How To Have Better Fridays

Recently, I’ve been teaching more people Agile Results. 

I teach them really fast, because I just focus on teaching them the most important tool in Agile Results:

Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection

But before I walk through, I share a quick story of how it all started.

Monday Vision was Born for Better Fridays

It was a warm, sunny, Friday afternoon.

My colleague and I were on our way to our favorite pizza place.

It was a beautiful day.  It should have been a great day.

But I felt like a beast of burden with the weight of the world on my back.

Our backlog was overflowing, we didn’t make it through what we thought we would, and we had been slogging away.

And for what?

I Was Looking in the Rear View Mirror

Well, I caught myself looking in the rear view mirror, more than looking ahead.

Instead of feeling great, I felt like crap.

So I turned to my colleague and asked him how much we realistically have to spend on work when we get back.

We lied to each other and ourselves. 

We pretended we would somehow eat a great lunch on this fine afternoon, then spend another 5 hours slogging away when we got back.

Then we got real.

We figured we realistically had about 2 hours of good energy left in us for the afternoon to spend on anything.

The Best Thing We Could Possible Do Is Figure Out What’s Worth Doing

We figured the best thing we could possibly do would be to prioritize the value we could deliver next week.

We decided we would identify three worthy wins for our team for next week.

With that, we enjoyed our pizza, and when we got back to work, we figured out what a great next week would look like.

I never wanted us to have another Friday where we couldn’t go into weekend feeling good about what we had accomplished for the week.

And that’s how Monday Vision was born.

Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection for Better Fridays

Once I tell that little story, people get it pretty quickly.  They’ve been there.  They feel the pain.

They slogged away all week and at the end of the week, instead of feeling good about their achievements, they feel like they haven’t done enough.

They are never done.  They are overwhelmed. 

Instead of feeling like they earned their weekend for rest and relaxation, they feel guilty that they should work on their never-ending backlog and laundry-list of To-Dos.

Monday Vision for Better Fridays

So then I walk them through how to do Monday Vision, so they can have better Fridays.

On Mondays, imagine if it were Friday.  Really step into your future Friday and feel it.   What are Three Wins you really want to have under your belt?

What would you want to be able to say to your manager or to your team or to yourself, about what you accomplished or achieved for the week?

Get clarity on that.

Use that simple story of your Three Wins that you want to be able to talk about on Friday, as your way to prioritize your focus for the week on Monday.

Now you are doing “Monday Vision.”

Daily Wins for Better Fridays

Each day, identify your Three Wins for that day.  This is the “Daily Wins” practice.

You will have those days where your Three Wins might be, “Great Breakfast,” “Great Lunch”, “Great Dinner.”

There will be days that knock you down, and you wonder how you will get back up.

But then you will also have those days where you are on top of the world and your Three Wins for today will be magnificent.

You might even say, they will be your masterpiece.

Either way, get in the habit of starting your day by identifying Three Wins you want to achieve.

That will help you focus and prioritize all that you do in a more meaningful way for results that matter.

If you don’t know how to do this, just imagine if you were closing out your day, what are Three Wins that you want to be able to say you’ve achieved, either to you, your manager, your team or that someone special.

Friday Reflection for Better Fridays

Lastly, there is Friday Reflection.

Friday Reflection is your chance to dig deep and gain some new personal productivity insights.

Ask yourself, “What are three things going well?” and ask yourself, “What are three things to improve?”

Be honest with yourself about your answers.

You are the one that will win or lose from what you learn.

This is your chance to change any long-standing patterns of your personal productivity challenges.

Do you bite off more than you can chew?  Do you get randomized during the week?

Do you have a hard time figuring out what is actually valued?

Use what you learn to feed into next week.  This is your chance to change and practice your Growth Mindset.

Don’t expect any of these exercises to be easy, but they get easier with practice.

And that’s just it.  This isn’t a one-time trick.

This is a very precise set of productivity habits and practices that you can use for your lifetime to master time management, master your energy, master your motivation, and become more of what you are capable of.

Unleash your productivity, the Agile Way.

Best wishes for better Fridays.

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