First off…welcome 1️⃣1️⃣0️⃣ new users!👋🏼
I hope you gain some insights from this newsletter; it’s great to have you here!
🔎 In Focus: Weekly Planning & Reflection
The weekly plan is not a glorified to-do list; rather it reflects the critical strategic activity...in order for you to achieve your goals.
– Brian Moran, The 12-Week Year
Weekly Planning has been both the most challenging habit to build, while also being one of the most informative practices to understand workflow, energy, and routines.
Reflection is even harder. On a Friday at 4:30pm, the last thing I want to do is review what was done, not done, and lingering from the previous week. Doesn't quite feel like ending the week on a high-note, does it?
If you don't have a planning and reflection routine, or maybe don't do it consistently, there's a reason for that: it's hard. Planning requires us to pause or attention (or excitement) around the next task to look further into what tasks will bring you closer to your goals.
Reflection can feel completely unproductive in the moment, but provides space to process what you've accomplished, and space to envision areas of growth moving forward. In many ways, the weekly reflection represents so much more than looking backward. You get a clear snapshot of the previous five days, what you got done, and can gather insights as to why some tasks weren't completed (most of the time, we're either too ambitious, or highly underestimate the time to complete a certain task).
Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.
– James Clear, Atomic Habits
Planning & Reflection – when working in tandem – can become a transformative habit, if we're tracking the right things. Here are some examples of data-points to track throughout the course of the week:
Time: if you time-block, how accurate was your calendar from Monday through Friday? What actions need more time? What can we cut out from the schedule?
Tasks Completed: This can be a red herring; make sure tasks are critical to the completion of a project, and that project is bringing you closer to a larger goal.
Progress: For those of us who are not so specific on tracking actions, but organize work by projects, this could be a qualitative value as well (I'm 50% closer to completion).
Our most precious asset—our time—is unguarded, just waiting to be stolen. If we don’t plan our days, someone else will. (Location 831)
– Nir Eyal, Indistractable
Ultimately, planning and reflection are about guarding our time and energy. If you've taken the time to establish goals – whether professional, or personal – allocating your time and energy strategically can tip the scales toward success.
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For guarding your time, check out Nir Eyal's Indistractable.
For quantifying your weekly performance, The 12-Week Year by Brian Moran goes into great detail on this.
For re-establishing routines, I consistently come back to Thomas Frank's video, How to Stop Being Constantly Overwhelmed
📢 Live Session: Daily & Weekly Planning in Notion
April 9th, 3:00pm!
We’re going to deep-dive on “This Week” views, how to start each week with intention, and capture the insights and data you need to reflect purposefully. The Weekly View in Manifest takes inspiration from GTD, as well as Atomic Habits and 12-Week Year. Very excited for this one!
🎥 ICYMI on YouTube: Build a Project Management Board in Notion
We’re going to deep-dive on “This Week” views, how to start each week with intention, and capture the insights and data you need to reflect purposefully. The Weekly View in Manifest takes inspiration from GTD, as well as Atomic Habits and 12-Week Year. Very excited for this one!
📦 Manifest OS Launching April 15th!
Manifest (beta) was designed to be a minimalist workspace, based on a system that leveraged aspects of GTD, PARA, Atomic Habits, and 12-Week Year.
Manifest OS is a minimalist Notion workspace packed with pre-filled templated pages, customized database views, and 10 video walkthroughs that breakdown how to use each space. It'll be available on Gumroad April 15th, and will include a complementary 30-minute in-person walkthrough for the first 10 users!
Use code: “earlyadopt” for 50% off pre-orders!
Questions? Feedback?
Reach out to manifestproductivity@gmail.com if you have any questions whatsoever!
With gratitude,
David de Céspedes