The Power of Review

Guest post from Lacey of Live Loved

I used to ride the New Year’s Resolution bandwagon…every single year.

The problem was, I always ended up falling off pretty quickly. I can’t tell you how many goals and resolutions I’ve made, only to forget about a month later: resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, spend less, drink less caffeine, and wash my hair more regularly.

And then, my eyes were opened to the beauty of a plan.

Thanks to Michael Hyatt’s Creating Your Personal Life Plan and Crystal’s insightful and practical posts on setting and carrying out goals, I’ve come to realize that what I needed was not more goals, or better goals, or more discipline. What I needed was a plan.

And so, I did just that. I followed the steps outlined in Hyatt’s life plan guide, and was really pleased to have a plan that covered all the areas of my life that were important to me, and that helped me to envision the future I wanted to see some day. I walked into that plan with so much excitement.

But I forgot one important thing: the importance of regular review. It’s not enough to create a well-thought out plan of action. It’s not just enough to take the time to break your goals down into bite-sized chunks like Crystal talks about so often. You have to take the time to review, to remind yourself of your plans and vision, to see how you’re doing in achieving your goals, and to prepare yourself for any hiccups your week might have.

It’s why Michael Hyatt suggests a weekly review, as well as a day or two once or twice a year to intentionally review your plan. It’s the same reason Crystal posts her weekly goals, as well as reviews the ones from the previous week.

Not sure what to do in your review time?  Here are some suggestions:

• Review the different parts of your plan. Is there anything you might want to tweak a little bit (5-10 minutes)

• Think about your past week. How did you do in each of these areas you listed as a priority? What is your current reality? What areas of improvement do you see? (10-15 minutes)

• Think about your upcoming week, noting all things you already have scheduled/planned. Do these things match up with your life plan? If they do not, what needs to change? (10-15 minutes)

• Evaluate your week a little more closely, this time looking for days or times where it might be hard to carry out some of your action plans. For example, is there going to be an especially busy day where you won’t be able to make your normal work-out time? What can you do now to prepare for those trouble spots ahead (10-15 minutes)

Even if you were to use the maximum amount of time for each of these areas, you would spend less than an hour of your week reviewing your plan. But look at the results you would reap from that hour: accountability in keeping your plans, refreshment in reminding yourself what your goals are and your progress toward them, preparation for the week ahead.

I think we could all agree it would be an hour well spent.

Do you take the time to review your plans and goals on a regular basis? If so, what tips do you have for others in doing so? If not, what could you do to help yourself take this time this week?

Lacey lives in Lubbock, Texas with her husband, Kade, and sweet daughter, Selah. She regularly captures her musings on all things related to being wife, mommy, and recipient of grace at her Live Loved. There’s usually a cup of coffee involved.

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