Sometimes, when we start a new venture, we can overwhelm ourselves with our own high expectations. For instance, a week or two before I started working for Objective Standard Institute, I wrote a long list of things I’d like to achieve in my new job. During my first week, I tried to make as much progress on this list as possible, but I ended up overwhelming myself and was unable to make satisfying progress on any front.
The same thing can happen at the start of each new work week. We set (or accept) a long list of expectations for ourselves—projects, tasks, and meetings—that make us want to work faster to get it all done. But often, working quickly causes us to feel overwhelmed. And overwhelm usually means we get less done.
One way to solve overwhelm and its consequences, I’ve discovered, is to add a review or reflection step into your work week. As productivity consultant David Allen writes in his book Getting Things Done: “For most people the magic of workflow management is realized in the consistent use of the reflection step.” A prime example of a “reflection step” is a weekly review.
A weekly review is a once-a-week process of reflection on all the to-dos relevant to your upcoming week. The purpose is to produce an integrated plan which eliminates overwhelm while maximizing your productivity. Your week’s tasks can be overwhelming, but with a proper amount of reflection, you can build a roadmap for your week that helps you work at an enjoyable and fruitful pace.
To implement a simple weekly review, allocate thirty minutes on your calendar (preferably on a Friday night or the weekend) to go over all of your to-dos and create a manageable checklist for each workday.
If you haven’t documented all of your to-dos yet, start simple. Create a blank document and jot down as many to-dos as you can remember. This becomes your “master checklist,” a main repository you can refer to during your weekly review. Over time, this list will evolve as tasks are added and completed, serving as a “main bucket” to plan your weeks.
Next, prepare a second document for your week’s plan, listing the next seven days. This is your week roadmap. Under each day, transfer tasks from your master checklist. It’s beneficial to group similar tasks on certain days to streamline your focus, and avoid overcrowding any single day to prevent overwhelm.
To get even more efficient, you may also want to try a week roadmap template that includes preset tasks or “themed days.” For example, I always send an email to our reading group participants on Thursdays. And I make Tuesday my “Editing Day” since that is my company’s official “No Slack” day.
Once the week starts, use your week roadmap to guide your actions, making adjustments as necessary. At the week’s end, rinse and repeat. Review what you’ve accomplished, reward yourself, transfer uncompleted tasks back to your master checklist, and prepare for the next week.
For me, this review process has been transformative. Doing it has made my week flow at a reasonable pace; it has also created a sense of peace and clarity that allows for a more present and engaged daily life. As Allen writes:
Most people feel best about their work the week before they go on vacation, but it’s not because of the vacation itself. What do you do the last week before you leave on a big trip? You clean up, close up, clarify, organize. . . . You do this so you can relax and be present on the beach, on the golf course, or on the slopes, with nothing else on your mind. I suggest you do this weekly instead of yearly, so you can bring this kind of “being present” to your everyday life.
Allen recommends a lot more than a weekly review, but, for me, it was a pivotal first step to feeling at ease about my productivity. With enough practice, a weekly review could become an integral, and frankly enjoyable, part of your week that calms the speedways of your mind so that you can savor the present a little bit more.
