A weekly review is an important part of any productivity system. Without regularly reviewing your plans and progress it’s easy to get off track.
But it’s a pain in the behind.
Going through all of our tasks and projects, current and proposed, takes a long time and makes us continually re-visit decisions we thought we had already made.
Too often, we put off our review and before long, we’re lost in the weeds.
Here are a few ideas you can use to avoid this:
- Do SOME of the weekly review tasks daily instead of weekly. It will be quicker to empty your inboxes during your weekly review, for example, if you’ve developed the habit of doing this (or most of it) every day.
- Schedule the time in advance. I do my weekly review on Sunday mornings at 10 am. It’s on the calendar and has become a habit. I don’t have to think about it, I just do it.
- Use a checklist. Prepare a list of #weeklyreview tasks so that you can dive right in and git ‘er done.
- Reward yourself. When the review is done, do something fun to reinforce the habit.
One more and it’s a biggie: Use a time limit.
I now limit my weekly review to just ten minutes. Easy peasy. I can do that standing on my head.
A ten-minute limit means I can’t go through my #someday/maybe and #idea lists each week. I do that once a month, or periodically (when I’m in the mood).
A ten-minute limit also requires me to keep on top of my lists throughout the week, which I do. My lists are always just one click away so I can look at them frequently during the day.
“What if you’re not done in ten minutes?” you ask. “Aren’t you taking the risk that you’ll miss something important?”
I’ve come to trust that if something is important, it’s already got my attention.
Try a ten-minute review and see how it works for you. Before you do that, however, do one last major review to clean up your lists. Or, do what I do periodically: hide everything (in another folder, another app) and start fresh with a clean slate.
New lists, new you.
