This keeps me ahead of the curve and my assignments on track. I note any upcoming meetings with an eye to the preparation I need to do. This is one of the most important parts of the Weekly Review. I specifically make sure I have identified the appropriate next action and then put it in my task management system or on my calendar. I review them weekly (in addition to daily) in order to ensure that I don’t lose visibility on what really matters. For example, I don’t usually take notes in lunch meetings, but I may want to follow-up with a thank you note or a gift.
![nozbe weekly review nozbe weekly review](https://nozbe.com/images/robby-miles-lab.png)
I look over the previous week’s meetings in Entourage (using the Weekly view) and see if there is anything I missed. I quickly read back through my notes, looking for action items that I agreed to do (I mark these in the meeting with a star) or actions items I want to do based on my review. (I tried doing this on the iPad for a while but eventually reverted back to paper.) I have opted for a low-tech solution use a Moleskine notebook. I have written previously about the “ The Lost Art of Note-Taking.” It’s a critical productivity skill. Defer it by actually scheduling a time on my calendar to deal with it orĭelegate it to someone else for action and enter it into Nozbe using the category.Do it if it takes less than two minutes or add it to Nozbe, my task management system, to do later.If the item requires me to take action, I can: Following David’s model, I first decide if it is something that requires me to take action. I then go through each piece of paper and make a decision what to do with it. I empty everything out of my briefcase, my inbox, and my wallet. This is modified from David Allen’s list:
![nozbe weekly review nozbe weekly review](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*LZIUjR5JMkoyoYxhSAHUlA.jpeg)
What do I do during this time? Here’s the “agenda” for my meeting with myself. I find if I don’t schedule it, it’s easy to avoid this activity or schedule something else in this slot. It rarely takes this long, but I like to have the time blocked off in my schedule. I schedule two hours for my Weekly Review. I also like doing it at home because I eliminate most of the distractions that keep me from truly getting my head above the fray at work. By this time, I am usually refreshed and have some perspective. I usually do my weekly review at home on Sunday night. There is simply no way to do this necessary regrouping while you’re trying to get everyday work done (pp. It builds in some capturing, reevaluation, and reprocessing time to keep you in balance. The whirlwind of of activity is precisely what makes the Weekly Review so valuable.
![nozbe weekly review nozbe weekly review](https://files.nozbe.com/images/blog/960w/friday2018-webinar.png)
We book ourselves in back to back meetings all day, go to after-hours events and generate ideas and commitments we need to deal with, and get embroiled in engagements and projects that have the potential to spin our creative intelligence into cosmic orbits. Many of us seem to have it in our natures consistently to entangle ourselves in more than we have the ability to handle. If you’re like me and most people, no matter how good your intentions may be, you’re going to have the world come at you faster than you can keep up. In his book, Getting Things Done he writes: No one has written more compellingly about the Weekly Review than David Allen. The result is that you stay in control of your workload and keep your business constituents happy.
![nozbe weekly review nozbe weekly review](http://productivewizard.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-Little-Book-of-Nozbe-proof-1.jpg)
In my view, this is the key to staying on top of your projects and assignments. Part of the solution to this problem is the “Weekly Review.” This is an opportunity to get your head above the daily blizzard of activities and see where you’ve been and where you’re going. Worse, you may frustrate your customers, colleagues, or even your boss. When this happens, important items fall through the cracks. As a result, you may lose focus on your goals, forget to process notes from your meetings, fail to put assigned tasks on your task list, or, looking forward, anticipate upcoming meetings and events for which you need to prepare. In the fast pace of the modern business world, it’s easy to lose your way and become reactive rather than proactive.