I’ve tried making weekly reviews a habit over the past year. The idea of a weekly review seems helpful: you reflect on your goals and any progress towards those goals each week, and take the time to brainstorm what went wrong (or right) and how to improve for next time.
In the process of attempting to make this habit useful, however, I stumbled upon a roadblock: how was I supposed to reflect, anyway? What sorts of questions should I ask myself?
Over the course of me trying to figure out just what I wanted from these reviews came what I like to call the “6R Framework”. The 6Rs are 6 categories of reflection questions I currently use, and am test-running, each week as part of my weekly review process. While I’m still constantly tweaking my systems, most of the principles behind the 6Rs will likely stay for the long run.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
What are the 6Rs?
The 6R Framework consists of the following 6 categories:
- Recap: What happened?
- React: How do I feel about this week/my progress?
- Reflect: What went right? What went wrong?
- Review: Why did things go right or wrong? What have I learned?
- Reassess: Are your goals still relevant?
- Revise: What can you do to improve for next time?
This framework may be helpful if you’re struggling thinking of questions to ask yourself when reviewing your progress, as it provides a starting point for inquiry.
How Do I Use the 6Rs to Reflect?
I go into each of the six leading questions below, expanding on it with some sample questions. You may play around with the questions or combine the 6R categories however you see fit. (In fact, I often combine 3. Reflect with 4. Review in my own weekly reviews.)
Recap: What Happened?
Write down what happened in the recap section. Although I use the 6Rs for weekly reviews, you could adapt it to a different timeframe, such as a single event or for daily reviews. Use this space to recount the “what” in the equation. Be as complete as necessary. Questions you could ask yourself include:
- Where and why did this event happen?
- What were the key actions I took?
- What did I have control over? What was out of my control?
- How did I feel at the time, and after the event? Did my emotions contribute to my actions?
- How were others affected by this event?
- What happened after this event?
When I conduct my weekly reviews, I look over my daily journal entries to fill in this stage.
React: How Did You Feel?
Observe how you feel about the events that have transpired. Again, this could be as simple as “I felt good” for an event reflection, or if you’re doing a weekly review, “This week’s progress towards my goals weren’t that great”. There could be complex feelings, or they could be a simple “good” or “bad” feeling. Some questions to ask:
- Am I feeling good or bad about this, and why?
- Name the feeling that you are observing.
Reflect: What Went Right/Wrong and Why?
Assess the facts of the event, day, or week. It’s important to allow yourself to be kind to yourself in this stage: acknowledge any negative feelings without letting it cloud your perceptions. I don’t try to be optimistic about everything bad that happens during a week, especially if it was out of my control. But for most of the negatives, think about it: I’ve recognized I’ve slipped up. I’m not ignoring it, and that’s an important step towards learning to do better.
You may also want to ask some of these questions:
- Did this go right/wrong because of something I had control over, or something external? What could I control in this situation?
- What led to this going right or wrong?
- Are there patterns from other reviews I’ve done that have shown up here as well?
- Is there an aspect of my personality (i.e. how I react or deal with situations) that led to this going right or wrong?
Review: What Did You Learn?
The review stages is about insights. As you ponder about your rights and wrongs, try to formulate key takeaways. This stage is especially useful for goalsetting as you evaluate the reason why a goal may have failed or succeeded. Getting to the root source of something by continually asking “why” could be key to figuring out how to proceed.
An example of one of my own key takeaways was back in July of 2022, where I was trying—and repeatedly failing—to implement a revision habit after dinner. It was only after a couple of weeks when I realized my chronotype did matter for me: getting any self-study done was much easier in the mornings than at night.
Reassess: Are These Goals/Expectations Reasonable?
This stage is more targeted towards goalsetting and weekly reviews. Often, it can be skipped in the reflection process. However, it can also be a chance to rethink your evaluation from step 4, as a natural procession. Some questions to consider:
- Is this goal still relevant? (Or, do I even need a goal in the first place?)
- Is this goal still a priority as of right now?
- Was this goal, or your expectations, attainable in the first place?
- Am I letting my emotions take control over my evaluation of myself?
- Is there criteria I haven’t yet considered in my evaluation?
- Are my beliefs, personal biases, or self-identity holding me back? Do I need a mindset change to view this event in a non-judgemental way?
Revise: How Can I Improve or Maintain My Progress?
If you found something went wrong, the revision stage is where you would take all that you learned and create/revise your goals for the future. For things that went right, focus on maintaining the momentum. Consider any preventative measures based on your insights.
I would also suggest thinking of ways to make what needs to be changed or maintained more apparent in your life, i.e. a cue. I often find that I want to make changes in life and yet forget to do it. Sometimes this can come in the form of seeking external accountability, to setting up reminders—adjusting some part of your system to make it stick.
Conclusion
I’m still under the belief that doing weekly reviews can be useful, even though sometimes, I find that it returns similar takeaways, insights I’ve noticed before. But I suppose that’s not necessarily a bad thing—it just emphasizes that it’s something important that I should really listen to.
That being said, it’s nice to have a space to reflect and organize your thoughts. It’s hard to distance yourself away from something happening in the moment and truly assess it when one is overcome with the emotion of being present. With this, I hope that the six leading questions, the “6Rs”, will help bring you a sense of clarity: of where you were, where you are now, and where you’ll be going next.
Stay awake, daydreamers,
— Kharis (Worth the Wake) 🌻
