Optimization and Review: Sharpening Your Axe
Your planning system should evolve with you. What works this month might need tweaking next month. A consistent review process is what turns planning from a chore into a powerful tool for self-improvement and sustained productivity.
The Weekly and Monthly Review
We already discussed the tactical weekly review for planning. But it should also include a reflective component. At the end of each week, ask three simple questions:
1. What worked well this week?
2. What didn’t go as planned?
3. What will I do differently next week?
At the end of the month, you conduct a larger review. Look back at your Big Rocks. Did you accomplish them? Why or why not? This isn’t about judgment. It’s about learning. Maybe you consistently overestimated how much you could do in a day. Maybe you discovered that your energy is highest in the morning, so you should move all your deep work blocks to before noon. This feedback loop is how you refine your system over time.
Metrics That Actually Matter
Forget tracking every minute of your day. That leads to obsessive behavior and rarely improves outcomes. Instead, focus on a few key indicators of your system’s health.
Energy Levels: At the end of each day, rate your energy on a scale of 1-5. Are you consistently ending your weeks feeling drained and exhausted? That’s a sign your schedule is too packed. You may need more buffer time, more realistic task estimates, or more dedicated breaks.
Deep Work Sessions Completed: How many of your scheduled “deep work” or focused blocks did you actually complete without significant interruption? This is a direct measure of your ability to protect your most valuable time. If this number is low, you need to work on setting boundaries and managing distractions.
Rollover Rate: How many tasks did you have to push from one day to the next? A little rollover is normal, but a high rate is a red flag. It tells you that your daily plans are consistently too ambitious. Your monthly plan can help you solve this by encouraging you to schedule fewer, more important things each day.
