The Weekly Review Template
The exact review I run every Sunday. Five steps, about half an hour. It's not about tracking tasks. It's about checking whether your weeks actually line up with what you say matters to you.
Step 1: Clear
Start clean. You can't think straight with 47 open loops in your head.
- Go through every open task in your task manager
- Archive what's done. Delegate what isn't yours.
- Process your inbox to zero. Respond, archive, or turn it into a task.
- Close all your browser tabs. All of them. I know.
Step 2: Reflect
Look back before you look forward. Most people skip this and then repeat the same bad patterns.
- Write down 3 wins from the week, big or small
- Name one thing that didn't go well and be honest about why
- Figure out what drained your energy. Was it meetings? Context switching? Too many priorities?
- Write one thing you'd do differently
Step 3: Align
This is where most people realize their weeks have nothing to do with their goals.
- Look at your top 3 quarterly goals
- For each one: what did you actually do this week that moved it forward?
- If a goal got zero attention, be honest. Is it still a priority? Or do you need to change it?
Step 4: Plan
Not a to do list. Outcomes. What's different by Friday?
- Pick exactly 3 outcomes for next week. Not 5, not 7. Three.
- Block 2 to 3 hours of uninterrupted time for each on your calendar
- Decide in advance what you'll say no to this week
- Set your Monday morning priority before you close this review
Step 5: Recharge
This isn't optional. It's part of the system. Without it, you burn out by week 4 and stop doing reviews entirely.
- Schedule one non work thing that fills your energy back up
- A walk. A book. A drive. A long conversation with someone who makes you think.
- Put it on your calendar like a client meeting, because it matters at least as much.
What I use
- Notion for the template itself and a running archive of every weekly review I've done
- Claude as a reflection partner. I paste my review and ask it to surface blind spots. It catches things I miss.
The whole thing takes about 30 to 45 minutes every Sunday. I've been doing it for over a year and it's the single habit that's changed how I work the most.
Harshal Saraf
Creative Director + Orchestrates AI Workflow
Helping founders and agencies work smarter. As a Creative Director, he builds brand identities and orchestrates AI workflows for businesses. He also writes about productivity, the YourLife OS framework, and publishes Oh So AI, delivered every Tuesday and Friday.