In my previous article about 1-1s, I promised to delve deeper into the «Daily Analysis» technique. So, here it is. My co-founders at Wunder Fund, along with many of our team members and numerous fellow founders I know, practice this regularly and find it extremely useful.
Why analyze your day?
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Reduce Overload:
By aligning tasks and projects with your goals, you can cut away unnecessary burdens and focus on what truly matters.
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Notice Incremental Changes:
Think of this as 'kaizen' in your daily life. Identifying small daily improvements helps create momentum for continuous enhancement.
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Learn from Experience:
Reflection allows you to draw lessons from similar situations and apply them in the future.
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Clear Mental Clutter:
It puts everything in its place, making your thought process more transparent and less chaotic.
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Live Mindfully:
Daily analysis is a sharp tool that highlights your strengths and weaknesses, wise and poor decisions, and how you relate to time. It's about making conscious choices every day.
Using this tool requires a healthy sense of self-criticism.
You can test yourself by asking, «What are my weaknesses?»
If you're coming up blank, this approach might not be for you yet. Genuine self-analysis demands honesty with oneself; you can't grow without acknowledging your areas for improvement.
How to approach the analysis:
To simplify the analysis of daily events, you can approach everything that happened through the following sequence:
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What did you want to achieve?
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What did you actually achieve?
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Why did it turn out that way?
This clear, step-by-step way encourages focused reflection and aids in understanding both successes and shortcomings. By aligning your intentions with outcomes, you can uncover valuable insights to guide future actions.
Daily Analysis Rules
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Analyze only the current day's activities Don't try to recall yesterday's conversations or phone calls, you'll fail. Analyze everything when it's fresh.
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Analyze everything Why does it take you so long to commute to work? Who called you and why? Could someone else have taken the call? What went well in the negotiations, and what did you miss? How can your team's workflow be optimized?
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Do it consistently It's tough to force yourself to analyze every day. You might be tired in the evening and want to relax. But you must use this tool consistently, or it will be ineffective. To make it easier, try to piggyback this habit onto one of your already existing habits/routines.
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Write it down Writing makes your analysis deeper and much more meaningful, allowing you to jot down conclusions and critical points to pay attention to.
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Review monthly
Suggested Questions
Intro questions
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Overall efficiency of the day: (0-100%) + comment
How satisfied are you with your performance today? How well did you utilize your time?
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Emotional state: (0-100%) + comment
Were you stressed or content? What affected your emotions?
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Alertness: (0-100%) + comment
Did you feel energized or lethargic? What contributed to that feeling?
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Health: (0-100%) + comment
How did you feel physically? What influenced your well-being?
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Event of the day
What significant event occurred today that impacted you?
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Discovery of the day
What new things did you learn about the world or yourself? What insights did you gain today?
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One of the monthly goals
Just a reminder
The actual analysis of your actions
👋 This framework emphasizes the actionable aspects of daily analysis. It's designed to prompt reflection on what's working, where you're failing, and how to strategically plan for future success.
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What did I do well/right today? How can I enhance or develop these advantages in the future?
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What did I do poorly? What did I do wrong? What could have been done better? How should I handle similar situations in the future and correct mistakes?
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What else could have been done? Why wasn't it done? How can I avoid this situation in the future?
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Did today bring me closer to my long-term goals? What needed to be done to get closer to those goals? This point suggests that you have some well-defined and written goals.
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What will I do tomorrow? How will I amplify strengths, circumvent weaknesses, and get closer to achieving long-term goals? This point follows as a conclusion from the previous four.
Who can I be grateful to today, and why?
Gratitude practice fosters a positive outlook, reducing stress and improving overall well-being. It enhances relationships through increased empathy and understanding, and over time can rewire the brain to reinforce positive emotions and resilience.
Three good things that happened today
This question clearly helps you remember and concentrate on the good things.
Positive psychology and self-help BS are nothing new. However, we found that this specific practice, along with the previous one, does work well. It is particularly beneficial for Quantitative Researchers or anyone in high-failure-rate jobs — when a significant part of your attempts are unsuccessful.
There is extensive research on loss aversion and how people are more sensitive to losses compared to equivalent gains. This sensitivity often leads some people to focus more on failures and the negative aspects of life. The aim of this point in the Daily Analysis is to provide a balance.
I also recommend the books "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor and "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. The authors engagingly elaborate on this subject, offering further insights.
What did I do today that I could have delegated? Why did I do it?
It's useful to ask yourself this question even if you don't have direct subordinates — you can often exchange time for money nevertheless. It's surprising how many people overlook this, spending their valuable time on tasks that drain energy or aren't their job in general.
Do you really need every task to be done perfectly or in the way you would do it? Stay tuned for more on the subject of delegation.
Formulate a new life principle
If you read the incredible Ray Dalio book called «Principles: Life and Work», you know what I'm talking about here. If not — I heartedly recommend you read it.
Formulating a principle, I try to understand whether I can learn something from today's events, and if I can draw any lessons from them.
If you take a moment to think about it, you might notice that each specific case is largely a repetition of the past; every specific instance belongs to some broader category of events. The practice helps identify decision-making patterns and recurring situations.
Here's a simplified approach:
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Slow down your thinking process enough to identify the criteria you use to make decisions, or that you think you should use.
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Record these criteria as principles.
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Evaluate and refine them after assessing the outcome, preparing for the next occurrence of a similar event.
👋 This process can drastically reduce the number of decisions you need to make, while also improving their quality, helping you navigate life with more wisdom and clarity.
Here are some raw examples of principles:
- Feed the other guy first
- If there are tasks that need to be delegated or if someone is waiting for your feedback to proceed with their work, do it before starting your tasks, not after. Usually, responding takes very little of my time, but a delay in work can last a day or two.
- Before doing something, ask yourself who is the best person for the job — and ask that person to do it
- For instance, recruiting.
- Or taxes.
- Or web design.
- Don't put off difficult conversations and don't hesitate to deliver bad news.
Conclusion
You might think that this practice is very burdensome, long, boring, and voluminous. That's not the case. Just give it a shot and see.
For your own Daily Analysis, you can take any of the suggested questions, as well as come up with your own. There's no need to use all the questions right away. Start small. Remember, the key is consistency.
You can use whatever instrument you like to perform the practice. I’ve tried many but eventually came back to a simple Google Sheet.
Try doing this practice for at least a week, or better yet, a month. Even in such a short period, you'll notice how often problems, thoughts, etc., repeat, and you will discover many of your own flaws.
Good luck with your reflections!