What Is a Weekly Review and How Do You Get the Most Out of It?
If you’re familiar with the system of raising productivity by David Allen « the Getting Things the Done» , you already know about the importance of the weekly review. If not, here’s a quick recap: Each week you take time not only to your upcoming commitments and outstanding tasks, but how those commitments and tasks reflect your short, medium, and long term goals. – urgent goals.
Basically, the weekly review gets you thinking about what you are currently doing, what you should be doing, what you want to do, and how closely these circles intersect. It’s kind of like a Venn diagram for your values. (Since the weekly review requires you to review your calendar for upcoming activities, this is also a very, very good way to make sure you don’t forget someone’s birthday.)
I’ve been doing weekly reviews for over 10 years at this point, and while I’ve sometimes rescheduled a review due to travel or other commitments, I don’t think I’ve ever missed it. At this point, my weekly review is an important part of my productivity system in terms of “making sure I don’t lose sight of any important tasks,” but it has lost some of its functionality as a value tracking metric. I pondered what I am currently doing and what I should be doing, but I did not ask myself if these actions and projects are what I want to do.
This is why I was so excited to read Khe Hee’s list of important questions I asked myself during my weekly review . Hay, creator of RadReads , has designed a four- quadrant template to help you focus on the core aspects of this weekly review: how you spend your time, what you need to prioritize, how you feel about what you are doing, and what you would like engage in the future.
As mentioned above, Huy also asked questions to help you clarify your thoughts as you spend time in each quadrant. For example, when reflecting on the past, you might ask one or all of the following:
- What worked well?
- Where am I stuck?
- What have I learned?
- Do I appear in front of key people in my life (spouse, children, boss, subordinates)?
- Have I made any meaningful connections?
- Have I influenced someone’s day or thoughts?
- What’s on my list of things that you can not do?
- When did I feel most excited?
Yes, it will make your Weekly Update a little longer, especially if you take the time to seriously answer each question. But if you really want to align your life with your values, goals, and priorities, it might be worth looking at Hai’s full list of questions at least once a month, if not once a week.
Because the weekly review, if done correctly, can save you a lot of time and trouble down the road. (As I said, you’ll never forget someone’s birthday again, let alone tell your boss you’d be done by Tuesday.) When your weekly review is really, really right, it can help shape your the future is whatever you want it to become.