The Weekly Review
The master key to maintaining trust in your system and freedom in your mind
The Weekly Review is the single most critical behavior in the entire GTD methodology. Allen calls it the 'master key to maintaining relaxed control.' It is the practice of stepping back from the daily grind for approximately two hours once a week to go through all five phases of workflow management -- capturing, processing, organizing, and reviewing everything in your system -- until you can honestly say, 'I absolutely know right now everything I'm not doing but could be doing if I decided to.'
The review follows a specific sequence: First, gather loose papers, process notes and journal entries, and capture anything lingering in your head (a mini mind-sweep). Then review previous calendar data for uncaptured actions, and look ahead at upcoming calendar events for required preparations. Next, systematically review every list in your system: Projects (ensuring each has at least one active next action), Next Actions (marking off completed items, adding new ones), Waiting For (checking if follow-up is needed), Someday/Maybe (promoting items that have become active, deleting items no longer of interest), and any relevant checklists. Finally, get creative and courageous -- add new, wonderful, even hare-brained ideas to your system.
Allen observes that most people feel best about their work the week before vacation, not because of the vacation itself, but because of what they do that week: clean up, close up, clarify, and renegotiate all their agreements. The Weekly Review simply asks you to do this every week instead of once a year.
- The more complete the system, the more you'll trust it. The more you trust it, the more complete you'll be motivated to keep it. The Weekly Review is the flywheel that drives this virtuous cycle.
- You can tolerate getting out of control during the week as long as you know you have a reliable recovery ritual.
- Most people feel best about their work when they've cleaned up, closed up, clarified, and renegotiated all their agreements. Do this weekly instead of yearly.
- You can't fool yourself about this: if your system is out of date, your brain will fully re-engage in lower-level remembering.
- Get clear: collect and process everythingPull out all miscellaneous scraps of paper, business cards, and receipts from crevices of your desk, clothing, and accessories. Process all notes from meetings and journals. Empty your head of anything not yet captured by writing each item on a separate piece of paper and putting it in your in-basket.Pro tipUse the Incompletion Triggers list (a comprehensive prompt covering professional and personal life domains) to jog loose anything lurking in the corners of your mind.
- Get current: review all lists and calendarReview past calendar dates for uncaptured actions. Look ahead at upcoming events and capture needed preparations. Review Projects list to ensure each has at least one active next action. Review Next Actions lists and mark off completed items. Review Waiting For list for needed follow-ups. Review Someday/Maybe list for items to activate or delete.Pro tipBe ruthless about promoting Someday/Maybe items to active projects when the time is right, and equally ruthless about deleting items that no longer interest you.
- Get creative: capture new ideas and opportunitiesWith the system clean and current, allow yourself to think creatively about new projects, ideas, and possibilities. Add any new, wonderful, hare-brained, or risk-taking ideas to your system.Pro tipThis creative phase often happens naturally once the mental decks are clear. Many executives report having their best strategic insights during or immediately after their Weekly Review.WarningDon't skip this step. The creative thinking that emerges from a clear head is one of the primary payoffs of the entire GTD system.
A senior executive at the world's largest aerospace company had back-to-back meetings all week that generated hundreds of notes. Every Sunday night, he settled into his home office and processed all the notes from the week, updating his system completely.
Allen observed that nearly everyone feels best about their work the week before a big vacation. During that week, people naturally clean up loose ends, close open loops, clarify ambiguous commitments, and renegotiate agreements they can't fulfill while away.
Through years of coaching thousands of professionals, Allen discovered that the sustainability of any productivity system hinges entirely on regular comprehensive review. He noticed that even people who implemented GTD perfectly would drift back into mental overwhelm within a few days if they didn't review and update their system. The specific structure of the Weekly Review emerged from observing what successful practitioners did naturally and codifying it into a repeatable ritual. The Friday afternoon timing was recommended because it allows capturing the week's events while fresh, reaching people before the weekend, and clearing mental decks for true rest and recreation.