Your Weekly Cadence

Just as we have daily routines, we can implement weekly routines as well. Some examples from my life:

• We try to have one social activity with friends each week, often a dinner at our house.
• Our weekly date night on Saturday night.
• Twice a week Man School with my son.
• I try to do laundry on Thursday evening to minimize chores on the weekend.
• I plan the next 3-5 days of meals and pick up groceries on Friday to cluttering the weekend.

Consider a Weekly Wind Down

At the end of the work week, I like to engage in a similar shutdown process to my daily process. During this time, I update my performance management platform with any notes from 1:1s or team meetings. I check in on my waiting for’s. I renegotiate any outstanding tasks or commitments I’ve made with myself. I resolve to close my computer and not look at it until Monday (with rare exceptions for emergencies.)

Implementing The Weekly Review

In order for your brain to trust your Task Management System, you need to have a cadence for review. No matter how good you are, life has a way of coming at you faster than you can keep up. Your system will start to crack if you don’t carve out time to get things current again.

I’ve found the Weekly Review to be perhaps the most useful tool in my task management process. I do it on Saturdays alongside my wife, and use a slightly adapted version of David Allen’s process. Consider the below suggestions, but make it your own.

Read your 1 year objectives and your statement of values.

This reminds you what you’re setting out to accomplish this year, and reminds you what matters most in your life. This will make it much more likely that you identify projects that move these items forward. Try not to evaluate these, simply review them. The goal is to energize you about where you’re headed, not critique. You’ll have a cadence for reflecting and making tweaks at a higher horizon.

Get Clear

• Collect all loose papers and other materials.
• Get your various inboxes to empty by processing each item using the same workflow you used for the Brain Dump in week 4.
• Spend a few minutes asking yourself if there’s anything else on your mind that isn’t already captured.

Get Current

• Review your next actions list, marking off anything that you completed but forgot to close.
• Look at your previous week’s calendar and ask yourself if there were any outstanding items.
• Look ahead at the next couple weeks and ask yourself if you need to start moving on anything, personal or professional.
• Review your waiting for’s and make a note to check in with folks on anything that’s outstanding.
• Review your projects list, making sure you have at least one next action identified for each.
• Review your monthly goals, and identify the MVTs for each day of the coming week.

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