How to Do a GTD Weekly Review: the Checklist and a 45-Minute Walkthrough in the App

Why the weekly review is the one non-negotiable habit

GTD works because you can trust the lists: when everything you have committed to is written down and current, your mind stops rehearsing it. That trust decays daily. Meetings create loose ends, an inbox item slips through without a next action, a project quietly runs out of steps, a waiting-for item is never chased. None of this is a failure of discipline; it is what a week does to a list.

The weekly review is the maintenance that resets the system to current. It is also the only moment when you look at the whole picture rather than at today's list, which is where you notice the project that should be dropped, the goal with no action underneath it, the week ahead that needs preparation. Everything else in GTD can be done in fragments; the review needs a block.

If you only keep one appointment with yourself each week, keep this one. Put it in the calendar as a real meeting, with a start time, an end time and a place.

The checklist: three phases, eleven steps

David Allen's checklist has three phases. Get clear empties every inbox so nothing is lurking. Get current brings every list up to date with reality. Get creative lifts your eyes for a moment to what could be next. Print this, or keep it in the app, and tick as you go.

1. 1

   Get clear — collect loose papers and materials

   Receipts, notes, business cards, the things in your bag and on your desk. Everything physical goes into one in-tray.

2. 2

   Get clear — get inboxes to zero

   Email, messages, the app's inbox, voice memos. Clarify each item: what is it, is it actionable, what is the next action, where does it belong.

3. 3

   Get clear — empty your head

   Write down anything still on your mind: worries, ideas, half-promises. If it is in your head, it is not in the system yet.

4. 4

   Get current — review next-action lists

   Tick what is done, delete what is dead, add the follow-ups that a completed action created.

5. 5

   Get current — review the past calendar

   Last week's appointments: any action, note or follow-up they left behind?

6. 6

   Get current — review the upcoming calendar

   The next two weeks: what needs preparing, booking or confirming before it arrives?

7. 7

   Get current — review waiting for

   Chase what is overdue, tick what has arrived, note who owes you what.

8. 8

   Get current — review project lists

   One project at a time: is the outcome still right, and does it have at least one next action? A project without one is a project that will not move.

9. 9

   Get current — review relevant checklists

   Recurring routines, travel lists, onboarding steps: anything that should have generated actions this week.

10. 10

    Get creative — review someday/maybe

    Anything to activate now that life has room for it? Anything to drop for good?

11. 11

    Get creative — be creative and courageous

    New ideas, risky projects, things you would do if the lists were shorter. Capture them; decide later.

How long it takes, and when to do it

The first reviews take ninety minutes or more, because the system is not yet clean and every list needs surgery. That is normal, and it is not the steady state. After four or five weeks, a complete review takes thirty to forty-five minutes; an express version, when the week has been calm, fits in twenty.

When matters less than regularity. Friday afternoon lets you close the week and start Monday with a clear list. Sunday evening suits people whose week starts on paper before it starts at work. Monday morning works if you protect it from the first meeting. Pick one, book it, and move it rather than skip it when something collides.

• Same slot every week. A review that floats is a review that gets skipped.
• A place with a large screen. Reviewing on a phone works in an emergency; the weekly review is not an emergency. Sit down with the tablet or the web app.
• Everything within reach. Calendar, inboxes, project list, waiting-for list, notebook. In The Over Achiever they are the same account, so this is one window.
• A defined end. Set a timer. A review that has no end becomes planning, then daydreaming.

The guided weekly review in The Over Achiever, step by step

The Over Achiever has a Weekly Review screen with the checklist built in: eight steps, each with a one-line instruction, that you mark done as you go. The eight steps cover the eleven above (the three calendar and checklist items are folded together), and the screen reads "Get clear, get current, get creative — once a week." When the last step is ticked, the app tells you the system is current and trusted. Here is one pass, with the timing that works for most people.

1. 1

   Capture loose ends (5 min)

   Papers, notes, receipts — everything into the Inbox. From the review screen, add anything physical or half-remembered straight into the app's inbox.

2. 2

   Empty your head (5 min)

   Capture anything new on your mind. Type fast, do not sort; sorting is the next step.

3. 3

   Clarify the Inbox to zero (10 min)

   Process every item: what is it, is it actionable? Give each action a context, a project if it needs one, and time or energy if they are not obvious. Reference, ideas and someday items go to their lists.

4. 4

   Review Next Action lists (5 min)

   Mark done, delete dead items, add follow-ups. Use the Engage screen by context to move through them quickly.

5. 5

   Review Waiting For (3 min)

   Chase what is overdue, check off what arrived. If you use person contexts, this is also where you prepare next week's conversations.

6. 6

   Review the calendar (5 min)

   Past week for loose ends, next two weeks for prep tasks. Google Calendar events appear alongside your actions in the app's agenda.

7. 7

   Review Projects, one by one (10 min)

   Each project has at least ONE next action. Open the project list and stop at every project that has none: add the action, park the project in someday, or close it.

8. 8

   Review Someday / Ideas (2 min)

   Anything to activate? Anything to drop? Move one item up if there is room; delete without guilt.

Set the reminder from the review screen: a weekday and a time, and the notification fires on the mobile app. The first review of a new habit is the one most likely to be forgotten; the reminder exists for that one.

Common mistakes, and the fix for each

• Skipping someday/maybe. It feels optional, so it never gets reviewed, so it becomes a graveyard you avoid. Two minutes a week keeps it a real list of options.
• Not reviewing waiting for. Delegated work is still your responsibility until it lands. One unchased item a week becomes a missed deadline a month.
• No calendar look-back. Last week's meetings are where most forgotten actions hide. Look back before you look forward.
• Reviewing projects as a list, not one by one. Scanning a list of names finds nothing. Open each project and ask the one question: what is the next physical action?
• Turning the review into planning. Deciding what to do next week is not the review; it is what the review makes possible. Finish the checklist first.
• Doing it on the phone between two things. The weekly review needs the large screen and the full hour. Capture on the phone all week; review on the tablet or the web.
• Giving up after week two. Long first reviews are the price of a dirty system, not a sign the method does not suit you. By week five it is forty minutes.

The review most guides leave out: the monthly one

The weekly review keeps the runway clean. It does not ask whether you are flying in the right direction — that question belongs to the horizons of focus: areas of responsibility, goals, vision, purpose. Reviewing them weekly dilutes them; never reviewing them lets projects drift away from what you actually want. Once a month is the right rhythm, and The Over Achiever has a separate Monthly Review screen for it, six steps with its own reminder on a day of the month.

1. 1

   Review your areas of focus

   Is each area getting the attention it deserves?

2. 2

   Review your goals

   Progress made? Goals to adjust, add or archive?

3. 3

   Review your vision

   Still the direction you want for the next three to five years?

4. 4

   Read your purpose and principles

   Mark them reviewed — do your projects align?

5. 5

   Projects portfolio check

   Kill zombie projects, start what matters next.

6. 6

   Celebrate the month

   Completed projects and habits — acknowledge the wins.

Do the monthly review right after a weekly one, on the first review of the month: the lists are clean, so the higher horizons get your full attention for twenty minutes.

Frequently asked questions