The AAR (aardvark?) · SpeakPreneur

The AAR (aardvark?)

No, I do not mean an actual aardvark.

When I was in the Army, we did something after every mission. Regardless of if it was a training mission, a combat mission or even organizing something fun for our families to get together, we did this little ritual.

It was the AAR or After Action Review. It was a chance for every participant from the lowest greenest private to the commander himself to have their voice heard without judgment or repercussions.

It was a chance for us to say what worked and what failed. And high command took these very seriously.

I started to adopt this practice in my own life. When I went on sales calls i did an AAR. When I would compete in Martial Arts Tournaments, I did an AAR. When I would teach a workshop I did an AAR.

Heck for a time I would do an AAR at the end of my day just to see if it would work...it did.

When I started to apply this analysis to every speech that I did, my skill at the lectern grew dramatically.

Here is the format that I used every time and in every situation.

What was supposed to happen? (Your expectations)
What actually did happen? (Just the facts. no commentary or explanation)
What are 3 things that went well (things to sustain)
What are 3 things that did not go well? (things to improve)
What steps can be done to fix everything in Question 4?
What was the BIG take away from all of this? (what lesson have you learned)

When you do this exercise, take the time to write this out! This will slow you down enough to let your emotions set to the side and you can approach this with a mindset that will truly benefit.

Try to grow by at least 1% every time you do this. The compound interest that you will reap for this activity will pay dividends that you cant begin to imagine.

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