I have a question about doing self-reviews. I'm not talking about doing them in the context of a company's performance review. I'm talking about doing them totally for myself regarding my own personal development, including my job, side-projects, learning, etc. It might even include more personal stuff like health and fitness, relationships, etc. I recall Rahul mentioning something about setting aside a half hour at the beginning of every week to plan the week and take stock of last week. I also believe he says something about doing a quarterly review. My questions are: What do these weekly and quarterly reviews looks like, i.e. how should I go about doing them? Is there more than just weekly and quarterly reviews? i.e. daily, monthly, annual? Do these reviews involve planning out the next week/quarter or is that a separate exercise? Is there a difference between doing self-reviews/planning when it comes to work vs. personal career development vs. personal life? Or is the approach/process the same? I know different people do different stuff and YMMV, I'm looking for good habits I might apply to my own life! Thanks!

I have journals for every subject where I want to improve: cooking, nutrition, gym, work, podcasts. When I don't reflect on how something can be improved, I find myself getting into bad habits that I might not notice or address for many years. An entry will usually be the date and a bullet point of what didn't go right and how it could be improved. I try to make it as simple as possible. Example entries might look like: 4/16/24 (in the cooking journal) Cooked X for 2-3 minutes too long, came out very dry Start checking temperature at the 10 minute marker 5/1/24 (in the workout journal) Did X exercise, but feeling it in Y muscle instead of Z muscle Lower elbows and bar next time to feel it more in the Z muscle I do make it a point to make the notes short to reduce the time it takes to write them as well as reflect on them later. Every 3-6 months, I will sit down and review the notes.

Doing Self-Reviews and Planning (for personal use)

Data Engineer at Financial Company6 months ago

Learning Quickly

Productivity

I have a question about doing self-reviews. I'm not talking about doing them in the context of a company's performance review. I'm talking about doing them totally for myself regarding my own personal development, including my job, side-projects, learning, etc. It might even include more personal stuff like health and fitness, relationships, etc.

I recall Rahul mentioning something about setting aside a half hour at the beginning of every week to plan the week and take stock of last week. I also believe he says something about doing a quarterly review.

My questions are:

What do these weekly and quarterly reviews looks like, i.e. how should I go about doing them?
Is there more than just weekly and quarterly reviews? i.e. daily, monthly, annual?
Do these reviews involve planning out the next week/quarter or is that a separate exercise?
Is there a difference between doing self-reviews/planning when it comes to work vs. personal career development vs. personal life? Or is the approach/process the same?

I know different people do different stuff and YMMV, I'm looking for good habits I might apply to my own life!

Thanks!

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Discussion

(3 comments)

2
Charlie Vuong
•Eng @ Taro
6 months ago
I have journals for every subject where I want to improve: cooking, nutrition, gym, work, podcasts. When I don't reflect on how something can be improved, I find myself getting into bad habits that I might not notice or address for many years.

An entry will usually be the date and a bullet point of what didn't go right and how it could be improved. I try to make it as simple as possible. Example entries might look like:

4/16/24 (in the cooking journal)

Cooked "X" for 2-3 minutes too long, came out very dry

Start checking temperature at the 10 minute marker

5/1/24 (in the workout journal)

Did "X" exercise, but feeling it in "Y" muscle instead of "Z" muscle

Lower elbows and bar next time to feel it more in the "Z" muscle

I do make it a point to make the notes short to reduce the time it takes to write them as well as reflect on them later. Every 3-6 months, I will sit down and review the notes.
2
Alex Chiou
•Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
6 months ago
I have mostly internalized this (I don't set up meetings with myself), but I'll share my process regardless:

My main vehicle for introspection are long walks I take 4-5 times a week. Exercise is both good for your physical health and clearing your mind so you can look inwards. My walks are minimum 45 minutes long and can be as long as 2 hours.

During the walk, I go through these questions:

What did I accomplish since the last walk? Over the last week? Over the last month? Over the last 3 months?

Am I proud of what I did in #1?

If not (I often am not as I hold myself to very high standards), why didn't I accomplish as much as I wanted to?

Now that I know the "Why" from #3, how can I alter my behavior to fix those problems?
1
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
6 months ago
For the weekly review I do, it's mostly a calendar review. I look at blocks on my calendar and where I spent my time. Questions I ask:

When was I most productive? Least productive?

Which meetings were the highest leverage?

When did I have the most energy? Least energy?