Compare the result with the goal you wrote at the beginning, using work you can inspect. Include time spent and circumstances that changed. Then choose a specific action to repeat and a specific adjustment, keeping uncertain results separate from confirmed progress.
The final week can dominate how you remember a project. One difficult day makes the whole effort feel unsuccessful. One good conversation makes it tempting to believe every part of the plan worked.
Open your starting note and the work you produced. Look at the period as a whole before deciding what it means.
Return to the original task
What did you want to do? What is now ready? Perhaps the conversation happened, the bills are organised or a draft has been sent. Name the result in terms someone else could recognise.
If the original task changed, write why. A new piece of information may have made a different action more sensible. You can acknowledge that without pretending the first plan was completed.
Include the cost
How much time, effort or coordination did the approach require? A detailed daily log might have helped at first and become cumbersome later. A shorter note might now serve the same purpose.
Results also have other causes. More money remaining this week could reflect a bill that has not yet arrived. A successful request might owe something to the other person's changing circumstances. Do not treat one favourable outcome as proof that a particular technique always works.
Choose what earns another trial
Keep two actions that were useful and manageable. Choose one to revise or stop. Perhaps preparing a request helped, while late-night work repeatedly failed. Keep the preparation and move the sessions.
Where a result is uncertain, call it uncertain. You can try the approach again in a suitable situation and see whether it remains useful.
Questions for the review
- What did I intend to finish?
- What became ready, and what remains?
- What else influenced the result?
- Which two actions were worth their effort?
- Which one will I change or stop?
End with a decision about the next period. The review should help you use what you learned, rather than require you to make the last six weeks look impressive.
A review with evidence
An illustrative exampleImagine spending six weeks preparing a portfolio. You planned four finished examples and completed two. Your calendar also shows that you covered an unexpected work deadline for a week. In the review, place the original brief beside the completed pieces. Record which parts took longer, and distinguish writing time from time waiting for feedback. One unfinished piece might only need a final image; the other may require a new approach. Give those pieces different statuses. For the next period, you could finish the nearly ready example and keep one weekly writing session. This leaves a record someone can understand without having to agree with your mood on review day.
Check the whole period
Tick the steps as you work through them.
0 of 5 steps checked
When records are incomplete
You may not have logged every session. Reconstruct only what you need from calendars, drafts and messages, and label estimates as estimates. Avoid spending an afternoon making the past look precise. If the result depends on another person, record your completed contribution and the response separately. A missing reply can leave the wider outcome unresolved while your submission is complete. For the next review, keep a small evidence note with the finished item and the main obstacle; this is usually more useful than trying to remember every busy day.
Write the next-period decision
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