You are familiar with planning and reviewing your work regularly.
You can plan an upcoming client project, execute a client order, and review a completed assignment with ease.
But what if you adjusted your approach and added planning and review to your work in advance? There’s immense power in reviewing something for the first time.
Familiarizing yourself with work in advance can make the work appear less overwhelming and intimidating.
It can also lower your resistance to doing your work. You can think of this exercise as a type of warm-up for your core work.
I’ve found this technique to be helpful in my professional life, as have my clients.
While it may appear simple, you’ll be surprised at how effective it can be to help you better understand a novel situation, concept, or experience.
Follow these five practical steps to help you prepare yourself for upcoming work.
Choose an item to review
Want to make great gains in your productivity levels? Then you’ll want to identify a specific task you’ve been avoiding or putting off.
Doing so eliminates the pressure of having to do all your work in one sitting. It also helps you focus on the task at hand and gives you an immediate win because you’ve successfully completed a task.
What types of items can you review for your business? You could review an email, report, table of contents, article, or proposal. Whatever you choose, simply stick with that one item for the time being.
Spend several minutes reviewing the item
You’re now going to spend the next five to 10 minutes reviewing your selection. Do keep in mind that you’re not going to take action on the item.
That means no replying to a message, typing a report, or placing an order in the present moment. The idea is to simply become accustomed, acquainted, and absorbed in what is placed before you.
As you review your item, you may not feel like anything is sinking into your mind. But this doesn’t mean this isn’t working. Trust the process.
Remember, you’re taking the time to receive this information, news, and details about your work experience.
Work on an unrelated task
Now that you’ve done your review, you’re going to work on something completely unrelated to this piece of work. And in case you’re wondering, yes, this is part of the process.
Shifting your focus takes the pressure off figuring everything out. This separation time allows what you’ve just reviewed to sink into your mind.
If you want to streamline your workflow, try scheduling this type of review before routine or rote work. It will help generate momentum in your work with minimal energy investment.
Revisit your work
You’ll need to revisit your work in the near future so you can make progress in your work. Schedule some time into your planner or calendar to conduct your review.
When should you come back to your work? This can be as soon as the afternoon or in a week’s time.
As you begin to review things, you may find you can more easily focus on the information that’s in front of you. Having previously introduced yourself to the material, you can now attend to the actual execution of the work.
Evaluate your past experiences
With practice, you’ll come to understand which types of information and retention approaches work best for you.
You’ll start to see patterns, similarities, and differences you can use to your advantage.
For instance, you may notice that administrative tasks require a brief review session to allow information to sink into your mind.
You may find that tasks related to deep planning, writing, or presenting, for example, require more time to review items or additional review sessions.
Take your past experiences to heart and use them to your advantage. Feel free to adjust, modify, or change your review sessions for different tasks related to your work as needed.
Learn how to effectively review your work
If you want to make your planning sessions even more effective in your business, then you need to learn how to review your work with care.
My time management guide shows you how to complete a project in a timely manner, how to prioritize tasks, and how to create a to-do list.
If you want help reviewing projects and assignments in your business, then check out my productivity consulting services. Book a strategy session with me today!
How about you? Where are you going to use this practical process in your work? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!
This article originally appeared on Inc.com.
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