While dozing in the long-awaited spring sun on my porch, I was musing on the other faces of my 3D – Dream, Decide, Do it image. What did they say if the block was turned?

Dream, Decide, and Do it are certainly the sexy, action-oriented verbs, but that’s just the daylight portion of the process. Real Productivity, making room for continuous improvement, requires a yin as well as a yang.

You need to Review your actions. Did you get the results you were looking for? What worked and what didn’t? What measurement are you using to determine that. Are your conclusions based on evidence? In order to learn, you must evaluate your work.

Then, assuming your effort is not a one-time offer, you need to Refine. What changes will you make for next time? What was unnecessary and should be discarded? What pieces of the process can be tweaked to make it even more effective?

Then build in time to Reflect. This is bigger picture thinking. Are you on the right path? If you continue in this direction where will you be? Have you achieved what you set out to do?

And the circle begins again with Dream. I think of Reflection as looking back– what has been,  and Dreaming as looking forward to what might be.

Let’s look at an example.  Intrepid entrepreneur, Anne, dreams of a program that earns her good money doing what she enjoys doing most. She designs a curriculum, decides what to include, what to leave out, how to deliver it. Price point, promotion, and placement are set. She launches using a proven method, executes the plan satisfactorily and has lukewarm results. Definitely not what she was hoping for. What’s next?

Or how about this? Similar scenario with entrepreneur, Beth. This time the launch is spectacularly successful. Big numbers. High fives and multi-sixes. What’s next for Beth?

For both women it’s the same process. To make the most of the success or the failure you must Review and capture the lessons learned. What do you want to make sure you repeat? What were the key elements that led to that outcome? How do you know? How could you find out?

Then you Refine. Anne might change the program, test the product description to see how it is received, add features based on new market research.

Beth can Refine as well. How might the campaign be scaled without losing quality? Could we be equally successful with less stress on the team?

And Reflect. Both women can be asking where do I go from here. Do I want to do more of the same? Does Anne keep trying until she gets it right or explore a new direction? Does Beth repeat her successful program as long as she can or is she yearning for new worlds to conquer?

If you simply Do without examining or testing you’re shooting in the dark. And of course if you simply analyze without ever taking action you don’t get much done. It’s positive feedback loop.

If you like these ideas and they give you insights, please feel free to give me some positive feedback in the comments below.