2021 Update

My friend Elayna recently asked on LinkedIn how people keep themselves organized. (Spoiler: The best solution is the one that keeps you organized. That may be tautologous, but it is deeply true nonetheless.) In a reply, I mentioned WorkFlowy which then reminded me of this post. Rereading it almost 7 years later(!!!), I see that my weekly routine hasn’t changed that much over time.

A few years ago, I shortened up my weekly review so it was more focused and faster to get through, but the weekly ritual and overall goal remain the same. I’ve also tried to give my week some added focus by setting weekly and monthly goals as part of the review. I’ve found that additional goal-setting helps me focus on the most important tasks for the week and avoid losing steam on projects (at least some of the time).

Since this post holds up so well, I am republishing it with my updated weekly review at the end along with the original. I hope it inspires you!

Original Post

After a string of really technical posts, I thought I’d write about a productivity practice I’ve wanted to share for a long time.

A couple years ago, I read “The Weekly Review: How One Hour Can Save You A Week’s Worth of Hassle and Headache” on Lifehacker. Just from the title, you might infer what the idea is: Spend a little time looking back at the past week and forward to the next before organizing your thoughts and planning for the week ahead. When I read it, it immediately made sense to me, and so I started right away and have barely missed a week since.

As that article makes clear, the exact details have to be tailored to your personal work style and commitments, so it’s really the act of doing something to review your week that I would advocate for. For me, I simultaneously use the weekly review to build out a second list of work items for each day in the upcoming week. When I’m done, I have at least an initial task list for the upcoming five days of work along with notes about any meetings, phone calls, or events I need to plan around.

The weekly review is key to how I work and it gives me a lot of comfort moving from day-to-day during the week. If you ask me what I’m doing tomorrow, I can’t always tell you, but I know that I put some thought into it and planned it already last week. Toward the end of each day, then, I can review what I’ve planned for myself tomorrow and start mentally preparing for that work.

In the quixotic life of being your own boss, another advantage of the weekly review is that it creates space between my manager self and worker self. The weekly review is a place where I’m solely focused on the big picture—my output, my commitments, changes I want to make to any of those, etc.. In the scheme of things, it’s not that much time, but it’s very important time.

Finding my ideal weekly review format took a while, but it’s barely changed for at least the past year. Like many things in my life, I organize it using WorkFlowy. With its awesome feature that lets you duplicate a set of list items, the weekly review is at the very top of my WorkFlowy list and I copy it once a week so I can quickly dive into it on Friday afternoons (or sometimes Saturdays, if I’m being honest). I’ve put copies of my current Weekly Review and Week outline below so you can see exactly what it is that I’m talking about, and I’ve annotated it a bit (notes in italics) so you can see why I made it the way I did.

Like I said, this format won’t be perfect for you, so use it as inspiration to make your own and take the time each week to step back, reflect, and plan. I promise it’s worth it.

2021 Weekly Review & Week Templates

Weekly Review of {Day} {Month}, {Year}

• Kick-off
  • Stretch
  • Deep Breaths
• Review
  • Calendar
    • Last week calendar
    • Write three good things I did
    • Next week calendar
    • Schedule a run
    • Schedule as much as possible
  • Project Inventory
    • Review Weekly Goals
    • What’s on time/ahead?
    • What’s behind?
    • Upcoming Deadlines
    • What am I “waiting for” (list follow ups to write)
• Plan
  • Set Weekly Goals
  • Major project for next week
  • Minor projects for next week
  • Major task for each day

Week of {Day} {Month}, {Year}

• Goals
• Monday, February
  • Major
  • Minor
    • emails
  • Events
• Tuesday, February
  • Major
  • Minor
    • emails
  • Events
• Wednesday, February
  • Major
  • Minor
    • emails
  • Events
• Thursday, February
  • Major
  • Minor
    • emails
  • Events
• Friday, February
  • Major
  • Minor
    • Weekly Review
  • Events

Original 2014: Weekly Review & Week Templates

Weekly Review of {Day} {Month}, {Year}

• Kick-off – A moment or two to step away and decompress before starting.
  • Stretch
  • Cleanup desk
• Review
  • Project Inventory – Analyze and prioritize big picture issues before getting to the details
    • Last week calendar
    • Next week calendar
    • What’s on time/ahead?
    • What’s behind?
    • Upcoming Deadlines
    • What am I “waiting for” (list follow ups to write)
    • Schedule as much as possible – e.g. Phone calls, coworking, meetings, meetups, etc.
    • Cleanup inbox. Close email.
  • Write three good things I did – Celebrate the week…
  • Write one thing to improve – …but don’t get complacent.
• Plan – The details of next week
  • Major project(s) for next week – Usually two things at most
  • Minor project(s) for next week
  • Major task for each day
  • 2-3 minor tasks for each day
  • One “eat the frog” task for the week ((I can’t remember where I heard this idea but I like it. “Eating the frog” means taking on a task that you don’t want to do and just getting it over with. I like labeling it because it gives me the permission to admit I don’t want to do it but it must get done.))
  • Three fun activities for next week
• Fun
  • Three blog post ideas
  • Think about personal projects

Week of {Day} {Month}, {Year}

• Monday, {Month} {Day}
  • AM Stretch ((Working at a computer all day is really physically taxing on my arms, shoulders and hands. This reminds me to stop and stretch throughout the day. It’s at the top because it’s that important.))
  • AM Stretch
  • PM Stretch
  • PM Stretch
  • Major
  • Minor
    • emails
  • Events – Either work commitments during the day or out of the ordinary fun stuff after.
• Tuesday, {Month} {Day}
  • Same as Monday
  • Post & publicize blog post
• Wednesday, {Month} {Day}
  • Same as Monday
• Thursday, {Month} {Day}
  • Same as Monday
• Friday, {Month} {Day}
  • Same as Monday
  • Weekly Review