Last week, I performed my regular quarterly review and reflection retreat. However, I used an entirely unique method than what I’ve used in the past.
I used dictation to answer the questions on my Quarterly Review Template. Normally, I write out my answers on a copy of the Template.
The day before I began my retreat, I attended a Zoom MacSparky Labs call hosted by David Sparks. The topic of the call was how to do planning for the 2nd quarter of the year.
In this call, Sparks indicated that when he does his Roles Review and Planning sessions he uses dictation to record his thoughts in the Day One journaling app. He said that by using dictation in the review process he feels like it’s less like work, and that he feels freer in his thinking using dictation than he is when he writes his responses.
Considering Dictation for My Quarterly Review
The concept of using dictation intrigued me, and I decided to give it a try.
When I first started dictating into apps, it felt very awkward. Over the past year, I’ve become much more comfortable dictating. But with experience, it’s become much more comfortable. I use dictation almost every morning as I speak into my journal in Day One. ,
The built-in system dictation on the iPad and Mac has become much more accurate in the last few years. I would guess that around 95% of what I write is accurate, leaving little to be cleaned up. You can use it with just about any app with space to enter text.
The system dictation can often get the punctuation correct. However, I’ve found it’s easier and more accurate for me to just speak the punctuation, such as “period,” “comma,” or “question mark.”
On the iPad or iPhone, you can initiate dictation by touching the icon of the microphone on the lower left (iPad) or lower right (iPhone) of the virtual keyboard. On the Mac, you can initiate dictation by pressing the right-side command key twice in quick succession. On all devices, you can enable the dictation feature in the Keyboard settings in the System Settings.
No Specific Plan When I Started Dictation
When I decided to use dictation to record my responses to my Quarterly Reflection & Planning Template, I wasn’t certain how it would all work out.
My Template has many sections, and numerous questions in each section. For more details about what’s in my Template, see my blog post, The Power of Quarterly and Weekly Reviews.
When I started, I didn’t have a plan for how I would organize my transcript to show divisions and be able to navigate the material.
I figured I’d work it out as I did it, and see what worked best.
My Step-By-Step Process In Using Dictation for My Quarterly Review
When I started, my plan was to use my Template as a guide for the questions I would be answering and what I would be talking about.
I didn’t have a detailed plan for exactly how I was going to do this. Initially, I planned to do a complete response guided by my template, then go back to reread and clean up the text.
I found that when I actually got into the process of dictating my responses to the template questions, I kept modifying my methods to do what seemed best.
I opened a copy of my quarterly review and planning template on my MacBook Pro, and opened the Day One app on my iPad. I created a new journal in Day One, “Quarterly Reviews” and opened an entry page.
I sat comfortably on a sofa with the iPad in my lap as I dictated. When I was ready to start I tapped the microphone icon on the keyboard and began speaking.
Here is the process I used:
1. One running narrative. When I did the first section of my Template, an inventory and review of my life roles, my responses were all just one running narrative with paragraphs. When I got to the end of the first section, I decided to stop dictating instead of continuing on to the next section.
2. Adding section headings. When I went back through my narrative, I filled in some section headings that would provide some navigation as I reviewed it. My headings in this section were my life roles such as Husband, Father, and Friend.
3. Adding headings while dictating. After adding headings to the roles review section, I started dictating the headings in each new section as I encountered it. I’d make the heading a separate paragraph, so it would stand out. This made it much easier when I went back through it later to see what I had written on a topic and add more material. This should also make future reference and navigation of sections much easier.
4. Clean up. I’d work through one section, such as roles review, and dictate all of my responses. Then I’d go back through that section, rereading my responses and cleaning up the grammar and any errors from dictation.
5. Adding additional thoughts. As I read through my responses, I’d often think of additional factors or aspects of the topic I wanted to address. I would stop at that point and dictate additional paragraphs, recording my thoughts.
6. Repeat the process for each section. Next, I would move to the next major section of my template and repeat the process. I’d respond to questions, dictate my thoughts, go back when I finished the section and clean it up, then add any additional thoughts. I repeated this until I reached the end of my Template.
7. Three passes. During my retreat, I reviewed all I had written a total of three times. Each time I found that I had additional thoughts that I wanted to add. I dictated them in the appropriate section at that time.
8. Highlighting Phrases & Headings. On my 2nd and 3rd passes, I also started highlighting phrases or headings that would make it easier for me to navigate this material the next time I visit it. By the time I was complete, I had an 8500-word document with bolded headings and multiple bolded highlights. The headings and bonded phrases made it a much more functional document, easily reviewed.
9. 90-Day Action Items. I also added a separate paragraph at the bottom of each section to include action items for the next 90 days. I bolded this section as well.
These to-dos had come up naturally as I worked through the material and realized what I needed to do to implement my planning. I went back through my material and made sure that I repeated in the action item section any action items I’d mentioned in my narrative.
10. Create an action item checklist at the end. The last step of my process was to go to the end of the document and add a section called action items, with checkboxes in front of each item. I consolidated all the action items that I had at the close of each section, so they’d all be in one master list that I could work from after my review.
Action Item Followup After the Quarterly Review
I know all too well that it’s easy to go away on a planning retreat, come up with many great ideas and plans, then come home and do nothing. Nothing changes, and the retreat was a waste of time.
Since returning from my retreat, I’m working through the list of action items. Some of them involve adding events to my calendar. Many of them involve adding to-dos to my task manager, which is Things. Many of them have required actions on my part to implement.
Since I put the action items in the form of a checklist, I can mark the checkbox as complete as I finish each action item. Scanning the checklist, I can easily see which tasks I’ve completed and which still need work.
I added a to-do in my task manager, reminding me to work through my list of actions. I won’t show this task as complete until I complete working through the entire list of action items.
My Overall Evaluation of Using Dictation — Will I Use Dictation Again?
• Using dictation was much more productive and freeing for me than writing responses. I definitely spoke and dictated much more than I would have written. So, my answers to my Template questions are much more complete.
By dictating instead of writing, I was able to let my mind wander more widely than if I was writing. When I write, I tend to put things down as concisely as possible.
When I’m dictating, I feel the freedom to follow my thoughts and talk about what I’m thinking and what I’m feeling in response to questions. This gives me a much fuller response, and I think this will prove very valuable in the future as I look back at my responses in prior reviews.
• I plan to use dictation for my next quarterly review and planning session. I felt my responses to my template were at least a 200% improvement over my written responses.
My responses were much more complete and comprehensive than what I’ve produced in the past. I felt freedom in dictation to explore thoughts that arose spontaneously during my sessions. This resulted in an excellent experience.
• I plan to use dictation for all of my weekly roles reviews as well. In addition to a more comprehensive quarterly roles review and planning retreat, I also perform a weekly life roles review.
I use a template for this. It helps to bring balance to my life roles, and also helps to keep me focused on doing what is important to me.
I was so impressed with the results of using dictation for my quarterly review that I intend to use dictation to record my responses to my weekly review. I’m starting with the next one, scheduled for this coming Sunday.
• This is not a linear process — allow adequate time. Whether you use dictation or writing, this is not a linear process. It’s difficult to accurately estimate how much time it will take you to complete it. I suggest you allot much more time than you initially think it will take. If it takes less time, you’re finished early and no harm is done.
A quarterly review is a process that will have you jumping around a lot, even while in the midst of moving methodically through the Template. Responding to questions in one section will prompt thoughts that need to be recorded in a different section.
It’s best for me to stop right then and dictate those thoughts in the appropriate section. If I don’t, I likely forget them.
Summary
This past week, I used dictation to answer the questions on my Quarterly Review Template during my recent quarterly review and reflection retreat. I found that dictation was more productive and freeing than writing out my answers.
The process involved dictating a running narrative section by section, adding section headings, cleaning up the text, adding additional thoughts, and creating an action item checklist. I plan to use dictation for my next quarterly review and all future weekly roles reviews.
If you have a review process, I urge you to give dictation a try. I think you’ll find that it’s a big improvement over writing out your thoughts.
If you decide it’s not for you, that’s fine. Don’t do it again. Just go back to writing responses if that’s what works best for you.