After recurring activities, spend 60 seconds recording output + potential change — convert open-loop repetition into closed-loop learning

Why This Is a Rule

Anders Ericsson's deliberate practice research shows that repetition without feedback produces no improvement — a pianist who plays the same piece 1,000 times without listening to recordings and noting errors will have 1,000 repetitions of the same mistakes. Most recurring activities in knowledge work are exactly this: open-loop repetition where the same process runs repeatedly without any observation of output or adjustment of method.

The 60-second structured observation converts open-loop repetition into closed-loop learning with minimal cost. Two sentences — one about output ("The meeting ran 15 minutes over and we didn't reach a decision") and one about potential change ("Next time, start with the decision question rather than background context") — take 60 seconds and capture the feedback signal that would otherwise be lost.

The "immediately after" timing is critical because observation accuracy degrades rapidly. By end-of-day, the specific observations have merged into a vague impression. By next week, the impression is gone. The 60-second window right after the activity captures the signal while it's still sharp.

When This Fires

• After any recurring activity you do at least weekly: meetings, writing sessions, code reviews, presentations, one-on-ones
• When an activity feels stagnant — "I've been doing this the same way for months"
• When building feedback loops for activities that currently have none
• Complements A complete feedback loop needs three elements: measured output, comparison standard, and adjustment rule — define all three or the loop is broken (feedback loop structure) with the minimal implementation

Common Failure Mode

Skipping the observation because "nothing notable happened." That's the most important time to observe — the absence of notable events means the activity ran on default, which means no learning occurred. The observation should still happen: "Output: standard result, no deviation. Change: none needed today." Even a null observation maintains the habit of observing.

The Protocol

(1) Immediately after a recurring activity ends, before moving to the next task, spend 60 seconds. (2) Write one sentence about output: what happened? What was the result? What was the quality? Be specific, not evaluative — "Wrote 400 words in 30 minutes" not "Decent writing session." (3) Write one sentence about potential change: if you were to do this again tomorrow, what one thing would you change? This can be "nothing" — but you must explicitly consider the question. (4) Store these observations in a simple, accessible format: a running note, a spreadsheet row, or appended to the activity's calendar event. (5) Monthly: review the accumulated observations. Patterns that recur across multiple observations are your highest-leverage improvement targets.