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authorLars Wirzenius <liw@liw.fi>2012-03-14 09:05:57 +0000
committerLars Wirzenius <liw@liw.fi>2012-03-14 09:05:57 +0000
commiteec7112ec31d458b43f4e573b90b1af225de5f7d (patch)
tree44ee2531b001a8bc2bc548004741a2af956a8fc2 /review.mdwn
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downloadgtdfh.liw.fi-eec7112ec31d458b43f4e573b90b1af225de5f7d.tar.gz
Add chapter on weekly reviews
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+The weekly review
+=================
+
+So you've got your lists set up, and you process your inboxes daily,
+and tasks flow smoothly through the projects and next actions lists.
+How do you know everything is OK? You need to take a look at every
+part of your GTD system, and your life, to make sure everything's in
+its right place, and you've not forgotten anything.
+
+The weekly review is a fundamentally important part of making sure
+you stay on top of things. You need to review all your lists, and
+calendars, inboxes, etc, and have a short meditative moment where
+you reflect your life, and try to think of anything you may have
+missed so far. If you do this regularly, and with some thoroughness,
+you'll be certain that you've captured everything into your system.
+
+You might not need to do such a review weekly. If you live a very
+calm, regular life, you might only do it rarely. On the other hand,
+if your life is a maelstrom, you might want to do a review more often
+than once a week. Experiment, and see what works for you.
+
+Here's my checklist for doing a weekly review:
+
+* Process inboxes.
+* Review journal entries since previous review. Write a summary of the
+ highlights of what has happened.
+* Review calendar entries since previous review, and for the next month.
+* Empty head from things.
+* Review projects. Make sure each has at least one next action. Remove
+ any projects that are finished or aborted, or move them to someday/maybe
+ if that's appropriate.
+* Review next actions list. Are they all of good quality?
+ * a _physical_ action ("write", not "think about")
+ * thinking is part of planning!
+ * it's clear what I need to do (a widget to crank)
+ * duration at most 15 minutes, preferably
+ * I'm committed to doing it
+ * does not depend on anything, can be done immediately
+ * it's clear when it's done
+* Review waiting for list and mail folder.
+* Review pending and support files:
+ * physical folder at home
+ * folder in e-mail
+* Review someday/maybe.
+* Review "Read and Review".
+* Review areas of focus, goals.
+* Re-process inbox.
+
+It's common for me to postpone doing a review, since I'm tired or busy
+or have any of a number of other excuses. In some cases, I postpone the
+review for months. In that case, it can take a bit of an effort to do
+the review, which acts as further encouragement to push it forward.
+
+The way I get out of that is that I need to be reminded of the strong
+feeling of relief and control that I get after doing a review properly.
+I feel that I'm on top of things, that regardless of what surprises
+the universe may throw at me next, I know where I am now and what I need
+to do next. (And then I often go read the Internet instead, but that's
+another problem.)
+
+
+Other reviews
+-------------
+
+In addition to the weekly review, it is good to another kind of review
+about once or twice a year. For this, I find it's best to do a weekly
+review first, and then concentrate on bigger issues: what do I want
+out of life? How do I want to live in one year, five years, twenty years,
+or in my retirement? What do I need to do to achieve those things?
+
+I've not done much of that yet, so I dont have a lot of concrete advice
+about that. I'll add more about it when I do.
+