Top 3 Ideas for a Monthly Review to stay focused
There are so many reasons why we fail. And one of them is lack of focus.
After reading this post, you’ll walk away with 3 ideas on how to stay focus so you can reach your goals faster.
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Why is it hard to stay focused?
Let’s be honest. Focus is something a lot of people struggle with, myself included.
If you’re like me, then you know how challenging it is to be a mum, an employee and an entrepreneur at the same time. Even if you’re not a mum, if you’re wearing a lot of hats that need your attention, then you’ll be familiar with how days can be interesting. There’s only one “you” but you’re being pulled from a million directions at the same time.
There are days when you get a lot done and and there are days where you could only do the bare minimum. Gosh, sometimes you’ll find yourself anxiously waiting for the day to be over because you just needed to survive the day.
Life happens, things don’t go as planned and sometimes we indulge in activities that don’t help us move closer to our goals. And that’s ok. As long as we stay focus and go back on track.
But how do you focus?
Reflect as often as you can
I don’t know why, but I used to think of reflection as something tedious and time consuming. And confronting too. But more than five years ago, I discovered Getting Things Done by David Allen and the Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll and my view on reflection has changed.
I also realised how important it is to reflect or review regularly.
Doing a review can be done with as little as 5 minutes. But honestly, sometimes less than that can work too. Let me explain a little bit more.
I do yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. You may think it’s over the top by I have a restless brain. If I don’t control it I would end up doing a million things but nothing would be completed.
As for the time takes. yearly and quarterly reviews takes up to 30 minutes . Sometimes more, but I find 30 minutes is enough to do this because I already have a system in place. I can share it in another post another time. With Weekly review, it depends, sometimes I take 5 minutes but sometimes it can take up to 30 minutes. When it comes to daily reflection. It only take me up to 2 minutes.
Writing this is giving me the thought of writing a separate post just about review process but I don’t want to take the focus away from the topic today. (You see how quickly my brain got distracted?).
I used to publish Weekly Review but I don’t anymore because I want to make a space for more important topics in this blog. However, I send weekly newsletter to my email list where I share weekly tips about intentional living, cultivating a healthy mindset and staying organised.
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What is a Monthly Review?
According to David Allen, without the Weekly Review, the whole GTD process is meaningless. Therefore, doing a regular review is a must.
But I have good news for you. You don’t have to be a GTD fan like me to benefit from a Monthly Review. You can apply the general concept to fit whatever productivity method you are using.
My Monthly Reviews are tweaked versions of a Weekly Review which is one of the steps in Getting Things Done by David Allen, also known as GTD.
In the name of being intentional, today’s post will focus only on the top 3 ideas you can include in a Monthly Review. It doesn’t mean though, that these are the only categories you can use. Your monthly review content will depend on what matters to you.
An intentional and simple Monthly Review has :
- Gratitude
- Reflection
- Progress tracker
In the last two years I have changed my template in doing monthly reviews but at its core, it still include the 3 top ideas. Below is an image of November monthly review.
A Monthly Review is a process where we set aside a time to reflect on a particular month. It is an opportunity to pause and think about all the significant events in the month in review.
This is a time to celebrate the small and big wins. Monthly review also gives us a chance to reflect on what’s working and what doesn’t. Some of the areas we can reflect on are our goals, projects and habits.
I am using a Bullet Journal, and my Monthly Review is my month-at-a-glance. This one-page spread has everything that matters to me. Everything in it related to each other. As a whole, they represent the smaller parts of my Goals for the year.
My take on simplifying the Review Process
My Goals for 2021 focuses on three categories. Keep a grateful heart, keep our home organised, and nourish my passion (this Blog).
Edited: My 2022 focuses on Well-being, family and home, and business ( blogs and shops) which I shared in this post: 3 Intentional Steps to plan your year for a successful 2022
In the Getting things done Method, (GTD), a Weekly Review is a part of this 5-step process, that we need to do every week. I have been doing the review for a few years now. And I find it helpful in staying focused.
The Weekly Review process eventually led to more Reviews done regularly. I also came up with my interpretation on how to fit it with my thought process. When I think of Reviews I think of them in layers.
Let’s take the first layer. The Daily Review. I pause for a few minutes to reflect on how my day is going. Write the 3 things I am grateful for. I also do a quick check in with myself to see if my actions are still aligned with my big goals.
Then, come weekend, I do the Weekly Review where I assess my habits and routines. Are they still working. Is there anything I need to change?
Monthly Review, is a bigger version of the weekly Review, but this is normally covering the long term goals measured by how much I complete in my Monthly Active Projects.
In the same way, Quarterly and Yearly Reviews have the same concept but bigger coverage. So, more on medium to bigger goals.
Essentially, each Review Process should be like a group of connected dots.
Related Posts
Top 3 Ideas for a Monthly Review
Gratitude
I love being grateful. It warms my heart. Having an attitude of gratitude makes me feel that I have everything I need and more. Being grateful makes it easy to give, whether it is money, time, talent and skills.
When I do a monthly review, I love to start with counting my blessings. Doing this gives me the instant motivation to keep doing what I am doing.
Highlights
Any event that I would like to remember deserves a spot in my monthly review. I usually pick just the Top 3 if there are too many in a given month. To make it easy to decide which event will be on the Top 3 Highlights of the month, I ask myself this question. Will this event matters even if I am in my 90s?
Progress Tracker “Kanban” Style
One thing I enjoy when doing a Monthly Review is the feeling of being capable and empowered in a nice way.
I am on my 6th month of blogging and I can’t believe that I am actually doing it. I love this gig and I am grateful you are here.
Kanban is my favourite way of tracking progress. I love using this in my Monthly Review because it is so on point. Using the “Kanban” style board for tracking gives me a bird’s eye view on how I am progressing with all my active Projects. Simple yet effective.
So, how does Monthly Review keep you stay focused?
Doing a monthly review encourages follow through
If we want to make sure that we get a higher chance of achieving a goal, we need to follow through. Whether a goal is short-term or long-term, staying committed with being consistent is a big must.
Follow through ensures that we do what we said we would do. It also means that we will keep going no matter how many curve balls life throws at us.
The truth is, making sure that we follow through is hard to do.
I, myself, have many unfinished projects because I couldn’t follow through. This is the reason why I included this in one of my goals inside my Passion Goal. I know I have a long way to go, but I will get there.
Therefore, my action plan is to make the habit of completing my Monthly Review and share it with you.
Making it on just one page means it is going to be easy to complete. I should have no reason to not get it done.
Monthly Review helps you stay on track
How do we stay on track?
That is such an important question, and the answer is Tracker, my friends.
Monthly tracking of progress with my Active Goals helps me know whether my daily actions and weekly tasks aligned with my Big Goals.
What I mean by that is, if my goal is to grow my blog and my projects are creating content per week, then, I need to see in my monthly review that I have completed all the weekly tasks that will move me forward to completing a project.
Disclosure: I don’t complete all the tasks I set every single week for different reasons. However, I make sure that I do at least half of them.
Intentional E Monthly Review Series 2021
I am so grateful for The Getting Things Done because this book really helped me become intentional on where to direct my attention where it needs to be. I am not a Pro yet but I know I will get there soon enough.
While we are talking about Focus, I am so nervous yet excited to tell you about the Monthly Review Series for the Intentional E blog.
Every first week of the month, I am going to share with you my Monthly Review. I am doing this for a couple of reasons.
- For more accountability in my part
- Maybe, just maybe, sharing a monthly review will inspire you too to go for what your heart desires.
I am nervous because this is a big commitment. I do a monthly review regularly, no problem with that. However, the thought of sharing this through the internet is a different thing.
But then again, that is part of being a blogger and being authentic, right?
I am excited because I know that I will learn a lot by doing this series. By the end of the series, I hope to grow as a person and as a blogger.
Conclusion
In summary, Monthly Review is just as important as the Weekly Review. If you want to keep tabs of your long term goals then Monthly Review is a great way to stay on track.
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