The One Hour Year in Review - What I learned and How I did it

In middle school my first love was the paper planner. For the last 30 years I've been a fan of paper to-do lists, notes. I keep a single notebook for all of my tracking, planning and notes. When they're full I label them with the date range and keep them.

At the beginning of December I set the intention to do a 1-hour review of these notebooks before the end of the year and I was open to whenever that could happen.

Reviewing is one of those tasks where it FILLS the container. If you give yourself two days it will fill the two-days. If you give yourself one-hour it will fill the hour. Would it benefit from more time? In my experience, no. The return on investment in more time you give it the less actionable the insights become.

The time was right this weekend when Elliott was up deliriously early and I dug in. I recommend keeping some form of record that works for you in 2021 to do this type of reflection.

You can't learn from what is not within your awareness.

Reviewed my notebooks from the previous year where I logged:

• A weekly To-Do List
• Listed my Daily Meetings
• Daily 5 Gratitudes
• Daily Intention
• Daily To-Do List
• Notes from all meetings
• Some other random notes

I paid attention to the following details:

• To-do List items that I clearly didn't want to do because they moved from day to day.
• Repeats on the gratitude list
• Meals that made it to the grateful list went on a "dinner inspiration list". Not knowing what's for dinner is a big pain-point for me.
• Books I wrote down but didn't land in my library hold list.
• Last November I started marking ideas with a circled asterisks. This was VERY helpful because I now have a list of about 200 ideas that I can think about for 2021. I used to put ideas on the to-do list which is not at all helpful.

What I learned:

1. Gratitude + Intention led days were more productive and more fulfilling. This year I had a simple daily Gratitude + Intention setting practice. 5 things I'm grateful for + one simple intention to help direct my day. Many (and I mean MANY) days coffee was on the list of things I'm grateful. This is likely because I'm normally drinking coffee while writing the list and what's in front of us is easiest to be grateful for.

what's in front of us is easiest to be grateful for

When I see the streaks where I managed 10 days in a row I can see how the snowball effect is in work here. I completed this practice about 75% of the time - seeing the impact in reflection I am more committed to the practice in 2021.

2. I need challenging goals to show up in my own self care. Like many, health goals were at the top of my 2020 list - I turned 40 - it felt important. What I saw in the review is that when I had a challenging goal I showed up in my self-care.

For example: In April my goal was to compete in 18 Peloton rides and get a PR in each time I "compete" in. I am competitive. It is MUCH better for everyone in my house that I'm competing on the bike than at Monopoly.

When I didn't have a challenging goal I slacked off (hello December). I wasn't watching, why bother. For the 12 days of break I'm making it a goal to ride 6 times you can follow me on Peloton as CassMcCrory.

3. I need more buffer around my favorite work. My favorite work is coaching and larger group trainings on LinkedIn, social media and developing your personal brand.

I LOVE this work, it's impactful, it lights me up and it's valued. It takes a lot of my energy to hold the space for 50 whip smart executives as they step into who they are in work online. Because this work is my most important work I need to create more buffer around it.

4. I have two choices: Plan or Chase. Weeks where I planned my week with intention and held boundaries as necessary I felt in control (even amidst the chaos). Weeks where I slid into Monday I was chased by the week. I pick plan and this is where my brain tries to trip me up.

I thought I needed a few days to review 2020 - but really I needed an hour. I regularly think I need half a day to be strategic about the month - but really I need about an hour. I believe that it will take an hour or two to plan my week on Sunday but really it's about 30 minutes.