You need a feedback loop (here’s mine)

 If you want to start getting more important work done, you need a feedback loop. I’m not talking about a coach or mentor. While a trusted guide can be a huge help, what I’m describing is far simpler. At its core, a feedback loop does two things: - Reveals what you’ve been doing right AND wrong lately when it comes to your own productivity. - Illuminates the best way forward to make progress on your goals. For the better part of a decade, my feedback loop has been a simple review I conduct at the end of every week. It’s become an essential ingredient for staying creative, productive, and focused. Even when things are hectic, it keeps me in control of my time. Here’s how it works… Inside My Weekly Review (Sidenote: I’m going into great detail on my Weekly Review in [the upcoming Build Your Dream Week Summit — and you’re invited!]( But consider this email a sneak peek.) On Sunday afternoons, I sit down for about an hour to review my past week and to plan for my upcoming week. Taking time to review the past week and plan the next one helps me spend my entire week better. And not just with work-related stuff — it helps immensely with personal and family life as well. I start by reviewing the past week’s wins and losses, and making notes of all the highlights and lowlights of the week. As I mentioned, I do this for my work and my personal life. I look through my Baron Fig notebook and also my Things Logbook to glance briefly at all the tasks and goals I accomplished (or didn’t). I also jot down any events, memories, or parenting fails. This retrospective takes a total of about 15 or 20 minutes. Then I take just a few minutes to review the big goals I’m focused on right now. This helps me stay on track with what is most important. With that done, I take another 15 or 20 minutes to plan my upcoming week. I write down the week’s 3 Most Important Goals, along with any other miscellany that I want to see happen. (Again, I’ll go into all of this in a LOT of nerdy detail during the Build Your Dream Week Summit.) It’s not easy to coach yourself. But that’s what I love about the Weekly Review — it doesn’t feel like coaching yourself. It just feels like learning, calibrating, and making small adjustments. In the long run, making those small, weekly adjustments is much easier than making occasional huge adjustments. The Weekly Review is a way for you to help your future self. With your plan in place all you have left to do for the week is follow through. And that makes life so much easier! As my friend James Clear says, highly focused people limit their options. If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything. Moreover, with the Weekly Review, I am capturing the “smaller” moments in life — things that don’t really seem like a big deal right now, but often are a big deal in the aggregate (especially when looking back). The Weekly Review is a key component of aligning your daily actions with your vision, goals, and values. But it’s not the only component. You still need clarity on what your vision, goals, and values are in the first place in order to get the most out of it. You also need the ability to stay committed to your plan throughout the week, once the inevitable distractions and unanticipated demands on your time start rearing their heads. Fortunately, I’ve learned a thing or two while coaching thousands of busy, overwhelmed professionals through this process over the years. And I’ve packaged it all into [a fun, convenient experience called the Build Your Dream Week Summit.]( Over the course of four live, online sessions, I’ll coach you through every step you need to take to gain control of your daily schedule and unlock more time for the things that truly matter. By the end of our short time together, you’ll not only have a Weekly Review in place — you’ll have a personalized system for focusing on the stuff you actually WANT to focus on day after day. Will there still be bumps in the road? Of course. That’s life. But the Build Your Dream Week Summit will give you the tools to ensure one wasted day doesn’t turn into a wasted week…or worse. The first session starts June 11, so [go here to save your spot now!]( I hope to see you there. — Shawn [In-Depth App Training for Power Users]( To unsubscribe, click [here](. Blanc Media, 714 Main St., Grandview, MO 64030, United States