Category: Passion

How Daily and Weekly Reviews Are Changing My Life

Jackie2 Comments

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.

Put Yourself in A Position to Get What You Want

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Everyone has dreams and goals. Everyone wants something out of life.

However, if you aren’t actually putting yourself in a position to get what you want, you’ll never get it.

You can’t win the lottery without buying a ticket.
You can’t get your dream job without applying for them.
You can’t get in shape without going to the gym.
You can’t find the love of your life without putting yourself out there.
You can’t win the lottery without buying a ticket.
You can’t land a role in a movie without going to auditions.
You can’t have your book published without sending pitches to publishers.

So many people spend their days dreaming and hoping for the things they want without actually putting themselves in a position to get what they want.

They don’t go out there and network with people, they don’t try new things, they don’t pursue goals, and then they complain and wonder why they don’t have the things they want.

Opportunities in your life will come when you’re in a position to have things happen in your life.

No one is just going to come knocking on your front door and hand you your dream life.

Write out your goals, the things you want that keep you up at night. The things you daydream about when you’re sitting at your desk.

Then, write out the things you need to do to actually make them come true.

This is the space where the magic happens.

This is the space where dreams come to life.

The truth is that this is the space that scares most people. It’s the nitty-gritty time where the work must be done and rejection is entirely possible at every turn.

However, if you don’t do this work then you’ll just end up dreaming for the rest of your life.

When to Focus on One Idea vs Multiple Ideas

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While success usually requires a complete focus on one idea, sometimes it takes time to find one single idea to dedicate all your time to.

If you’re struggling to find your one idea, it might worth it to try as many ideas as you can over a period of time to see what you care about the most.

That’s the rut I’ve been stuck in. I have so many ideas and it’s simply just time to try them all to see which one sticks and works. I’ve focused on single ideas at a time for years now, and it’s just time to mix it up.

I’ve listed out over 50 ideas I want to try throughout the year just to see and figure out which ones I want to pursue.

There are probably so many things you always wanted to try or wanted to pursue, but you kept putting it off. No more. If you feel stuck, maybe it’s now the time to try as many things as possible just to mix it up. You might even fall completely in love with one of your ideas and you’ll discover it was something you should have been doing for a long time.

I’ve always been a big believer in trying things before you know you’re passionate about them. When you’re good at things, you find passion. You can’t think your way to passion. It’s not a logical game.

Creating ideas

There are some questions you can ask yourself to figure out what you should try.

  • What did you love doing when you were young?
  • What have you always wanted to try?
  • What would you do with your time if there was no one to judge you?
  • What do you keep putting off?
  • What do you find yourself day dreaming about?

List as many as you want. It’s up to you if you want to cut the list down or just go all-in and start checking them off as you go.

Stop thinking start doing

The biggest hurdle most people face is how often they think about every damn thing. They want to analyze and talk themselves out of things. That’s how they got stuck in the first place.

It’s important to just dive in. Want to start a blog? Write a post right now. Want to start working out? Find a free fitness class in your area and sign up right now. Want to learn how to cook? Sign up for a free class, watch some YouTube videos, or order a book right now.

The internet has given us a million ways to learn new things.

“I don’t know how” is no longer an excuse.

2018 is the year to change that and start finding what you love. That’s how you break out of a rut and start building a life you love.

Abandoning the “Should’s”

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It’s not easy to live life on your own terms.

It’s a constant struggle between your dreams, your “rational” brain, your childhood, and all the people around you.

If you aren’t careful, eventually you’ll wake up and realize you’re living a life that you think you should be living.

You’re working at a job you “should” be working at.
You’re working for clients you think you “should” have.
You’re in a relationship you think you “should” be in.

We can keep up the appearance for a bit, but inside we know something is off. We know we’re not living out passions.

Every morning is awoken to a numb feeling. No excitement, no joy. Just another day on the hamster wheel.

When you don’t have your own goals, you start to pursue the goals other people want for you.

The other day, I came to this realization about my own life: I’m “should-ing” all over myself. (A word that has stuck with me since I read the “Don’t Should All Over Yourself article from the Art of Manliness.)

I realized that every day I was waking up to a dull monotony every single day.

Stress and worries were piling on, and I wasn’t pursuing anything worth getting up early for. I was doing everything I thought I “should” be doing.

Paying bills.
Taking any clients I could get.
Generally living a life of ease instead of excitement.

Safety is important, but never at the expense of happiness.

Here’s the truth: You can only create your dream life, it will never be handed to you.

While we work tirelessly toward all the things we think we “should” be doing, in the back of our minds we’re waiting for some magical day where we are granted a life of fulfilled passions because we’ve been so “good”.

It won’t happen.

A life of living out your passions and dreams comes from your own hard work and hustle, even if you have to wake up early and stay up late.

The secret is to always be pursuing your goals, not the goals the world wants you to pursue.