The Week in Review Session is one of three sacred habits presented in this book (the other two are your Marvelous Start Morning Routine and the Follow-Up Setback System, FUSS). It has been earmarked as a vitally important habit in supporting your quest as a Betterist who continually makes progress and sustains it. To achieve inner peace, personal improvement, and the healing you desire, it is essential that you schedule, attend, and complete these weekly sessions. Make it a sacred habit, as one would do with attending a weekly religious service, AA meeting, or business staff meeting. Just as you would show up on time for a scheduled airline flight, be just as committed to your attendance for your weekly session. These sessions are important for you. By adhering to weekly sessions, your self-confidence and peace will become stronger. Self-efficacy strengthens when you are 100% accountable to yourself.
If possible, it is best to set the same day and times for your weekly sessions. An example is Saturdays from 9:00 to 9:45 AM. Review the previous week during this session and plan for the upcoming week. Hold this meeting in a safe and quiet area when you are least likely to be interrupted by people or phones. Ensure you schedule a limited amount of time for this meeting. If you go too long, it becomes a diminishing return experience, and you will be reluctant to hold the next session as it takes up too much of your time. I would suggest 30 to 60 minutes for the meeting.
Perhaps begin the session with a prayer, mantra, or affirmation focusing on self-care. Examples:
• God gives me the wisdom to best care for myself physically and mentally. I know that I must stand tall and strong to lift others. To best serve you, I must be healthy and at peace.
• “Our Father Prayer”
• I am a work in process with my health and happiness. I continue to seek out better ways to be. Let today’s session give me the confidence to know that all that can be done is being done.
• I am the Self-Motivation Maestro in finding ways to continue my enthusiastic desire for improvement.
• Self-motivation stands on the shoulders of self-care. My #1 rule is to care for myself physically and mentally with my relationships and commitments.
During this session, you will assess the previous week. You will look at what worked well for you, what didn’t work out for you, the FUSS log, and plan the upcoming week’s schedule and goals. During this time, you prioritize and decide what issues you will follow up on during the upcoming week. Remember, sustaining and completing a few critical activities is better than over-committing. The adage “under promise and over deliver” applies to your strategies and commitments here.
In this session, we both celebrate successes and plan for future improvement. Prioritize and select a few key areas to make progress during the upcoming week. Next, we decide what outcome(s) we hope to achieve. We then develop a strategy for minimizing the negative and maximizing the positive. We determine which areas to focus on in the morning as part of our Marvelous Start Morning Routine to make progress with our daily planned Intentional Simple Tiny Efforts for Progress (ISTEPs).
Once again, do not let the sessions go on too long, as this will become a disincentive for attending next week’s session. Be rigorous with yourself here. Take your attendance seriously, and do not waiver from holding your sessions on time (except in dire situations).
You may wish to have a standard agenda for each of your sessions, such as the following example:
Example of a Week in Review Session Agenda
1. What worked?
List successes and things that worked out well during the week. You may also wish to include your gratitudes for the week. With your accomplishments, consider a celebration to reward yourself. You deserve it. Review the degree of success you had over the last week regarding following through with your daily ISTEPs.
2. What didn’t go so well?
Look at which experiences are worth turning into teaching moments for yourself. This is particularly helpful if you recognize a recurring problem or challenge. Decide if you wish to minimize these types of issues in the future. What outcome do you want to achieve here? Perhaps this can be supported with daily actions that become ISTEPs within your morning routine.
3. Review your FUSS log.
Decide what, if anything, you will plan for as a follow-up to a FUSS log issue. What outcome do you wish for in the future? What areas for daily actions can become ISTEPs within your morning routine? This strategy will allow for ongoing progress that moves you forward with tiny steps of accomplishment each day.
4. Plan next week.
Review and note scheduled commitments and priorities for the upcoming week. Record it on your calendar. Post in a visible area (electronic, paper, or both) and review as part of your daily routine. Consider some ISTEPs for the upcoming week. Perhaps commit to some longer-term goals such as reading a specific book, attending an AA/NA/Al-Anon meeting, watching a training video, attending a class, etc.
Congratulate yourself with a “Bravo” for completing your week’s review session. Celebrate the completion of your meeting in the time you scheduled. Please do make it a healthy celebration as opposed to eating a double banana split with chocolate syrup and whipping cream 🙂
1. What are the advantages for you with holding a Week in Review Session each and every week?
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2. What day and time will you hold your Week in Review Session? Why is that the best time for you?
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3. How will you remind yourself ahead of time of the Week in Review Session?
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