Plan • Do • Reflect

Welcome to another issue of The Weekly Wrap — a metronome for the rhythm of your working life. It’s been a big week.

I’ve always been drawn to rhythm — from the endless cycles of the seasons, to the driving baseline of Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen — rhythms are an integral part of who we are. They shape us, drive us, and modulate our growth. My goal with this newsletter has always been to serve as a reminder that, twice a week, we need to slow down and embrace the rhythm of our working lives.

It's Friday again, and that means it’s time to pause and reflect on your experiences of the week. Honor your desire for personal and professional development by taking a few moments of introspection for yourself.

1. How was your week?
   • What successes did you experience?
   • Were you inspired?
   • What were your biggest and most exciting challenges this week?
2. Who are the people you encountered this week?
   • Is there anyone you need to update?
   • Anyone you need to thank?
   • Ask a question?
   • Share feedback?
3. How well did you…
   • Grow your team?
   • Grow your business?
   • Grow yourself?

Bonus Question: What are you really interested in?

Do you look forward to reading the trade magazines for your job, or do you dread it? If you were stranded on a desert island and could get one magazine subscription, what would that magazine be about?

Ideas of Note

Control the Message: What does your boss think that you do?

If you have a job, then I highly recommend that you produce a weekly status report. Not a full ‘status report’ per se, but a brief email with 3 - 6 bullets outlining your recent accomplishments and a preview of what you will be working on next week.

Here's the logic: If you have a job — working for anyone but yourself — then you have a boss to whom you report. And if you have a boss, then on a regular basis, people will ask that boss, “What is <Your Name Here> working on?” In fact, your boss will occasionally ponder this question even without being asked. Do not leave your boss' answer to chance.

Instead, plant the seeds for what is top-of-mind for your boss. By delivering an easy-to-remember, end-of-the-week, one-email-screen, status report, your boss won’t have to make up an answer when pondering what you are working on. Even better, your boss won't ever have a moment when they realize that they don't know what you are working on.

Avoid the temptation to provide a lot of detail — your boss can circle back later if they need more information. This is a talking points memo, not a manifesto. And it's not a bad idea to distribute your little ‘status report’ to anyone you consider a stakeholder, including anyone who might have an interest in your work and your career.

What do you think? Do you currently produce a regular status report? Has it served you well?

Join the Club!

Deep, broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders and can catalyze insight, innovation, empathy, and personal effectiveness.

— John Coleman, For Those Who Want to Lead, Read

We currently have seven members signed up for the Thinking, Fast and Slow book club. Join this bevy of smart people as we begin our reading — and our discussions — the first week of September.

Tom Peters said, "I believe unequivocally that Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is the most important book of the last 25 years for EVERY professional." See my blog announcement for full details about the club.

How to Participate

1. Buy the Book!
2. Join the LinkedIn Group where we’ll be holding our online discussions.
3. Download the Reading Schedule.
4. Start reading along with us the week of September 1.

How the club works: We’re using a private LinkedIn group to host our online conversations. Every Monday morning I’ll start a new ‘discussion’ with a few questions relating to the latest chapter(s) in progress. Anyone in the group can comment, ask further questions, explore, and discuss using the LinkedIn discussion features.

Wise Words

Steve Jobs on problem solving

When you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple, you don’t really understand the complexity of the problem. Then you get into the problem, and you see that it’s really complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle, and that’s where most people stop… But the really great person will keep on going and find the key, the underlying principle of the problem — and come up with an elegant, really beautiful solution that works.

Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.