Create Positive Change in Your Life Using Retrospectives

What went well, what didn’t, and what will I do differently?

The above three questions together are what is called a retrospective, defined as looking back on or dealing with past events or situations. The key here though, is that final question. What will I do differently? This allows us to take action and facilitate targeted change in our lives.

How to perform your own simple retrospectives each week.

Review Your Week

If you keep a journal or daily planner, use that to review your week, if you don’t keep a journal or planner take a few minutes to go over your week in your mind.

Identify What Went Well

While reviewing your week, identify what went well? List out everything that worked. What went as planned, what made you happy, list all the good stuff.

Identify What Didn’t Go Well

Next, list everything that did not go so well. List all the snags, all the blow-ups and fires you had to put out. Write down all the things you didn’t get done.

What To Do Differently

Now figure out what you need to do differently.

What can you do to prevent the fires? What can you do prepare for the possible snags? Look at why you didn’t get those things done. Did you watch too much TV? Did you feel tired because you didn’t go to bed on time? Did you over schedule yourself? Were you unrealistic with your time?

Create Action Steps

Finally, list out all the actions you will take to correct these things.

Repeat this process each week and see how much positive change you create in your life.