WEBVTT - Check in weekly

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to check in weekly. If you are trying

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<v Speaker 1>to hold yourself more accountable for something, checking in weekly

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<v Speaker 1>is a good cadence to allow for ups and downs,

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<v Speaker 1>but to still keep yourself on track. So, as you

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<v Speaker 1>might imagine, I am fascinated by time. Certain aspects of

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<v Speaker 1>time are rooted in the natural world, days, for instance,

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<v Speaker 1>and years. Other units of time are more human designed.

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<v Speaker 1>Think the seven day week. One could imagine the cycle

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<v Speaker 1>of life as we live at repeating every six days

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<v Speaker 1>or eight days or whatever. But in most of the

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<v Speaker 1>cultures where you might be listening to this podcast, seven

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<v Speaker 1>days is deeply ingrained. Look at seven days and you

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<v Speaker 1>have a pretty good picture of someone's life. Look at

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<v Speaker 1>one day and you'll have to guess was it a Tuesday?

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<v Speaker 1>Was it a Saturday? What's normal about this day? What isn't?

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<v Speaker 1>But a week shows both anyway, I find a week

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<v Speaker 1>is a good unit of time for evaluating lots of things.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you are trying to hold yourself accountable for anything,

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<v Speaker 1>designating a weekly check in time is likely to keep

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<v Speaker 1>you on track. This is true for a few reasons. One,

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<v Speaker 1>you will remember it, which is not true of things

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<v Speaker 1>that happen less often than weekly. Until a few years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>our local recycling pickup was every two weeks, and it

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<v Speaker 1>was shockingly hard to rememb remember it was it this week?

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<v Speaker 1>Was it last week? But if something happens every Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>you come to associate it with Friday and you don't

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<v Speaker 1>forget to do it. Second, looking at a week allows

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<v Speaker 1>for natural ups and downs. Let's say you're trying to

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<v Speaker 1>hold yourself accountable for working on an application for graduate school.

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<v Speaker 1>If you check in daily, it is quite possible that

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<v Speaker 1>you wouldn't have worked on it on Monday because work

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<v Speaker 1>got incredibly busy. But maybe you've carved out time Tuesday

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<v Speaker 1>night and Thursday afternoon to work on it. Rather than

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<v Speaker 1>think that you have failed when you don't do something

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<v Speaker 1>every single day, a week gives you the chance to

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<v Speaker 1>see overall progress past that, though we tend to lose steam.

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<v Speaker 1>If you checked in once a month, you might drift

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<v Speaker 1>off and not really be able to quickly get back

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<v Speaker 1>in the game. I plan my upcoming weeks on either

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<v Speaker 1>the Thursday or Friday, and as part of that, I

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<v Speaker 1>check in on how I'm doing on my goals. Did

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<v Speaker 1>I stick with my daily intentions? Did I take steps

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<v Speaker 1>toward my bigger goals. I can then also look forward

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<v Speaker 1>to the next week and plan in priorities related to

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<v Speaker 1>those goals. I know as I plan them in that

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<v Speaker 1>I will evaluate at the end of the week if

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<v Speaker 1>I did them. This provides a lot of accountability. I

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<v Speaker 1>also check in with a few accountability partners each week.

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<v Speaker 1>We state what we did over the past week and

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<v Speaker 1>what we plan to do. A weekly rhythm isn't overwhelming,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is frequent enough that we know what each

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<v Speaker 1>person is focusing on, and we can point out if

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<v Speaker 1>things keep getting bumped forward. If there is something you

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<v Speaker 1>are trying to hold yourself or anyone else accountable for.

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<v Speaker 1>You might also try designating a time weekly to do this.

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<v Speaker 1>Now we can go overboard with this. I am not

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<v Speaker 1>a huge fan of weekly meetings that exist just to exist.

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<v Speaker 1>They still need to be well planned, but plenty of

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<v Speaker 1>managers swear by fifteen to thirty minute one on ones

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<v Speaker 1>with all direct reports weekly just as a way to

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<v Speaker 1>keep on top of any problems and let the person

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<v Speaker 1>know that there is a time for sure when they

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<v Speaker 1>will have their manager's attention that can head off a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of crises. A week may be a human invented

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<v Speaker 1>form of time, but it is a very useful one indeed.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

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<v Speaker 1>you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.