#332 Sharpen your tools!

A woodworker's story illustrates how progress without pause leads to poor results, emphasizing the importance of weekly performance reviews for personal and professional growth. Tools for intentional improvement include tracking wins, identifying challenges, and planning small adjustments that transform reactive performance into intentional progress.

• Weekly reviews provide insight, clarity, and a reset mechanism
• Pausing on purpose helps organize thoughts and actions
• What works today might not work tomorrow without evaluation
• Tracking wins includes celebrating even small progress
• Identifying energy drains and progress blockers is crucial
• One small weekly adjustment is more effective than complete overhauls
• Intentional review transforms reactive work into purposeful action

Leave a message after the beep and send an email to Aaron at growthinstigators.com. Let me know if you currently review your performance each week and why or why not. Also, share what question you could ask yourself each Friday to get better each Monday.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Woodworker's Wisdom

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

A woodworker crafted custom furniture in a busy shop. At the end of each week he'd pause to examine his tools, sharpen the dull ones, clean the workspace, assess what went well. One week he skipped the review and by Friday he was crazy out of sorts and super frustrated. He realized progress without pause leads to poor results. Reviewing the work was part of the work. Welcome to message 332 of the Growth Instigators Hotline, where we ignite your personal and professional development. I'm Aaron Havens, your host and growth coach.

Speaker 1: 0:40

Top Performance Tuesday creating weekly performance reviews. Do you want to grow? Then don't just push through. Pause and pause on purpose. Build it into your calendar. Weekly performance reviews are simple, but very, very powerful. They give you insight, clarity and a built-in reset button. They help you organize your thoughts and your actions.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Just because something worked yesterday doesn't mean it will work the same today. Evaluation review pause is key. Now don't get me wrong. This isn't about perfection. It's about momentum. Here's how I've seen it work best in my life. Track your wins. What worked this week, what progress did you make, even if it was small, and by all means, don't skip the celebration. That's right.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Another thought Identify challenges. What drained your energy? What blocked your progress. Naming it is the first step to changing it. And the last thought today plan a small adjustment. What is one shift that you would make that would make next week better? Don't overhaul, just improve. When you build this rhythm, your performance stops feeling reactive and starts feeling intentional, just as our word worker friend needed to pause and sharpen his tools. Have you made it a habit to do the same in your life? Thank you for calling Growth Instigators Hotline. I'd love to hear from you. That's right. Leave a message after the beep and send an email to Aaron at growthinstigatorscom. And let me know two things Do you currently review your performance each week? Why or why not? And the second thought is what's one question you could ask yourself each Friday to get better each Monday? And as always, my friends, keep instigating growth in all you do.