TGIF! As soon as Friday comes along, you can hear countless sighs of relief as most of us get ready to kick work to the side and enjoy the week-end. As a result, Fridays are often not often our most productive days. Yet, if used strategically, Fridays can one of those days that radically improve our careers.
You’ve heard the saying:” It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that matters!” When it comes to your work, these words hold true as well. After you’ve put in a whole week of work, bringing everything together and learning from your performance can go a long way towards making you a top performer.
Here are 3 things you can start doing on Fridays to take your career to the next level while everyone else is too busy planning for the week-end:
-
Do a Weekly Timesheet
In my past life as an auditor, I was required to fill out a weekly timesheet. This is where I would log all the hours I spent during the week, and assign them based on the projects I worked on. While I would find this practice so tedious, the associated benefits were incredibly rewarding.
By filling out a weekly timesheet, you’re not just accounting for what you did during the week. What you’re doing is also assessing how efficient you’ve been at completing tasks and projects. This data allows you to go back to the individual tasks and responsibilities you have, and determine whether you’ve been on target or not. It also lets you measure your progress against your goals, and gives you definite objectives to look for.
Remember, time is the most precious commodity we have. Learning to understand how we use, and to re-calibrate and make better use of it, can help us be more productive, efficient and fulfilled.
-
Do a Success Recap
Friday is a great time to look back at your week and do what I’d call a quick “Success Recap”. Ask yourself the following three questions to assess how successful and productive your week has really been:
- What new thing did you do this week that took you out of your comfort zone?
This is a great way to put yourself back in perspective, and re-visit what you’ve done in the past week in terms of innovation and leadership. Have you just been following your usual routine, and gone through the motions without really trying anything new this week? Or have you instead tried to find ways to innovate and get out of your safe place?
- What were you particularly proud of this week?
Now this is the pat on the back we all need every so often. Don’t wait for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments. Instead, challenge yourself to pinpoint at least one thing you’re really proud of having accomplished this week. Not only will this boost your morale, but it will also encourage you to top that thing going forward.
- What didn’t work so well this week?
While we may need a morale boost every now and then, we also need a bit of a reality check to keep us grounded and constantly improving. Identify at least one thing that you can improve on in the future? It may be your time management skills, your timeliness, or how you may need to speak up more. Whatever it is, be honest about it and challenge yourself to do better.
-
Set Up A “Challenge Plan” for the next week
Last but not least, end the week by challenging yourself to build on what you’ve learnt through this process. Take a quick look at how you managed your time through your timesheet, as well as over your answers to the “Success Recap” questions, and make a quick “Challenge Plan” for next week. This plan will help you improve on what did not go so well, and build upon what did.
I usually make quick bullet points to address in the following week, and write those down on my white board so they can be in plain sight all week.
There you have it, now you’ve effectively finished the week with a bang and are ready to start next week on a powerful note.
What else do you do on Fridays to improve your career?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
