The Weekly Review is an absolutely essential step to continuing on the path to getting things done. I was pretty consistent in doing it at the beginning of my drive to implement GTD. Then I had a falling off as they say. I began again and felt really good and in control of my time and projects.

Recently I had a lot of work to do and projects to complete. While I like routine and try to faithfully do the weekly review, I barely did one for the last 2 weeks. Why? Because I was busy getting things done. I had 2 projects that were pressing and needed to be finished so I think I did a mini mental weekly review.

I just made sure that I could really clear everything off my plate this past week so I could devote my entire week to finishing my projects. Isn’t that what the weekly review is for? At first I thought, no don’t skip the weekly review, it’s a bad habit to get into. But then I thought, well if I were skipping it to make room for skiing or Facebook, then yes, it is a bad habit, but it was for real live work.

Lesson learned: Be flexible. If you do GTD to get things done, then don’t stop yourself from getting things done just to strictly adhere to a regimen.

I have been implementing GTD, Getting Things Done. Everyone does it a little differently but the general idea remains the same. After capturing everything in some form of a basket and getting it out of your head and into some organizational structure you must actually do the things on your lists. The Weekly Review is an essential step to this process.

Many people find the Weekly Review to be difficult to make room for. I like doing the Weekly Review. I don’t find it as hard to do as say, all the things on the lists I make. It makes me feel organized and aware of everything on the horizon. Once I feel that way, I feel in control and able to begin work. When I struggle to start working I usually find my Weekly Review hasn’t been done yet or that it was not done adequately. Each week I am going to search for articles about different ways to do a Weekly Review.

What works for one will not work for everyone. What works for me right now will not work for me always. I intend to build an arsenal of methods for doing a Weekly Review.

I like simplicity. This first post will reveal the simplest method I have found. If I have nothing extraordinary to do in a week, this methods works everytime so far. It also comes from one of my favorite sites, Lifehacker, simplify your life by becoming more efficient. See what you think.

http://lifehacker.com/software/getting-things-done/getting-into-the-weekly-review-habit-278118.php