One of my colleagues recently raised the idea that often we’ll do retrospectives and futurespectives (i.e. roadmapping, visiontyping) but that many or most of us don’t do introspectives.

While I’m not great at these kinds of things, I can say with certainty that writing out what I want to do and then what I did (aka start up and shut down), every day and every week, has been one of the most important and impactful habits I’ve ever learned.

Sure, reflecting on the seemingly banal details of the day can sometimes yield little insight, but sometimes it leads to a breakthrough connection or a great idea. It’s also just good for clearing the head so you can log off knowing what you did (or didn’t do) and what to get after tomorrow.

Here are some intro and outro questions you can try to get started:

Intro to your day, week, month…

• What do I want to create?
• What is my most important task?
• How can I be intentional about my work (or family, or health, etc)?
• How do I want to show up with my team (or family, or wife, etc)?

Outro to your day, week month…

• What did I truly get done today?
• How did I follow through on my intentions?
• What feedback can I build into my work (or goals, or habits, etc)?
• What am I putting off that needs my attention?

Vary the questions above based on what’s important for you and your work/life.

Write your own questions.

The important thing is to bookend the time with reflections, no matter how banal they might at first seem.

You might be surprised at what you find.