Productivity methods
The weekly review, an hour well spent.
Once a week, empty your inboxes, look over every list and calendar, and decide what next week is for.
· 3 min read · 6 steps
- From
- Getting Things Done, David Allen
- How often
- Once a week
- Time
- Often about an hour
- Best for
- Keeping lists current
What it is and where it began.
A weekly review is a fixed time each week to go over everything you have committed to: tasks, projects, calendar and ideas. It turns a pile of lists back into a plan.
It comes from David Allen's Getting Things Done, where it is the habit that keeps the system trustworthy. His company describes it in three parts: get clear, get current and get creative [1].
It also takes some weight off your mind. In one study, unfinished goals kept intruding on people's thoughts, and making a concrete plan for them reduced that [2]. The often-quoted claim that we remember unfinished tasks better, the Zeigarnik effect, did not hold up in a 2025 meta-analysis, which did find that people tend to return to interrupted tasks [3].
How to do it, step by step.
Get clear: collect loose ends
Gather notes, receipts and papers, empty your inboxes, and write down anything still on your mind [1].
Process the inbox
Decide what each new item is: a task, something for the calendar, reference, or nothing.
Get current: review the calendar
Look at last week for loose ends and the next weeks for things to prepare.
Review your projects and lists
Check every project has a next step, cross off what is done, and follow up on what you are waiting for.
Get creative: review Someday
Look at parked ideas. Promote some, delete others, and add new ones.
Choose next week's focus
Pick the few things that matter most next week and give them time in the calendar.
Who it suits, and its limits.
It suits you if
- You use lists but stop trusting them after a while.
- Your weeks blur together and goals slip.
- You want one calm moment a week to see everything.
Where it falls short
- It takes time, and it is easy to skip when the week is busy, which is when it helps most.
- On its own it does not decide daily priorities; it sets up the week.
- A review that turns into a three-hour reorganisation is a different habit.
Common mistakes to avoid.
No fixed time
"Sometime this weekend" rarely happens. Book the same slot every week.
Reorganising instead of reviewing
Changing tags and project names feels productive. Stick to the checklist.
Skipping Someday
Ideas you never look at again become clutter. Glance at them every week.
No plan at the end
The review should end with a few clear priorities for next week, in the calendar.
How to do it in thisflow.
Each step uses a feature that is in the app today.
Repeat it every week
Type "Weekly review every friday 15:00 for 45m" in quick add. It comes back each week, and Skip this time moves it on when you are away.
Clear the Inbox
Everything you captured without a project is in the Inbox, ready to sort into projects, dates or Someday.
Review with saved filters
Save filters such as "no date, P1–P2" or "assigned to me", and walk through each one in the review.
Plan the week in the calendar
End by dragging next week's important tasks into the calendar, next to your meetings.
Questions and answers.
How long should a weekly review take?
Often about an hour once the habit is in place. The first ones take longer while you catch up.
What day is best for a weekly review?
Many people pick Friday afternoon, to close the week and start Monday with a plan. Any day works if it is the same each week.
Do I need to use GTD to do a weekly review?
No. The review comes from GTD but works with any list or app: clear the inbox, check the lists and calendar, plan the next week.
Is the Zeigarnik effect real?
The idea that we remember unfinished tasks better is doubtful: a 2025 meta-analysis found no reliable memory advantage. It did find that people tend to resume interrupted tasks.
Sources
Numbers in the text, like [1], point to these sources.
- [1]David Allen Company: The GTD Weekly Reviewgettingthingsdone.com/2009/05/the-gtd-weekly-review/
- [2]Masicampo & Baumeister (2011): Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. J Pers Soc Psycholpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21688924/
- [3]Ghibellini & Meier (2025): Interruption, recall and resumption: a meta-analysis of the Zeigarnik and Ovsiankina effectsideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05000-w.html
More methods to try.
Flowtime technique
A timer that counts up: work until focus fades, then take a break that fits.
52/17 and ultradian rhythms
Where 52/17 and 90-minute work rhythms come from, and how solid the evidence is.
Pomodoro technique
Short, timed rounds of focus on one task, with a break after each.
Make the review a weekly habit.
Free during the beta. Recurring tasks, saved filters and a calendar for next week.