Many people see their work in a better light, clearer and more organised just before going on holiday. Has this ever happened to you? This happens because they take advantage of those days before leaving to wrap things up and clarify issues, both internally and with others, prepare a list of pending tasks and their status for whoever is left in charge, so they can disconnect and enjoy their days off to the fullest without anything else on their mind.
Can you imagine finishing each working week with that same feeling as you head into the weekend?
However, how long does it take you to do this review before your holidays? Do you have to make an extra effort to get everything in order? If so, is it worth doing every week? The answer is probably no.
Implementing an organisational system that allows you to do this review without much effort could give you that wonderful opportunity to end each week relaxed, knowing that your affairs are in order.
In today’s article, we’ll explore how to achieve this with David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) method.
Shall we begin?
What does Reflecting mean in GTD?
A good method like GTD allows you to free your mind, preventing you from worrying about what you’re not doing or what you might forget, taking all those concerns out of your head.
The organisational method you use should allow you to trust that those actions will be done at the right time, or your mind will return to them again and again.
To prevent this from becoming a problem, you can get ahead of yourself and give yourself the space to review what you’re working on and what you have pending, to see if you’re really doing what helps you achieve what you want.
Therefore, reflecting involves intentionally and frequently reviewing your entire organisational system to ensure that your lists are up to date, your priorities are clear, and your actions are aligned with what really matters.
In practical terms, in the GTD method, this mainly takes the form of a weekly review, a habit that will allow you to trust your organisational system and keep stress under control.
David Allen puts it clearly: if you don’t review your system, you will stop trusting it. And if you don’t trust it, you will stop using it.
Organize your day
Before delving into the key components of the weekly review, I would like to give you some ideas for daily reviews. If you have been applying the tips from the first phases of the GTD method for a while, you will already have a list of pending issues, clarified and organised into different sections (urgent, for later, follow-up, someday, calls, errands, friends, etc.). You will also have a method for choosing the next task to do on the list based on the context, the time available, or the energy you have, right?
In practice, I found it difficult to apply this at first. Instead of looking at the list of pending tasks to choose the most appropriate one, it was more tempting to start completing a new action item from the last meeting…
The solution is to take a few minutes at the start of the day to first look at your calendar and assess what you have scheduled. Do you need to prepare anything for those commitments? How many slots do you have free? Then, look at your to-do list to choose what you might be able to get done that day. This doesn’t mean that you have to do it during this review, or even that you’ll complete it that day. It’s simply a pre-selection so that when the time comes and you have a free slot, it’s easy to choose without having to search through the list of all your pending tasks every time.
The key questions in this daily review would be:
- Do I have everything I need for my commitments for the day?
- What tasks could I complete today with the time I have available, the context, my current energy and their priority?
The weekly review
Let’s be honest, new things come at us, both at work and in our personal lives, much faster than we can process. We love to take on a thousand commitments, we have a lot of ideas floating around in our heads and, in the end, we end up with our minds racing.
That’s why the weekly review is so useful: it gives you a moment to organise and clarify everything new that has been left pending, because trying to do it while you work is practically impossible.
The idea is that, with this review, you clear your mind again and focus on what’s coming up in the next two weeks, using the GTD method of organising your work (note, clarify and sort) until you can say: ‘I know everything I’m not doing, but I could do if I set my mind to it.’
Key components of the weekly review
Clear your head. Gather all the open cycles that have been generated throughout the week and that you have not yet been able to incorporate into the system: concerns that are on your mind and that you have not written down, action points from notes taken in meetings, school notices, receipts to file, things you wrote down in a WhatsApp voice note or sent to yourself via Teams. Leave everything in your physical or virtual inboxes.
Clear your inboxes. Review those inboxes and decide what to do with each item. Is it a reference? An idea for later? Does it require action? What does completing that task mean to you? What is the next concrete action that will help you move towards your goal? Once you have clarified this, move the item to the appropriate folder within your system.
Update and organise
Cross out, rewrite, reorganise. The goal is not just to look at the lists, but to leave them clean, clear and useful.
- Review your ‘urgent’ and ‘next actions’ lists. Cross off the ones you’ve completed. For the ones that remain, check that the next action to be taken is up to date.
- Review your calendar for the last two weeks and look for anything that makes you think, ‘Ah, that reminds me…’ and add it to the system.
- Review your calendar for the next two weeks. Add entries to the system (or to the calendar itself if necessary) with the necessary preparations for the upcoming commitments.
- Review the ‘On hold’ list. Cross off the ones that are finished. Is any follow-up necessary? Do you need to send an email to get an update on progress?
- Review the ‘projects’ lists. Assess the status of each one, including objectives and results. Make sure you have at least one next action defined for each one.
- Review the ‘Someday/Maybe’ list. Did you end up going to see that Banksy exhibition you were interested in? Delete any entries that no longer apply. Consider whether any of the remaining items have become more interesting and deserve to be added to the active projects list. Are there any new ideas floating around in your head? Add them.
And why these lists and not others? You can learn more about the GTD method in previous instalments of ‘healthy time management’. Feel free to visit my profile to find them all.
Plan with perspective
It can be useful to spend the last few minutes visualising the week ahead. It’s not about filling it with tasks, but about setting a general direction. What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to put your energy? Which projects should you focus on?
A date with yourself
Finding a moment in the week to step away from your routine and the hustle and bustle and carry out this review may require a lot of effort at first, but as you experience the benefits, you won’t want to move this event from your calendar, even for the most important of meetings.
A good time to schedule this appointment with yourself is on the last day of the working week, in the middle of your working day, as you will still have the week’s activities fresh in your mind and, if you need to contact anyone, you will still have time to do so. Although this is the recommendation of the GTD method, each person’s routine and work can vary greatly, so you will have to choose the best time for you. Is it on the train home? First thing on Friday morning before things get busy?
Depending on the number of new items on your lists, this review may take more or less time; there is no set duration. The GTD method recommends that you set aside two hours in your calendar, but you may be able to complete it in 30 or 60 minutes. The important thing is that it is regular and thorough. Try it first for a length of time that you can manage and then see if you need to adjust it.
If you don’t feel like doing it one week, remind yourself how good you feel afterwards!
Broaden your horizons
So far, we’ve focused on keeping everyday things under control, but there comes a time when it’s also a good idea to think about how you’re doing, what your medium-term (2-3 years) and long-term (5-10 years) goals are, and what ideas or values help you make decisions and prioritise.
Don’t worry if this all sounds too overwhelming or you think you don’t have time to get started. If you try to set important goals before you feel like you have your day-to-day life under control, you’ll probably feel discouraged instead of motivated. You’ll resist having that conversation with yourself if you don’t believe you’re doing a good job of managing the world you’ve already created for yourself!
My advice: take it step by step. First, get into the habit of reviewing your daily tasks every week, and once that’s a habit, then try looking at your goals for the year, for example. You can adjust the frequency of this longer-term review as you see fit; perhaps once a month or once a quarter is enough to ensure that you have everything under control.
The good news is that as soon as you start applying the GTD method, you’ll quickly notice that you have much more control over your daily life, both personally and professionally, and you’ll soon be able to focus on reviewing other areas of your life.
And who knows, maybe right now you don’t need any more goals, but simply to feel good about the ones you already have in place.
Conclusion
Healthy time management is not about doing more, but about living better. The Reflect step in GTD not only keeps your system functional; it keeps you aligned with your values, your goals and your well-being.
By setting aside time each week to review your progress, you’re not just managing your time: you’re giving yourself time to manage your life with clarity, intention and peace of mind.
And if you falter, remember what motivated you to apply healthy time management techniques. Take action and enjoy the journey!
