Do you ever find yourself rushing through your weekly review or skipping it entirely, simply because it takes too long?

Many do.

What if didn’t take so long? What if you could review everything that needs to be reviewed and tick all the boxes that need to be ticked in just 15 or 20 minutes?

How is that possible?

I’ll tell you. But first, a point of clarification.

We call it a weekly review, but we should really call it a weekly “plan” because that’s what it is (or should be). A little reviewing, but mostly planning the upcoming week.

Therein lies a clue.

Istead of spending an hour or more reviewing all of your projects and tasks, past, present, and future, just review the tasks and projects that pertain to the following week.

If you aren’t going to work on a project this week, schedule time to review and plan that project next week, next month, or some other later date.

And don’t think about it until then.

The result is a shorter and more focused plan for the upcoming week. You’re welcome.

But yes, there is a catch.

If you want to create the future, you can’t ignore it, so besides a weekly planning session, you need to allocate time to plan those future weeks and months.

Yes, a monthly review (plan).

Once a month, schedule time to consider your goals—the outcomes you want to achieve that month and beyond—and identify the projects and tasks you need to work on to achieve those outcomes.

So far, so good. But yes, there’s another catch.

The daily plan.

It’s the key to making this all work.

Every evening, take 5 or ten minutes to plan your work for the following day.

Look at your calendar and your weekly plan, identify your most important tasks for tomorrow, and put them on a short list.

When tomorrow arrives, you know exactly what to do.

Let’s recap.

Schedule 15 or 20 minutes once a week to plan the week ahead. Once a month, schedule time to plan the upcoming month. And each afternoon or evening, take 5 or 10 minutes to plan the following day.

So, are you nodding your head in agreement? Does this sound doable? Easier than forcing yourself to spend an hour or two each week going over your entire life?

If it does, and you do this consistently, you will become a productive powerhouse and goal-achieving Ninja.

Unfortunately, there’s one more catch.

You have to do the work.

Sorry. You can’t spend all day reading emails and blog posts from yours truly. Much as you would like to, I’m sure.