralising to have an idea, take some action but somewhere along the way just stop. Sometimes I can’t even remember when or how this happened. Wracked with guilt and a sense of failure you then make a half-hearted promise to restart towards your goal or dream.

There is a better way though. I want to share one simple action that will massively improve yours chances of following through on your plans and goals.

But first you need to realise that your slow progress it’s really your fault. Did you know that humans have a tendency to walk round in circles and not make forward progress?

It’s been proven to be true.

Jan Souman, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany, ran an experiment where he blindfolded 15 people and asked them to walk in a straight line. All of them ended up walking in surprisingly small circles — with a diameter of less than 66 feet.

Souman wondered if allowing people to see might help them navigate better. He took nine volunteers and put them in different terrains (a flat, forested region of Germany and the Sahara desert) and asked them to walk in a straight line for a few hours. He monitored them with a GPS tracker and discovered exactly the same thing happened. They all ended up walking in circles.

Left to our own devices we tend to walk round in circles and make no forward progress. We need constant moments of checking where we are, refocusing on where we are suppose to be going and make constant little tweaks along the way. We need to distrust ourselves a bit more and realise we need structures in place structures that will support us.

The solution when out walking is pretty obvious isn’t it? Get a map, compass or use landmarks to check your progress and make adjustments as you go. But what about in ordinary life? How do we stop going in circles, full of good intentions and ideas but without making much headway?

I want to suggest something I have found really effective at keeping me on track and helping me grow.

And it’s this.

Hold a weekly check-in with yourself, where you quickly review your progress, refocus on where you want to go and make any necessary adjustments.

Doing it weekly means the adjustments will be little tweaks and the process doesn’t need to take long or be overly complicated. In fact the shorter and simpler it is the better.

I’ve found two main benefits of a weekly check-in.

  1. It boosts my motivation and energy. If you take 15 minutes each week to remind yourself you were planning to read 30 minutes a day so you can advance your career. Then makes it much more likely you will do it next week.

2. I can be proactive in making little tweaks to keep on track before it completely falls apart! Maybe you realise you need to stick up a reminder to drink a glass of water first thing in the morning or do your reading at a time when you are feeling more alert.

Four tips for an effective weekly check-in

I’ve been experimenting with a weekly check-in for a number of years now and here are my top four tips for making it work.

Pick a time and place that will really work for you

You may decide Monday morning is a good time to do your weekly check-in. But at the start of the week will you really do that or are you likely to feel the pressure of getting started on work? Could Friday afternoon work and set you up for the weekend or will you be too tired and just want to switch off?

I have found it helpful to experiment with different times and days to find which works for me and encourage you to do the same.

Maybe a nice coffee is a good option or if you have a busy household. Stop in your car on the way home from work for ten minutes. Or what about your favourite chair next to a bright window?

Place matters — pick one that maximises your chances of doing your weekly check-in.

Don’t just focus on where you have gone off track

I’ve previously written about the powerful idea of the gap and the gain. Which is about our a tendency to focus on the gap between our ideals and our behaviour, however power and confidence tends to come more from focusing on our progress (the gain).

Therefore I’d strongly urge you to spend more time recalling your wins and progress than agonising over your failures. You’ll find that by giving attention to your progress you’ll boost your confidence and energy and set yourself up for making further gains the following week.

Decide on a structure to follow

Don’t sit with a blank page (or worst have nothing to write on). Have a simple structure you follow every week. This will reduce friction as you just follow the structure even when you don’t feel like it. Here’s the simple structure I used:

· Wins from the week — what went well, where did I implement my plans successfully, what am I proud of

· Lessons learnt — this includes plans I didn’t implement from last week’s check in but leaves it open for other learnings too

· My three actions for next week that I will focus on — for me this usually involves the same action for a number of weeks until it becomes automatic then I will introduce something new I want to start doing. Similarly if something that was automatic starts slipping I will add it to this list to help me focus and get that area of my life back on track.

Write it down

When we write our brain functions differently and more powerfully than when we just think about something. You’ll have experienced this with something going round your head for days but as soon as you write it down it stops bugging you. You need write your weekly check-in down if you want it be have a real impact on your progress. It doesn’t need to be long complicated sentences, simple bullet points will do.

I have a nice notebook bought for this purpose and write the date, my three headings (wins from the week, lessons learnt, three actions) and then some bullet points under each. Takes 10–20 minutes.

So now you can stop going round in circles, instead adopt this simple practice each week and who knows where you could find yourself in six months. Somewhere exciting no doubt.

Productivity
Productivity Tips
Goals
Achievement
Success
Recommended from ReadMedium