Weekly Retrospective
The unexamined week loses its lessons. Sunday evening, 30 minutes.
Weekly Review Prompts
Schedule: Sunday evening, 30 minutes, coffee or wine.
Wins & Progress
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What did I ship this week?
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Completed tasks, merged PRs, resolved issues
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Don’t minimize small wins - they compound
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What did I learn that I didn’t know Monday?
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Technical: new command, pattern, concept
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Non-technical: about myself, others, life
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Write it down or it’s lost
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What moved closer to a North Star goal?
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Financial Independence: _
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Technical Excellence: _
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Bilingual Mastery: _
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Creative Expression: _
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Wisdom Accumulation: _
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Friction & Blockers
- 4. What frustrated me most?
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Technical blocker?
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Process issue?
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Person/communication?
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Self-inflicted (procrastination, distraction)?
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- 5. What took longer than expected? Why?
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Underestimated complexity?
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Dependencies?
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Skill gap?
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Scope creep?
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- 6. What did I avoid doing?
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Why did I avoid it?
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What’s the real cost of continued avoidance?
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Patterns & Insights
- 7. What pattern did I notice?
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Recurring problem?
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Recurring success?
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Time pattern (when am I most effective)?
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- 8. What connection did I make between unrelated things?
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Cross-domain insight?
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Metaphor that clarified thinking?
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- 9. What would I tell last-week-me?
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Advice that would have helped?
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Warning about a trap?
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Energy Audit
Track what gives and drains energy.
| Activity | Energy Effect | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
Deep coding sessions |
+ Energizing |
Flow state, meaningful progress |
ISE troubleshooting |
+ Neutral to positive |
Problem-solving satisfaction |
Meetings (unnecessary) |
--- Draining |
Minimize, decline, async instead |
Documentation writing |
++ Positive |
Creating lasting value |
Context switching |
--- Draining |
Batch similar tasks |
Spanish reading (Don Quijote) |
++ Positive |
Challenge + reward |
Admin tasks (life admin) |
- Slightly draining |
Batch, automate, delegate |
Vim/CLI practice |
+ Energizing |
Mastery feels good |
Weekly energy assessment:
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More high-energy activities than last week?
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Identified and reduced energy drains?
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Protected peak energy times for important work?
Time Truth
Estimated vs Actual:
| Activity | Planned Hours | Actual Hours | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
Deep work (projects) |
|||
Shallow work (admin) |
|||
Meetings |
|||
Learning/Study |
|||
Personal projects |
|||
Rest/Recovery |
Questions:
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Where did time actually go vs where I thought?
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What ate time unexpectedly?
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What deserved more time but didn’t get it?
Next Week Planning
Must Accomplish (Non-Negotiable)
| # | Task | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
1 |
||
2 |
||
3 |
Rule: If everything else fails, these 3 things happen.
Should Accomplish (Important)
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__
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__
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__
Deliberately NOT Doing
What am I consciously choosing not to do?
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__
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__
Why this matters: Explicit no’s prevent accidental yes’s.
Monthly Additions (First Sunday)
Add these questions on the first Sunday of each month:
Progress Check
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Where was I 30 days ago vs today?
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Concrete evidence of progress
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If no progress, why?
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Which tracks advanced? Which stalled?
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Track-by-track assessment
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What’s my velocity? Accelerating or decelerating?
Strategic Review
- 4. Am I working on the right things?
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Aligned with North Stars?
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Highest leverage activities?
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- 5. What should I stop doing?
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Sunk cost fallacy check
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Opportunity cost awareness
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- 6. What should I start doing that I’ve been resisting?
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(Answer here)
Calibration
- 7. Reread strategic-alignment.adoc
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Still accurate?
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Goals changed?
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Priorities shifted?
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- 8. Update any stale tracker partials
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Status changes
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Progress updates
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New blockers
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Quarterly Deep Dive
Every 3 months, block 2 hours for strategic review.
The Big Questions
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Am I becoming who I want to be?
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Character development
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Skills acquisition
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Relationships quality
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What would I regret not doing in the next quarter?
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What’s the ONE thing that would make everything else easier?
- 4. Am I playing the right game?
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Career path check
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Life direction check
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Portfolio Review
- 5. Project health check:
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netapi: _
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domus-docs: _
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802.1X system: _
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Home lab: _
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- 6. Certification roadmap on track?
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RHCSA: _
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DELE/SIELE: _
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CISSP (future): _
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- 7. Financial trajectory acceptable?
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(Answer here)
Recalibration
- 8. What assumptions am I making that might be wrong?
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(Answer here)
- 9. What would I do differently if starting fresh today?
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(Answer here)
- 10. What’s the most important lesson from the past quarter?
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(Answer here)
Weekly Capture Template
Copy this to your WRKLOG for the week:
== Weekly Retrospective
**Week of:** YYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD
=== Wins
*
=== Learned
*
=== Frustrated By
*
=== Pattern Noticed
*
=== Next Week Focus
1.
2.
3.
=== Energy: [High | Medium | Low]
=== Would Tell Last-Week-Me:
>