The Most Important Productivity Habit: The Weekly Review

Hey friends,

If there’s one habit that’s transformed my ability to stay on top of things, execute my vision, and avoid burnout, it's this: the weekly review.

It’s easy to chase new productivity hacks, shiny tools, and dopamine-fueled to-do list apps. But over the years, I’ve realised that no system matters if you’re not regularly checking in with yourself. That’s what the weekly review is all about. It’s the glue that holds all your planning, working, and reflecting together. Without it, your tasks start stacking up like unread emails—each one whispering low-grade anxiety into your week.

Let me break this down for you in three parts:

1. Why you need to commit to a weekly review?

A weekly review isn’t just about organising your tasks. It’s about reorienting your mind, body, and energy to what actually matters. Every week, you gain data: on your time, your energy, your priorities, and your patterns. But most people don’t stop to review it. They go from week to week like it’s a treadmill—without pausing to look at the dashboard.

When you commit to a weekly review, you gain:

• Clarity: You’re not relying on memory. Everything lives in your system.

• Focus: You’re not reacting to what’s urgent. You’re responding to what matters.

• Agency: You stop feeling like a victim of your calendar and become the architect of your week.

David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, describes the weekly review as the "critical success factor" in the GTD method. Why? Because it ensures you’re not just adding things to a list—you’re making sure the list still serves your goals.

When researchers have studied goal achievement, they’ve consistently found that review and reflection increase follow-through. In fact, a Dominican University study found that people who wrote down their goals and reviewed them weekly were 76% more likely to achieve them.

2. How do I do my weekly review

Every Sunday, usually in the afternoon or early evening, I sit down with a drink, some ambient music, and my calendar. It’s a ritual now—simple but sacred.

Here’s what I do:

A. Look Forward

First, I open my calendar for the upcoming week. I look at all my scheduled meetings, calls, and commitments. I ask:

• Are these meetings necessary?

• Do I need to confirm anything with others?

• Is there space for deep work?

I send quick confirmations to people I’m supposed to meet with. This small step cuts down on no-shows and also forces me to be mindful about who I’m spending time with. Then I check the balance of my week. Are there too many evening meetings? Is there a full day with no breaks? I block time if I need to.

B. Look Back

I glance at the previous week. What dragged? What energised me? Were there tasks that kept getting bumped forward? That’s usually a sign of procrastination—or misalignment. I reflect on what gave me energy and what drained me.

Then I ask a hard question: How many meetings can I realistically handle in a week? I’ve found that beyond a certain number (for me, it’s about 8–10), my energy tanks. So I start moving things. I reschedule, cancel, or delegate where possible.

C. Task Review