The Weekly Review: How One Hour Can Save You A Week’s Worth of Hassle and Headache

The article argues that a weekly review is a set-aside block of time, usually an hour or two, used to get organized for the week ahead and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. It says the review should help you get clear, get current, and get creative by cleaning up inboxes, checking calendars, reviewing projects, and making space for follow-up and new ideas.

It also recommends putting the review on the calendar, using a checklist or trigger list, and treating the time as review rather than work. The author describes a typical weekly review as a short sequence of cleanup, project and calendar review, and brainstorming, and says the result is better control over responsibilities, priorities, and available time.

Reading notes

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• A weekly review is a reserved weekly period, usually one or two hours, for getting organized and making sure nothing is missed.
• The review is meant to help with three goals: get clear, get current, and get creative.
• “Get clear” includes cleaning up the workspace, emptying the inbox, and ordering projects by priority and urgency.
• “Get current” includes reviewing the calendar, pending follow-ups, and past and upcoming commitments.
• “Get creative” includes revisiting someday/maybe projects and looking for ways to work more efficiently.
• The review should be scheduled on the calendar in advance and done at the end of the day.
• A checklist should contain items to review, not tasks to do.
• A trigger list can help jog memory when building or running the review.
• Personal commitments, family events, and social obligations should be included along with work tasks.
• During the review, distractions should be minimized and the process should stick to the checklist.
• If a task takes more than two minutes, it should be scheduled or added to a task manager instead of being done during the review.
• The author’s own review usually takes about an hour and is split between cleanup, project and calendar review, and brainstorming.
• The article says the habit helps people understand what matters, what they have time for, and what they need help with.