The Weekly Review

Published October 4, 2026.

Fifteen minutes once a week to see what you did, fix what slipped and choose what comes next.

A weekly review is a short, regular check where you look back at the past week, compare it with your goals, and choose next week's actions. The template below takes about 15 minutes. It has three parts: what got done, what the plan needs, and what happens next.

Where the weekly review comes from

The weekly review is best known from David Allen's Getting Things Done method, where it is a regular time to get clear, get current and plan ahead. Source. Many people use some version of it, whether or not they follow the rest of that system.

The version on this page is built for personal goals, and it starts from the finish line. You look at what you finished, then at the goal written as done, then you work back to next week.

Why a weekly review helps

Two pieces of research point in the same direction.

• Checking progress helps. A 2016 meta-analysis of 138 studies by Benjamin Harkin and colleagues found that interventions which helped people monitor their progress also helped them reach their goals. The effect was larger when progress was physically recorded or shared. Source.
• Reflection can help you learn. In a field study at a call center in India, Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano and Bradley Staats had trainees spend the last 15 minutes of each day writing about what they learned. They did about 23% better on the final training test than a group that kept working instead. Source. That study looked at daily reflection at work, not weekly reviews at home, so read it as encouraging, not as proof.

The 15 minute weekly review template

Part 1. Look back (5 minutes)

1. What did I finish this week? List everything, even small things.
2. What moved my main goal forward?
3. What took longer than I expected, and why?
4. What is one small win I almost forgot?

Part 2. Check the plan (5 minutes)

5. Read your goal, written as done. Is it still what you want?
6. What is the next checkpoint, and is it on track?
7. Which obstacle showed up? Did your if-then plan work?
8. Does anything in the plan need to move?

Part 3. Plan next week (5 minutes)

9. What has to be true by next Sunday for the checkpoint to stay on track?
10. What are three actions of about 45 minutes each that get me there?
11. When will I do each one? Put them on the calendar.
12. What will I say no to, so they fit?

A worked example

Jordan's goal, written as done: "By March 1 I passed my AWS certification exam." It is Sunday, November 9.

Look back: "Finished modules 3 and 4. Did two practice quizzes, scored 58% and 64%. Networking took twice as long as I planned. Small win: I explained subnets to a coworker and it made sense."

Check the plan: "Goal still right. Next checkpoint: 'By November 30 I finished all eight modules.' Behind by about one module. Obstacle: late meetings on Wednesday. My if-then plan was to study at lunch instead. I did it once out of two."

Plan next week: "To stay on track I need module 5 done by Sunday. Actions: Monday 7 am, module 5 part 1. Wednesday lunch, part 2. Saturday 9 am, practice quiz. Saying no to the Thursday evening game this week."

That review took 14 minutes. Jordan now knows he is slightly behind, why, and what the next three sessions are.

Tips that make it stick

• Same time every week. Sunday evening or Friday afternoon both work. Pick one and protect it.
• Start with what got done. Looking at wins first makes the rest easier to face. Keep a done list during the week so this part is quick.
• Write it down. The Harkin meta-analysis found stronger effects when progress was recorded. A notes app counts.
• Keep it short. If it takes an hour, you will skip it. Fifteen minutes is enough.
• Shrink, do not skip. If last week went badly, make next week's actions smaller. A 10 minute action you do beats a 45 minute one you avoid.

When the week went badly

Some weeks the answer to "what did I finish?" is close to nothing. Those are the weeks the review matters most, and the ones most people skip.

• Still write Part 1. Look harder. You may have handled a hard conversation, rested when you needed to, or done ten minutes on a bad day. Those count.
• Name the cause without judging it. "I was sick" or "work had a deadline" is information. It tells you what to plan for next time.
• Move the checkpoint if you need to. A plan that never changes is usually a plan nobody is reading.
• Make next week smaller. One action instead of three is a fine plan for a recovery week.

Amabile and Kramer's research on small wins suggests setbacks can weigh more heavily than progress of a similar size. Source. A review that notices the small wins in a hard week helps balance that.

Weekly review vs daily journal

A daily journal catches the day. A weekly review steps back far enough to see patterns: the day you always miss, the task that keeps growing, the obstacle that keeps winning. You can do both. A short nightly line of what you did makes the weekly review almost write itself.

Try your first review this week

Copy the template, set 15 minutes on your calendar, and run it once. If you do not have a goal written as done yet, the free reverse planner will draft one with dated milestones in about a minute. Start From Done keeps your done list, your checkpoints and your daily 45 minute sprints in one place, so the review has everything it needs. The core is free. For planning a longer stretch, see how to make a 90 day plan.

Questions

What is a weekly review?

A weekly review is a short, regular check where you look back at the past week, compare it with your goals and choose actions for the next week.

How long should a weekly review take?

About 15 minutes is enough for personal goals. Longer reviews are easy to skip.

What day is best for a weekly review?

Any day you can protect. Sunday evening and Friday afternoon are common because they sit between one week and the next.

What questions should a weekly review include?

What did I finish, what moved my goal, what obstacle showed up, is the next checkpoint on track, and what are three actions for next week.

Does reviewing progress help reach goals?

Research suggests so. A 2016 meta-analysis of 138 studies found that monitoring progress helped people reach goals, especially when progress was written down or shared.

Keep reading

• The Done ListA done list records what you finished instead of what is left. 6 min read.
• The End of Year ReviewAn end of year review in three parts: what you finished, what you learned, and next year written as done. 5 min read.
• Small Wins and the Progress PrincipleWhat Amabile and Kramer found about progress at work, what it does not show, and how to record small wins in a nightly done log you can reread. 7 min read.
• Browse all 35 articles in the library