It’s Friday afternoon and you’re staring at your computer screen. You’ve put in 60+ hours at work this week, yet you have this nagging feeling that nothing important actually got done.
Your inbox is overflowing. Half-finished projects are scattered across your desk and digital files. And Monday already feels like it’s breathing down your neck.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing: being busy doesn’t mean being productive. And that uncomfortable feeling in your gut? That’s your brain trying to remember everything you need to do while simultaneously trying to get work done. No wonder you’re exhausted.
David Allen, creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) productivity system, has a solution. He calls it the Weekly Review, and he’s adamant that it’s the “critical success factor” in staying productive without losing your mind.
Let me walk you through why this one habit might just change your work life.
What Exactly Is a Weekly Review?
Think of the Weekly Review as a maintenance routine for your brain. Just like you wouldn’t drive your car for months without checking the oil or getting it serviced, you shouldn’t go weeks without checking in on your work and life commitments.
A GTD Weekly Review is a structured process where you step back from the daily grind to get three things done:
Get Clear – Empty all your inboxes (yes, all of them) and capture everything floating around in your head
Get Current – Review your lists, projects, and calendar to make sure nothing’s falling through the cracks
Get Creative – Look ahead and think about what’s coming up and what new opportunities you want to pursue
The beauty of this system is simple: when everything is out of your head and organized in a trusted system, your mind is free to actually think instead of just trying to remember stuff.
Why Is It So Necessary?
Here’s a truth bomb: your brain is terrible at remembering things. It’s fantastic at having ideas and solving problems, but when you force it to also hold onto dozens of tasks, appointments, and commitments, it starts to break down.
Allen describes this as “open loops” – all those unfinished tasks, ideas, and commitments that your mind keeps trying to track. Each one takes up mental energy, even when you’re not actively thinking about it.
The Weekly Review closes these loops. It’s the difference between reactive chaos and proactive control.
I often tell clients – “Use your brain like a high-end microprocessor with insane processing power, not like a 256 GB RAM storing tons of tasks. That’s an inefficient use of brain power.”
According to research cited in Allen’s work, the average office worker gets interrupted about 11 times an hour to check email. It takes roughly 20 minutes to get back into a focused state after each interruption.
Do the math – that’s a lot of wasted time and energy. When you do a proper Weekly Review, you’re not just organizing tasks. You’re giving your mind permission to stop worrying about what you might be forgetting. That’s when real productivity happens.
I’ve seen this play out with my coaching clients over the years. The ones who religiously practice the Weekly Review habit report feeling calmer, more in control, and ironically, they get more done in less time.
What Should You Cover in Your Weekly Review?
Allen breaks down the Weekly Review into 11 specific steps. Don’t let that number scare you – once you get into a rhythm, it flows naturally. Here’s what you need to cover:
Get Clear:
Gather all loose papers, business cards, receipts, and random notes into a folder
Process your email inbox to zero (more on this in a minute)
Empty your head – write down everything that’s been bouncing around in there
Get Current:
Review your past calendar – did any meetings generate follow-up tasks?
Review your upcoming calendar – what’s coming that you need to prepare for?
Review your “Waiting For” list – who owes you what? Time to follow up?
Review all your project lists – does each project have at least one next action?
Review your next actions lists – are these still the right things to focus on?
Review relevant checklists for your areas of responsibility
Get Creative:
Review your “Someday/Maybe” list – has anything become relevant now?
Think ahead – what new projects or ideas are calling to you?
The whole process is designed to answer one question: “What do I need to focus on,
and what can I safely ignore for now?”
How Much Time Should You Set Aside?
Most people find that a thorough Weekly Review takes between 1.5 to 2 hours. From experience I can tell you that once you’ve built the habit you can knock it out much faster.
The first time you do a complete Weekly Review, you might feel exhausted. You’re processing weeks or months of accumulated stuff.
When I first started doing Weekly Reviews in 2012, they took me close to 3 hours. But here’s what I learned: that’s still less time than I was spending being stressed, searching for things, and redoing work I’d forgotten about.
Think about it this way – you’re investing 2 hours to save yourself 10+ hours of chaos and rework during the week. That’s a pretty solid return on investment.
The key is blocking this time on your calendar and treating it like an important meeting. Because it is. It’s a meeting with yourself about your life.
The Magic of “Inbox Zero”
Allen talks a lot about getting your inboxes to zero. This freaks people out initially. “My inbox has 500 emails! How am I supposed to get to zero?”
Here’s what inbox zero actually means: it doesn’t mean you’ve completed everything or replied to every email. It means you’ve processed everything – you’ve looked at each item and decided what it is, what it means, and what you’re going to do about it (if anything).
Some emails get deleted. Some get filed as reference. Some become tasks on your action list. Some go into a “Waiting For” list. But nothing sits in your inbox making you feel guilty.
And it’s not just email. You have multiple inboxes:
Physical inbox on your desk
Email inbox
Text messages
Whatsapp messages
Voicemails
Notes app on your phone
Meeting notes scattered across notebooks
Browser bookmarks and tabs you’ve been meaning to check
Downloads folder on your computer
(in my case) things I’ve scribbled on my Post-IT pads
During your Weekly Review, you process all of them. Everything gets captured, clarified, and organized into your system. Allen suggests that ideally you should process your inboxes to zero every 24-48 hours, not just during your Weekly Review. But if you can’t manage that (and many people can’t), then at minimum, your Weekly Review ensures you catch up once a week.
When’s the Best Time to Do Your Review?
There’s no universal answer here, but there are popular options:
Friday afternoon is the most common choice.
Your work week is wrapping up, your energy is probably dipping anyway, and you get to head into the weekend with a clear head knowing everything’s organized for Monday.
Sunday evening works well if you want to blend personal and work reviews. Monday is already on your mind, so planning ahead feels natural.
Monday morning gives you a fresh start to the week. You come in ready to hit the ground running.
My weekly off is Wednesday so I do my weekly review on Tuesday evenings. That way I can enjoy my Wednesdays guilt free. Last Wednesday (1st Oct) I went for a 7 hour drive with Seema and I was fully present with her. All open loops were closed on Tuesday evening during the weekly review.
What time will work best for you? Pick whatever day and time works for your schedule, and stick with it. Consistency matters more than the specific time.
Is This Actually Popular Among Productivity Enthusiasts?
Short answer: Yes, absolutely.
GTD has been around since 2001, and the Weekly Review is considered its backbone. Time magazine called Getting Things Done “the self-help business book of its time.” Wired described it as “a new cult for the info age.”
Online productivity communities on Reddit, Hacker News, and various GTD forums are filled with people sharing their Weekly Review experiences.
I have seen that clients who don’t follow strict GTD principles often adopt some version of the Weekly Review because it’s just that effective.
David Allen’s Own Tips for Making It Work
Allen has been teaching and refining the Weekly Review for over 20 years. Here are some of his key recommendations:
1) Schedule it like a non-negotiable appointment. Block the time and protect it. This is an executive session with yourself about your life and work.
2) Pick a time when you’re unlikely to be disturbed. Find somewhere quiet where you can think without interruptions. Some people lock themselves in an unused conference room. Others work from home or a café.
3) It doesn’t have to be weekly. Despite the name, Allen says the frequency depends on how fast things change in your life. Some people need daily mini-reviews. Others can go two weeks between full reviews. The goal is maintaining trust in your system.
4) Use a checklist. Don’t rely on memory to remember all 11 steps. Have a printed checklist or a template in your task management system. This makes the review faster and ensures you don’t skip steps.
5) Focus on reviewing, not doing. Fight the urge to start working on tasks during your review. The review is about organizing and planning, not execution. When you see something that needs doing, add it to your action list and move on.
6) Customize it to fit your life. Allen’s 11 steps are a starting point, not a rigid formula. Adapt them to match your actual responsibilities and inboxes.
7) Don’t let a full inbox stop you. If you have 200 unprocessed emails, don’t let that prevent you from doing the rest of your review. Process what you can in a set time, schedule time to catch up on the rest, and move forward with the review.
8) Make it a habit. Like exercise, you won’t always feel like doing it. But once you build the habit, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. The secret to habit formation is repetition. Challenge yourself to keep repeating this once a week.
Your Next Step
Here’s my challenge to you: try one Weekly Review this week.
Block 2 hours on your calendar. Find a quiet space. Use the structure I’ve outlined above. Process your inboxes. Review your commitments. Look ahead at what’s coming.
Just one review. That’s all I’m asking.
See how you feel afterwards. Notice whether Monday morning feels different. Pay attention to whether you’re clearer on your priorities.
I’ve been coaching professionals for over a decade and the feedback I get is people wonder why they didn’t start this habit years earlier.
It’s 52 fresh starts every year instead of just one New Year’s resolution. It’s the difference between fighting fires all week and confidently executing on what matters.
Your brain deserves better than being used as a storage device. Give it permission to do what it does best – think, create, and solve problems. The Weekly Review is how you make that happen.
If you need me to hold you accountable to your weekly review and your productivity, do ping me. We’ll do a producivity audit for you and create a trusted system to put your productivity on steroids.