Life moves fast.

Now that I’ve crossed my 30’s, I feel like each week moves faster than the week before. One day it’s Monday and then I blink and it’s suddenly Friday afternoon.

It feels like the second half of my 20’s simply flew by in a few months.

To combat this constant chaos, I’m focusing on trying to be more reflective every week and every day.

When you slow down and take a second to look back, this is the only way I have found to slow down the world. (Outside of long vacations, but I don’t do those nearly enough.)

The daily review

Each day I ask myself a few questions:

What wins did I have today? What went well?
What was a memorable moment?
What could I do better tomorrow to make it an even better day?
What relationships in my life do I need to give more attention?
What 3 things am I grateful for today?

When you first start doing it, it feels weird to analyze a day in such detail. However, when you’re going back and flipping through your notebook, it’s amazing to read.

You’ll remember little details you completely forgot in the daily speed of life. It also reminds you that you often have a pretty good life.

Yes, you could make the argument that by focusing on the good things every day, you’re glossing over the tough things that happened, but do you really want to look back and remember all the pain and heartache? I sure don’t.

The weekly review

My weekly reviews are a little more in-depth and tied to my work life.

Highlights of the week?
What didn’t go right this week?
What worked this week?
What projects did I move forward?
How can I move them forward next week?
What can I do to have a better week next week?
What am I looking forward to?
An overview of the top areas and goals I care about and what’s happening with them.
Top 5 goals for next week.

For my monthly reviews, I generally ask the same questions. It’s surprisingly hard to review a full month without these daily and weekly reviews. I have no idea how someone could review a month without the detailed notes from the other reviews.

Extra benefits of reviewing your life regularly

One of the biggest benefits I saw after a few weeks of maintaining this review schedule was the fact that I could see pitfalls in my planning and where I was making mistakes.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind that you forget to take a step back and look for new, fresh solutions.

We often do these types of reviews at our jobs but rarely think to do them for our lives. Which is funny because our lives are far more important than our jobs.

When you’re reviewing your life, you’re able to be more intentional about your time. If you’re repeatedly saying that you don’t put in enough time for friends and family, you’ll be determined to figure out how to make it fit in.

You’ll also be able to see where you’re making progress and where you’re falling behind on other things. This will force you to re-evaluate if those goals are important to you. If not, you’ll finally be able to let them go. If they are, you’ll be forced to figure out a way to fit them in.

Only through reflection can we figure out what truly matters and make sure we don’t miss it in the hustle and bustle of our speedy lives.