What’s the easiest way to solve a computer problem?
Reboot the computer! 🙂
That’s why most support reps will ask you to reboot when something is wrong with your computer.
Because rebooting helps ensure that a newly installed software works right. It eliminates bugs and system errors and it keeps the computer operating at proper efficiency.
Doing the GTD Weekly Review is like giving your GTD system a reboot. With a clear and current list of next actions & projects, you the freedom to make spontaneous priority choices moment to moment.
However many GTD practitioners experience resistance to doing their Weekly Reviews.
In this post
Quick Recap: What’s the Weekly Review?
The Weekly Review is a recommended GTD practice where once a week you dedicate uninterrupted time to review, update and streamline your Getting Things Done® system.
The Weekly Review:
- Helps ensure that the software download of stress-free productivity that happens at the workshop stays installed in you – without glitches.
- Identify if any commitment has slipped through the cracks. Did you double book meetings? Did a forgotten assignment cause you stress? You can trace these symptoms back to the problem and improve your system.
- Is a time to meditate on what has been accomplished, add new Next Actions and Projects and revisit the Someday/Maybe list.
It is an iterative alignment of your life with your priorities (Horizons of Focus®) so that you can take trusted decisions and have room to deal with disruptions.
“It (Weekly Review) is the one factor upon which your success with Mind Like Water® technology hinges.” – David Allen
How To Setup Your Weekly Review For Success
A successful Weekly Review requires a few things which tend to make it a difficult practice to adopt on a regular basis.
- Your mind must be fresh and alert. Otherwise you can’t take stock of the details and when required, take a step back to review the forest instead of the trees.
- You must have your GTD® system and tools with you. You should be able to access your notebook, your in-basket
and your inbox. In otherwords you must be in the Getting Things Done® cockpit.
- You must block out the world when doing your Weekly Review. There can’t be constant pinging messages. You can’t give YouTube a whirl. You can’t go and check out Netflix.
The Weekly Review requires patience, persistence and planning.
The 3 Ps that automatically bring up resistance in people.
3 Apps To Overcome Challenges To Do The Weekly Review:
Technology drives most of the distractions that make Weekly Reviews difficult to undertake.
It is only fair that we use technology to flip the situation.
Challenge #1: Motivation
The biggest motivation of doing a Weekly Review should be the continuous pay-off of stress free productivity.
Once practitioners are addicted to having nothing on their minds, motivation is no longer a problem.
However till that state is achieved, applications like Loggr for iPhone and KeepTrack for Android serve as interim solutions.
They provide visual summaries of how you are living your life. And whether you are hitting your goals and honoring your commitments.
You can create a “custom metric” for your Weekly Review.
And when you skip it, the app puts it on your screen as a glaring omission that creates an Open Loop.
Challenge #2: Accountability
For those who joined the GTD way to eliminate the problem of procrastination, sometimes motivation alone is not enough.
There has to be accountability charging the motivation for action to happen.
Two solutions are particularly innovative in this regard.
You can use the community of Coach.me to hire a habit coach who will be your accountability partner in the journey to Weekly Review mastery.
If a coach isn’t your cup of tea, you can give Stickk a try.
Stickk encourages you to sign a commitment with yourself and then pledge money to its achievement. If you fail to make good on your commitment, the funds are released to a charity.
Challenge #3: Focus
Even if we have accountability and motivation, focus is often something out of our control.
Especially when you are just starting your GTD® journey!
The siren call of the mobile phone may be too loud to drown out.
Solutions like Forestapp are excellent in this regard.
Plant a virtual tree, let it grow by not checking your mobile phone (and navigating away from the Forestapp) and once it is fully grown, earn coins that can be redeemed for actual trees.
The Weekly Review is the keystone habit that will keep your GTD system running smooth.
Once you get the hang of it, you won’t feel stressed out with surprises ’cause you know you have a habit to get back on your system.
Try out these apps and let me know what
I believe our work should be an expression of our most creative selves. I work with business owners and their teams to achieve stress-free productivity.