Friday 24 February 2012

Finding the right day for the weekly review

I spent a number of weeks when I first tried to make my review a truly weekly habit working out which day was best for my routine. Many people review on a Friday - clearing the decks and cleaning the system in time to enjoy a weekend free of work distractions. I tried this as my day for reviewing, but it somehow did not gel with me. So I tried a Thursday instead and had immediate success - the timing just felt right. I have been wondering about the reason for this and how my experience might aid others who might be struggling to make the review a habit.
  • Friday, for me, felt too late in the week perhaps because the nature of my work throws a large number of small tasks my way (as well as larger more involved projects). If I picked up on items during the review, I wanted to have the time and option of doing them before the end of the week. A review on Friday gave insufficient time for this
  • My energy levels often feel depleted by the end of the week - I wanted to give my review a good chance of being done properly and thoroughly
  • Urgent items to be completed before the weekend had a habit of shunting my review so that I either didn't do it at all, or only managed a part of it. I didn't get the full benefit of a complete review and the weekly clean and current feeling.

I can really recommend trying out different days and times (morning is best for me) to find something that really fits with your routine and energy.

With my review on a Thursday, I have ingrained the habit and am reaping real rewards. My system is more comfortable and complete and my intuition on what actions to choose is really keen. This is one habit that I intend to hold onto!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Sarah,
    I picked up your blog link from GTD Connect :-)
    Thanks for pointing out the obvious with reviewing work on Thursday. I've gone back to employed work after years of freelancing and as a consequence split my system in two. So instead of doing all my reviewing on a Sunday, I started doing my work review last thing Friday. Correction: I *tried* doing my reviewing then but it rarely happens. I'll experiment with Thursday instead!
    /Christina

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