How the GTD® Weekly Review® Can Change Your Universe

(Image for illustrative purposes only)

‍Guest blog written by Dan Haygeman, Personal Effectiveness Coach for ConverseNet.

‍Suddenly my whole universe changed. After about seven years of attempting to complete more than one GTD® Weekly Review® in a stretch of time I suddenly find myself having completed 19 in a row... and every week at that.On being asked how I have done this, I must say there's a certain part of it that remains a mystery - even to me.I have tried shaming myself, I'd tried talking about it with other people, and I'd even tried comparing myself with friends who had the same struggle as me - and yet they somehow got through it.As I look at it now, (and with trepidation that by communicating publicly about this I might blow the magic) I think I can point to a few things that have helped me get this going:

1. I got a new job role that took all I could give it and I wasn't keeping up.
2. I had an example in my life of somebody who told me it took them five years to do their second Weekly Review, five months to do their third and one week to do their fourth... and now they wouldn't miss it for the world. I think the big barrier was between week one and four. I had so little systematised in my Weekly Review that simply re-doing my action list wasn't sufficient. Instead of simply flogging myself into it, I used the format put out weekly by Next Action Associates to organise a checklist that works for me. Then, instead of flailing wildly around trying to get work done while doing a review, or putting it off until the very last minute of the weekend, I just started following the bloody checklist.
3. After the fourth or fifth consecutive Weekly Review I noticed I felt great, even beyond what I could expect from having kept my word to myself.
4. I think what was going on was this promised clarity of mind that people who do this regularly had claimed to experience. I didn’t have less work to do but I suddenly felt less burdened by that work.
5. Another part of accomplishing the amazing was arranging to have someone who is held accountable for the work I was doing. In other words, I wasn't just attempting it on my own, like a New Year's resolution. I had told somebody that I was going to be doing this every week, and I let them know I had kept my promise each time.
6. I think I was just plain blessed to have gotten through the first half dozen and now I'm hopeful that I wouldn't miss one for the world.
7. Cultivating a mood of gratitude: special thanks to everyone at Next Action Associates for helping me get to this almost inconceivable place!

Below is a copy of my actual checklist - hope you find this useful!