I wanted to share an exercise that I shared with the Spurling Team awhile back, most of them have been doing it every week and have been finding it extremely helpful so I thought I'd share it with you.
Its' called the Freedom Session.
It is used to help clear your thoughts and is really good for people who have a tough time shutting it off, especially as you head into the weekend.
Here's what a freedom session looks like.
Grab a notebook.
1. 5 Positives From The Week
Write down the 5 best things that happened this week. We tend to focus on what we're not getting done, but I'm sure we can all think of 5 things that were positive.
2. Clean Up
Do you ever have a clearer mind when your desk is clean? That's not by accident. Spend a few minutes cleaning up your desk, organizing all your papers, etc. Whatever "clean" looks like in your life, make that happen.
3. Inbox Zero
This is huge. Go through all your e-mails and text messages and get down to inbox zero. If something needs to be saved move it to a labeled folder. The mind will be more clear if you don't have 1000 red notifications on your e-mail
4. 15 Minute Mind Sweep
Write nonstop for 15 minutes. Get everything that is in your mind onto paper. You can organize it later, but it will help clear up the anxiety and stress when you get it all on paper.
5. Review Your Upcoming Calendar
Review next weeks calendar and make sure it looks good. Take care of any rearranging you need to do, daycare, etc.
6. Review Your To Do List
We all should have a working to do list. Review it, see what still needs to stay on there, and get it organized for the next week. To do list are things that are single steps.
7. Review Your Project List
Not everything should live on your to-do list. If it has multiple steps it is classified as a project. Get all your projects on one list, and then extract out single steps of those and put them on your to-do list.
8. Review Waiting For List
Your waiting for list is things that you can't move on until you get something or hear something. Maybe you're waiting for a phone call or e-mail to come back. Maybe you're waiting for a package to arrive or another co-worker to finish their part of the project.
9. Review Someday Maybe List
This is the list of all the things you want to do but they don't really have any urgency. It's good to have on paper so that you don't forget, but you want to separate them from the urgent things like your to-do list and project list.
10. Review Goals & Vision
We all should have goals and a vision for our life. They should also be written down. At the end of each week, I like to read my goals and vision to make sure I still like them, to make sure my actions are matching them, and to keep them top of mind.
That's a freedom session.
It will probably take you about 30-60 minutes but I guarantee you it will clear your head tremendously, and it will make the following week that much more productive.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
1% Better.
Dedicated to Your Success,
Doug Spurling