Practicing weekly mindfulness is meaningful and important. How often do people slow down to take in their accomplishments? The goal of the following exercise is to take four minutes each Friday to make and maintain a time dedicated to examining the previous week. It is designed to count wins, losses, and areas of improvement. A sixty-second timer and journal or word processor document are all that is necessary for this four-step process of week summarization.
Celebrate Your Wins
Of the steps, this is the most important. When it is time to revamp a resume, the win section is invaluable. Wins that do not get written down tend to get forgotten. Noticing wins is the beginning step in actually realizing them. When a set goal has been achieved, take a moment to enjoy it. While documenting the win, include details. Document specific numbers that were hit and include details of a team built to overcome a challenge. Look back on the wins after a few weeks of documentation. Even without needing to job search, this practice helps recognize patterns leading to success.
Address Losses
This may be more painful than celebrating wins but is also important. Recognizing losses and missed targets gives an opportunity to learn from them. More can be learned from one failure than from a dozen wins. Make two columns: the loss and how to remedy it moving onward. Spelling error in a vital email? Spell check in future. Oversleep and come to work late? Ensure enough time for sleep.
Note Tasks Unfulfilled
This in-between area involves tasks that got bumped to the end of the to-do list, were not completely fulfilled, or got entirely ignored. Three columns make up this section: the task itself, the reason the task did not achieve completion, and a solution for ensuring it gets addressed next week. These tend to be the annoying tasks that people find pesky to do.
Create Next Week’s Goals
Creating goals is a fun step. Goals lead to wins. Without this step, some achievements might be fulfilled, but it requires a certain degree of luck. Simply with the recognition and setting of a goal, one is much closer to fully achieving it, and doing so with purpose.
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