How to Make Your Weekly Review More Fun and Fulfilling

Barrel of Monkeys

One of my most difficult hurdles in implementing GTD has been a consistent weekly review. My schedule is somewhat erratic at times, and while I normally have ample time on Friday nights to do the review, I often have a hard time mustering the energy to delve into a 2+ hour endeavor. You know, after a long week of work and whatnot, it’s a good deal easier to crack a cold one and read through my RSS feeds or maybe catch a Tivo’d Law & Order. As I said, it’s something I need to work on.

But when I do manage to wrestle my lazy keister over to my desk and spread out my various notebooks and file folders, there are a few things I do to help make my review more pleasant and fulfilling. If you ask me, there’s something to be said for creating the right environment for something like this. Making the area comfortable and inviting goes a long way toward getting me to actually sit down and start hammering away (which is half the battle). So, here are a few of the things I do to help ensure weekly review success:

  • Beverage Selection - As some of you might already know, I’m something of a coffee snob. What you probably don’t know is that I’m also a complete beer snob and a budding scotch snob. I also drink tea :)

    My point is that, for me, the right drink can truly make or break just about any experience. So, when my review is feeling particularly daunting, sometimes I’ll brew up a cup of some of the fine Yemen Mohka Mattari I roasted in my garage the night before. Or maybe I’ll grab a chilled bottle of a nice Abbey Ale I picked up at the bottle shop a few weeks ago and have been saving for a special occasion. Or I could just as easily have a Coke. It’s all about what fits your particular mood at the time. I find great pleasure in exploring different beverages and the weekly review is the perfect time to invigorate my taste buds (and get me in the right mindset).

    Bottom line, spoil yourself a little. Crack open that bottle of Pinot Noir that’s been gathering dust in your wine rack for months now, or maybe have a nice Port. The key is to excite the senses and hope that the excitement radiates into a positive attitude.

  • Music - After I’ve settled in at my desk at work, I’ll plug my headphones into my freshly charged iPod and begin scrolling through the list of artists to see what I’m in the mood for. While I truly love the likes of Portishead, Tricky and Enya (all very mellow bands/artists, if you’re unfamiliar with them), it’s highly unlikely I’ll be queuing them up to get my head rolling in the morning. And when I’m at home in the evenings and want to unwind, you probably won’t catch me browsing the Mathcore or Death Metal.

    Just like with the drinks, your mood and the circumstances dictate your best option at the time. For me, the weekly review is when I get up-close and personal with much of my electronic music. The kind of thing that’s up-beat and head-bobbing, but not the sort that’ll have you singing along with the lyrics and losing focus. If electronica isn’t your bag, you might also find certain types of jazz fill this role nicely (check out Dave Brubeck’s Time Out - and thank me later).

  • Reward Yourself - Once you’re done, agree to let yourself eat some ice cream or watch that “guilty pleasure” sitcom that you don’t tell anybody about. These types of short-term contracts with yourself can be just the kind of motivation you need to power through your review. Just make sure you’re not cutting corners so you can get get to the Rocky Road faster :)

  • Sense of Accomplishment - I know, this sounds a little new-agey, but it’s definitely worth considering. Your weekly review is like preventative maintenance on your car - when you’re finished, you rest easy knowing that your ducks are in order and you’ve done a good deal of work toward making sure you’re ready to rock. Your tasks, projects and goals are accounted for and you’re ready to start checking items off of your Next Action lists.

    One of the most gratifying feelings I get from all this GTD stuff is the little skip in my step when I’m packing up my notebooks, arranging my hipster PDA and getting everything ready for the next day after finishing my review. In fact, even if it’s extremely late I’ll often pull out my @Home list and see if there’s anything I can do - because I’m pumped up and ready to be productive.

I realize this isn’t the end-all recipe for weekly review success, but these tips have certainly helped me to not get lazy (well, some of the time) and knuckle down when the review needed to be done.

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February 20, 2007 | Filed Under GTD, Practical 

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6 Responses to “How to Make Your Weekly Review More Fun and Fulfilling”

  1. Juggling Sheep on February 20th, 2007

    The Long and Winding Review…

    What? 2+ hours? Every time? Why does your weekly review take 2+ hours? Is it because you aren’t doing a complete review often enough? Or because you really aren’t working the system the rest of the week? Or you’re just not thinking well on a Friday …

  2. elias on February 20th, 2007

    I like Dave Brubeck’s compositions too!

  3. Black Belt Productivity » The Weekly Review on February 20th, 2007

    [...] UPDATE:  Looks like Brett Kelly of Cranking Widgets has also been thinking about the weekly review.  He has posted a good writeup here. [...]

  4. Glenn (Customer Service Experience) Ross on February 20th, 2007

    1. I try to do the “weekly” review on Tuesdays and Fridays. Each is shorter, therefore less prone to procrastination.
    2. Because I usually do them in the mornings at work, it’s Colombian coffee for me. But if I did them at home, it might be Jim Beam whiskey, Jose Cuervo Especiale tequila, or The Glenlevit scotch. Neat, that means no ice or water.
    3. I’m a classic rocker also hooked on Eva Cassidy, Dave Brubeck’s Take 5, and Jerry Jeff Walker. I’ll check out the Brubeck song you mention.
    4. I usually skip the reward by moving on to the next next action, but you’re dead on about the sense of accomplishment.

    Regards,

    Glenn

  5. Ged on February 28th, 2007

    “I often have a hard time mustering the energy to delve into a 2 hour endeavor.”

    The weekly review is important, so I try to do it when I have the energy. This means during the day. Also, most of my GTD system is about work, so doing the weekly review at work during “office hours” really makes sense.

    I think the GTD rules are a good hint a when you should do your weekly review… “Context, time available, energy available, priority”. This means you have to set aside the time, and try to do it at a time-of-day when you have energy available.

    To be honest, cracking open a cold beer or just sitting down in front of the propaganda box is much more likely things to do on Friday evenings… But of course, YMMV.

  6. Cheap Custom Built Computers on August 7th, 2007

    Cheap Custom Built Computers…

    I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

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