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Periodic Planning Principles — Or Why The Weekly Review Should Die
In Getting Things Done, David Allen popularized the phrase “The Weekly Review” — using that exact phrase more than 30 times in the book. In the newest update to the book, he outlines the Weekly Review as
…the time to:
Gather and process all your stuff.
Review your system.
Update your lists.
Get clean, clear, current, and complete.
He gives a little more “depth” to the steps of a review — outlining 11 specific steps — specifically for getting clear and current, although in that more “indepth” version he adds another C — creative and fails to address clean and complete is this “in-depth” version.
Over the years, I tried — and mostly failed — to keep up a regular process of weekly reviews. And, unfortunately, I’ve watched loads and loads of other people pile guilt and shame on themselves for failing at this ritual that Allen purports as oh so important.
That said, today, I almost always enjoy a state of being clean, clear, current, complete — AND creative. And, when I’m not in that state, I can pretty quickly and easily get back to it — because I rely on systems that I use…
