WRA - Weekly Reviewers Anonymous

 
"Welcome to the Boise Chapter of Weekly Reviewer's Anonymous. Do we have anyone new tonight?"

"Yes, I'm new. I'm Dan"

"All together now, Hi Dan!"

"I have great intentions. I even teach GTD classes and contribute to a blog, but I can't seem to get weekly reviews into a habit."

"There, there, don't sniffle. Somebody hand him a tissue. We all struggle. Admitting the problem is the first step to overcoming it."

Yes, I have a secret little problem. I don't do very well at my weekly reviews. All the other parts of GTD are great. I Inb0x with the best of them. I have lists neatly in context in a single system. I just can't seem to get the weekly sit down time together.

I have tried putting an appointment on my calendar. That is not hard-edged enough and I bump it constantly in favor of doing anything else. I have tried going to the local coffee shop for a cocoa and quiet. It worked once and then I ran out of money for cocoa. I started working Fridays at home, thinking the quiet would help. For the last three weeks, I have had so much work going on, catching up from a week of meetings, I didn't get time to go beyond processing my inb0x to zero before I would surrender, exhausted and discouraged.

I either have Learned ADD or I have some mental avoidance thing going on. The one Weekly Review I remember that went very well was one coached by Kelly Forrister via Twitter. (If you are trying to find Kelly, she has given up Twitter and posts only on GTD Times.) Having a coach walk me through the weekly review kept me on track and helped me stay focused. I think I need a coach. But I can't even afford cocoa, remember?

I really loved Tara's article from Monday. I know I am not alone out there with this frustration. A Weekly Review is hard. Like anything of value, it takes plain hard work. There aren't short cuts. I can't pay someone to do my review for me (wouldn't THAT be nice?). She hit the nail on the head. I am going to print it off and read it before my review on Friday.

How about self-coaching? About a year or two ago, on the GTD Virtual Study Group, someone made the suggestion of recording a tape, walking through a weekly review, complete with timed space between the events. I remember thinking it was a brilliant idea. I haven't acted on it yet, but I think I am going to very soon (yes, it is on my Someday/Maybe list right now). Maybe even tomorrow. As I have thought (and wrote) myself through this analysis, I can see the value in having a coach. It is just like push-ups. If I don't have a trainer there to keep pushing me, I will find something else to do. Like eat chocolate.

I'll get back  to you in a future post if this idea has helped me. I think it just might. If you will excuse me, though, I just got a great idea to go write down before I forget it. Meeting adjourned.

Comments

[Tara Rodden Robinson :: The Productivity Maven]

Great post, Dan!! Well done!!1

Lotsa hugs,
Tara

[Phil Rhodes]

It's interesting to read posts like this about struggles with weekly reviews. I'm new to GTD, and one of the things that attracted me to it was the weekly review. I had been doing something like it on Monday mornings - tactical planning, really - for a long time. Having 'permission' to formally put this on my calendar was great.

Where I am struggling with the review is the length and the content. Two hours seems like it barely scratches the surface of what I need to review to get control. Some weeks I come out in 'master and commander' mode (usually lasts about 10-15 minutes ;) ). Other weeks I feel worse than when I started knowing all I have to do.

[Tom]

I also struggle with the same. I have been having much success the past 12 weeks or so only because I gave up on the idea of "weekly" which was a fail for me and I just think of it as review.
I try for every 10 days with a personal goal of at least evey 2 weeks.

So far so good for me. My life is not routine enought for every week same time so now I just give myself permission to go with the flow.

@tdparks