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PLANNING SYSTEMS

Review the Week Without Replanning Your Whole Life

Check the records that matter, update open loops, and leave with a clear next week rather than an elaborate review ritual.

Words by Tiny Systems Co.5 min read4 things to tryUpdated September 5, 2026

The week is over, but the promise you made on Tuesday is still hiding inside a paragraph. A weekly review is the moment to bring that promise into the same view as your calendar and unfinished tasks.

David Allen's GTD Weekly Review covers collecting, updating, and considering what comes next. The small paper session here borrows that separation without reproducing the full checklist. Choose one recent week, use the records you already have, and stop when they give you a trustworthy starting point.

Reviewing records reveals the difference between completed work and new actions.
Reviewing records reveals the difference between completed work and new actions. Open the diagram
In this guide
Gather a few things See what you’ll need
  • Notebook
  • Pen
  • Calendar
  • Loose notes from the week

Pick a review range you can finish

Write the dates you are reviewing and the pages that contain them. Gather the loose notes you actually used during that period. A bookmark at the first page can spare you from repeatedly searching for the start. If you have older backlog, name it on a separate line so it does not silently turn this review into an afternoon of archaeology.

Decide what “finished” means before beginning: upcoming commitments checked, current actions updated, and any newly discovered promise given a home. Reflection questions are optional. You can write about the week afterwards, but they are not a requirement for making the planning record current.

WATCH & TRY

Watch records become a current plan

Which stage of the review do you want to inspect?

The review begins by choosing the small set of records to inspect.Gather the loose endsNotebook p. 14–19Two desk slipsCalendar: past weekCalendar: next week

Choose the records before acting.

The review has a defined range and a small collection of loose notes.

Now try it on your paper.

Review the last three used pages and update one open loop.

Bring the records together before following them

Put desk slips, quick captures, and meeting notes beside the notebook. Read enough to identify what each item is, then collect the material into one small pile. Resist doing the first interesting task you uncover. If a note says “find room diagram,” the review can decide where that action belongs without searching your entire email archive immediately.

An item that takes almost no effort may be convenient to complete, but convenience is your choice rather than a rule that should derail the review. When you notice yourself doing project work, write the next step and return to the records you set out to check.

“Stop when you can answer three practical questions: what is already fixed, what can I do next, and what am I waiting for?”

Give the calendar two passes

Look back over the week for events that produced follow-up: a call, a visit, a class, or a shared plan. Ask whether any resulting action is missing from the notebook. Then look ahead over the period you are about to plan. Notice preparation, travel, materials, or decisions that need to happen before the appointment itself.

For a room visit next Tuesday, “bring sample poster” may belong on the action list now. For a call that already happened, “send the agreed dimensions” may be the loose end. The calendar is not only a list of times; during review it can point to work surrounding those times.

MAKE IT YOURS

Extract the preparation before an event

Edit the worked example into a note you can use.

AN EXAMPLE — MAKE IT YOURS

Upcoming event:Room visit Tuesday 10:00

Needed beforehand:Print one sample poster

Where the action lives:Weekly pool p. 22

Your words have a place now.

A preparation action needs a place you will see before the event.

Words on this card
20
Now try it on your paper.

Check one upcoming appointment and record its missing preparation.

Work through a display-project week

Imagine your notes say the room visit happened, the caption text should be larger, and Lee promised a diagram. Your inbox now contains the diagram. Mark the wait as received, add “check access route on diagram,” and write “reply to Lee with remaining questions” if a response is needed.

Your active display task “print one sample” remains useful, but the note about larger text changes its requirements. Update the wording before carrying it forward. A possible album idea found on a desk slip can go to someday. The review has changed the live plan by reading actual evidence, not by filling a new template from memory.

Check that active projects can move

Read the titles of the projects you currently intend to advance. Each should have an available next action, a named dependency, or a deliberate pause. If a project has none of these, write the small question you need to answer. “Display” might need “decide whether the sample is for A4 or A3 paper.”

Do not turn every project into a detailed schedule here. Your review is checking whether there is a route forward. The community example of a weekly log joining project pages to next actions is useful precisely because it links the levels without copying all the project notes onto the weekly spread.

WATCH & TRY

Give an active project a route forward

Move the reveal control to inspect the specific change.

The title gives direction but no action to begin.Active projectPhoto displayActive projectPhoto display / notes p. 19Next: choose sample sizeThen: print one sample

Only a project title

A title alone cannot show whether the project is available or blocked.

Now try it on your paper.

Inspect one active project for an available action, a wait, or a deliberate pause.

Park the work the review reveals

If every page suggests a new task, keep a short “decisions to make” list and process it after the initial scan. Group related notes before writing separate actions. Three reminders about the same poster may be one decision about its size, not three independent tasks.

If you run out of your available time, mark the exact page where you stopped and write the remaining review step as a real reminder. Do not label an incomplete scan “all current.” A small honest continuation is more useful than the appearance of a finished ritual that missed half the notebook.

End where next week begins

Finish by opening the next active page, checking its dates, and selecting a manageable starting point. You might choose one next action and write the location of its supporting notes. Keep the rest of the updated actions in their normal homes rather than making a second full list for the sake of the review.

Stop when you can answer three practical questions: what is already fixed, what can I do next, and what am I waiting for? Your weekly review is finished when the records are current enough to support those answers.

TRY IT ON THE PAGE

Keep review work in a useful order

Move the steps so the necessary checks happen before the actions that depend on them.

One workable order

  1. Gather the chosen recordsYou need the evidence before declaring the lists current.
  2. Update actions and commitmentsSelection should use the corrected record.
  3. Choose a starting point for next weekChoose from what is actually available now.

Which check needs to come first?

The example shows one workable order. Other steps can move freely; these checks protect the information you need.

Now try it on your paper.

Choose a small review range and finish it before expanding the session.

Where this idea began

Want to follow the idea further? These community discussions and maker references are a good place to start.