The Power of the Weekly Review
On Sunday night, I plan the upcoming week.
I have a regular appointment with myself for planning and reflection. I use this time to get my head above the day-to-day grind, see what I have achieved and where I want to go. Then, I design intentionally what I want my upcoming week to look like.
Over the years, I have used this process to achieve many goals.
I studied for professional qualifications, completed classes on Coursera, and learned a programming language. More recently, I have allocated time to regularly write on Medium.
To make time for your important projects and complete your commitments, you should perform a regular Weekly Review.
In this article, I want to share with you the process I follow for this weekly planning.
Overview of my Productivity system
The weekly review forms part of a more comprehensive planning framework that I use to guide my life.
There are four distinct levels of my productivity system:
1. Annual goals
I follow an annual planning process and create 8–10 goals (personal & professional) that map the direction for the year.
2. Monthly Active Projects list
This includes:
- the 2–3 actionable projects I am working on actively (from the annual goals), and
- initiatives I am taking during this month (for example, habits to form).
I limit the scope so that the projects get done in 4–6 weeks.
3. Weekly Review
4. Daily time-blocking
As you can see, the Weekly Review is the glue that holds the productivity system together.
I will write more about the remaining levels in a separate post.
Tip: When
Most people complete their weekly review at one of these three times:
- on Friday afternoon before they finish work,
- on Sunday evening to prepare for the upcoming week, or
- on Monday morning as the new week starts.
You can choose whichever time is best for you. Make sure to create a calendar event and allow at least 1 hour to complete it.
How to perform a Weekly Review
These are the steps I take to complete my Weekly Review — that you can follow:
Step one: Journal
Spend about 10 minutes on this. Use the following prompts to summarize your week and list your accomplishments. They will also help you gather your thoughts.
- Win — something you accomplished
- Lesson — a lesson you learned
- Grateful — something you are grateful for
- Brought me joy — again a prompt for gratitude
Step two: Perform an After Action-Review (AAR)
An AAR is a structured review process used by the military to debrief and learn from what happened.
Review the three goals from the prior weekly review. Consider the progress you made during the week.
Then, ask the following questions:
- What went well? Why?
- What needs improvement? Why?
- What can I do next to move my goals forward?
Step three: Review calendar and appointments
First, you should review the prior week’s calendar. Look at meetings completed and your notes. Consider whether there is anything you need to follow up on.
Then, study the calendar for the upcoming two weeks. Consider upcoming meetings and deadlines. Ask yourself how you will prepare for them.
Add projects or tasks to your task list, as necessary.
Step four: Review your Active Projects list
Things get interesting during this step. You get to plan time to work on your “Important but Not Urgent” projects.
- Review your Active projects list and choose what you want to make progress on.
- For those 2–3 items, make a list of specific outcomes that you want to achieve by the end of the week.
- Decide when you will work on them.
In this way, you create your Big 3 project list for next week.
Step five: Review your tasklist
Go through your task list as follows:
- Current Admin tasks: consider if you can batch any of them together and get them done in one go
- Upcoming tasks: schedule these throughout the week
- Future and Someday list: is there anything I need to bring forward and complete next week?
Step six — Habits and routines
I generally keep a list of 1–2 habits and routines that I am actively pursuing over the current month. For example, this month I have decided I want to write daily.
Review your list of habits and routines and decide when you will work on them over the week.
Step seven — Create a weekly plan
Once you have gone over your various lists above, you are ready to start planning. You may also consider the structure of your ideal week.
Then, write out your plan for the week. It is an approximate plan of how you want your week to unfold. It includes:
- significant projects to finish each day,
- habits to work on,
- appointments,
- tasks to batch together (for example, finish DIY tasks on Friday afternoon),
etc
You can print this plan and make sure to have it in front of you daily.
This plan is not set in stone and often changes as the week progresses. The goal is to be intentional with your time.
Executing the plan
Coming into the day, you review what you would like to achieve for this day and then create a time blocked plan on exactly when you will work on each task.
Final thoughts
When you finish your weekly review, you should have available:
1. A rough plan for your week, which you can print out and follow. In case your plan changes mid-week, you can readjust and print
2. A task list that is sorted approximately by when you will complete the tasks
Every day, when you come to your office in the morning, you take this rough weekly plan and flesh it out into a robust time-blocked schedule.
Then you execute this schedule during the day.
Tip:
To mix it up, you can sometimes choose an inspiring location to do your review. I finish my best reviews by the sea.
I hope this article has helped you in creating your weekly review process.
Start performing this essential routine to experience increased productivity and reduction in stress. You will also feel that you are intentional with the direction of your life.
Question
What do you consider your biggest challenge in completing your weekly review?
Join my mailing list to receive my monthly curated newsletter.
