What if I told you that you are three simple questions a week away to fundamentally shift how you work?
Let’s use an example about learning how to play an instrument to illustrate this fundamental shift:
Imagine you want to start learning to play the guitar. You practice a few times a week. At the end of the week you ask yourself:
- How did I do this week?
- What would be one thing I could improve on next week?
- What am I going to focus on next week?
Now imagine going through these questions for a year, continuously improving the way you practice the guitar. How might that impact your progress?
Your destination will be a very different one than without this system of three questions that creates continuous improvement on your journey to become great at playing the guitar.
And it almost doesn’t matter what your starting point is or how talented you are. If you continuously ask these questions, your focus will be sharpened, your practice more impactful and your guitar playing will be amazing.
Now let’s put that into the context of your work. The questions will be similar to the ones before:
- How did I do this week – plan vs. execution?
- What would be one thing I could improve on next week?
- What are my 3 focus actions for next week?
Asking these three questions is what I call the Weekly P/Review. Question 1 looks back. Question 2 derives a single action item to improve for the upcoming week. Question 3 looks ahead.
Questions 2+3 are deliberately limited. Focusing on one thing to improve or three actions a week is something that is sustainable. You can maintain this pace over a really long time. As ambitious as we are, having more than three things to focus on for the week dilutes our focus. Your goal is to reach the three focus actions every week. That way, you create trust in your own system and your ability. You know you can depend on yourself if you plan to deliver your three most important actions in any given week and follow through.