Why You Could Benefit From A Weekly Self-Evaluation

You’ve heard of the yearly job evaluation but ever come across the idea of doing your own weekly self-evaluation? If you’re serious about keeping to your goals (both career and personal ones) and want to know how you’re doing so far to achieve your targets, then sitting down on a Friday evening to go through everything you’ve achieved (or failed to) will help you stay on course.

We often get so caught up with work and life that we actually let it slip by. Can you remember what you did last week? Or what were the significant things you achieved last month? Being so busy at work and trying to have a social life at the same time also means that the days and the weeks go by in aflurry.

Before you know it, another year has passed... and one day, you think back and say to yourself, “I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the month already.” (Newsflash – we are only two more months till 2020!)

In short, what you need to do is slow down and reflect. The buzzword is being mindful where you take in everything you’ve experienced and reflect upon them.

How does this help at work? Well, you start the week by writing down what you want to achieve and by Friday, you look at the same list and tick off what you’ve achieved and if you’ve not, figure out how you are going to achieve them the next week.

It doesn’t have to be monumental goals... just small but meaningful achievements will do! Like clear your inbox, go for lunch with a prospective client, take an hour to go through your files at work and dump what’s not needed anymore. You know, things that you can easily accomplish and still feel proud of.

Another way to take this a step up is to list down the things you have to do to get closer to your career aspirations. Say you want to be promoted by end of the year. You know you need to do a few things like pick up better communication skills, show your boss you are capable of working independently and achieve results, hit sales targets.

One way to keep track of this is by breaking it all up into weekly targets. Then each week, look back at what you’ve achieved and see if it is getting you any closer to your get-promoted goal. This is because it is easier to look at the bigger picture by working on the smaller stuff that all adds up.

Ultimately, your weekly self-evalution is a time for you to count your wins, your losses and where you’d like to improve. Doing it regular each week means you are aware and mindful of exactly where you are right now in your career instead of just cruising along 9-to-5 Monday to Friday in a blur.

Want to try this weekly self-evaluation thing out? Here are four simple steps:
Step 1: Write down your wins on paper
A win equals any goal you’ve set out to do and actually achieved it. Why do you need to record your wins? It comes in extremely helpful in identifying the things you do that lead to success.

Step 2: Write down your losses
Knowing where you lack is also important – after all, you learn from your mistakes and failure. Make sure to also note down how you plan to rectify that loss going forward to make it a win in the future

Step 3: Pay attention to the things you forgot to do
You are not going to complete everything you’ve set out to achieve – that’s perfect normal and perfectly OK. But these are equally important tasks (which is why they are on the list, after all) and once you’ve established the things you’ve ignored, make sure you set out to achieve them the coming week or you’ll just end up procrastinating on them.

Step 4: Set out goals you want to achieve for next week
And get it down on a piece of paper. Having this physical list will actually make you want them real and pushes you to achieve them. Keep the list to check back the next Friday to see if you’ve made any progress.

See how it all comes back one full circle?

Try it now – and tell us how it’s made a change in your career.