Get More Focused and Productive with a Weekly Review Process
Do you want to get more focused and productive? Do you want to accomplish more of what really matters to you in your life? We can stay more focused and accomplish more of what matters with a weekly review process.
Here is a process that can be followed or adapted. I have adapted my process from David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, as well as from Michael Hyatt.
Schedule Two Hours/Week
It usually takes about two hours to perform a weekly review process. I personally prefer to do my weekly review on Sundays. At this point of the week, I have had some distance from the Monday-Friday week, and have taken Saturday as a no workday to clear my mind.
As a result, I am relaxed and have some perspective. Schedule whatever works for your schedule though.
Gather All Loose Papers and Process Them
First, gather all loose papers from your inbox and your briefcase and process them. Utilizing the GTD process from David Allen, you can do one of three things with each paper:
- Trash it
- File it for future reference
- Put it in your someday/maybe file or list
If the item requires action then we have three more choices:
- Do it if it takes 2 minutes or less
- Delegate it and note it in the @waitingfor list
- Defer it by adding it to your project list or by scheduling time on your calendar to do it
Review Appointments from the Previous Week
Go to your calendar and review all appointments from the previous week to see what you did and if there are any follow-up actions from those appointments.
Review Meeting Notes
Review your meeting notes from the prior week to add follow-up items to the list for the upcoming week. Also, if there are future actions beyond the upcoming week please note these as well in your next action list, calendar or project list. In my notes, I usually note at the bottom of my notes all actions that I need to take for the future as a result of the meeting or phone appointment.
Review appointments for the Upcoming Week
I want to know what meetings are coming up so I can prepare for them. I then go to my calendar and make appointments for meeting preparation time to ensure that I am fully prepared for each meeting. For my meetings for the day following the weekly review I do my preparation after my weekly review.
Review Project List
The purpose of this is to make sure I am focused on my most important projects to get the most important results. I want to review this list to know what actions I need to take to get the results needed to accomplish the project.
Review Next Actions List
I check off completed items. Again, here I ask myself what are the most important actions to accomplish this week. If an action is critical and must be accomplished then I create an appointment on my calendar.
Review Someday/Maybe List
I review this list and if any of these potential projects are ready to go live then I move them to my Projects List.
This is the process that I want to follow to make sure I am focused on the most important projects/actions. Do you have any areas that you cover during your weekly review that might help others?