How I learned to be my own assistant and love the GTD Weekly Review

A Community Contribution from Carolyn J. Sullivan about her experience with the GTD Weekly Review. We would love to hear your experience with the Weekly Review in the comments.

I’ve been using GTD principles since I was first introduced to them in 1994-95. I was part of a consulting group at Polaroid responsible for supporting cross-functional new product development teams in the areas of effectiveness, organizational learning, and functional expertise. After some research, a colleague found the Time/Design system, and before long we had arranged for David Allen to come in and deliver what was then called the “MAP Seminar.” I don’t exaggerate when I say it changed my life, and I have applied the questions “What’s the desired outcome?” and “What’s the next action?” to every conceivable personal and professional issue since.

The thing that astounds me most about GTD is the fact that, 25 years later, I discover nuances and have epiphanies on a regular basis – this is truly an organic approach that grows with the user. My latest epiphany came a few weeks ago and concerns the dreaded Weekly Review. I thought: “If I feel stress in any given week, it’s because I’m trying to think about several ‘big pictures’ while simultaneously reigning in the chaos that threatens to run away with my sanity!” I realized that my ability to think clearly during the ebb and flow of my days, my ability to be with any input that arises for me, is directly proportional to the time I’ve spent that week in reflection. On a daily basis, I am calmer and more focused when I meditate in the morning. When I say “meditate,” I am using the term loosely – I mean that I’ve been able to have some quiet, non-thinking time either sitting and watching my breath, or perhaps staring out the window or writing in a stream of consciousness way. When I don’t have that little buffer between my sleep state and my full-on, awake, “handling things” state, then I find I’m a little off-kilter.

On a weekly basis, I have the Weekly Review. It is a time to reflect, and not do. Now when I do my Weekly Review, I treat it as a real meeting with a real assistant. When I frame the weekly review as a session, during which I get to delegate to an assistant (rather than figuring out what I need to do) then it takes on a liberating quality instead of feeling like another should. I suppose you could really file this approach under “acting as if,” but whatever you want to call it, it works for me. When I’m delegating to someone, I have to be very clear as to what I want them to do. I can’t vaguely say “Work on the Thompson Project.” I need to give that person specific tasks to accomplish. Tasks that I can review with them the following week in order to determine how much progress has been made. That way I can re-calibrate and re-negotiate if necessary based on “our” available resources. If it seems as though I’ve been over-loading my assistant, and only a few of the intended tasks have been accomplished, then it’s time to take a step back and see why this might be so, and how we might fix it. Obviously this approach can work extremely well between a person and their flesh-and-blood assistant. But it’s an approach that has made a light year of difference in the effectiveness of my own self-review. The Weekly Review becomes less emotionally charged; less about beating up on myself for what I didn’t do, and more about setting myself up for success.

There is nothing like the feeling when I’ve thought through everything on my plate, have decided what needs active attention and what can be put on the back burner, and have subsequently identified precisely what needs to happen to move it all forward. It allows me to be present in each moment, and to move into the daily role of “self-assistant” – fulfilling my “manager’s” requests and not really worrying about much beyond getting things done. How many of us who have been managers haven’t longed for the day when we didn’t have to “worry about stuff all the time”?! The Weekly Review, done consistently and with perhaps a little internal role-playing, has given me the best of both worlds.

Carolyn Sullivan is Director of Marketing for Rosewalker Design Project, which specializes in antique restoration and the creation of mixed media decorative arts. She also works a full 40-hour-plus work week as an Executive Assistant for an international logistics company. She loves to write and play music, read, watch films, and just be.

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11 Comments

  1. Hey Carolyn,

    It was so refreshing reading your post. I have been stressed about a few things lately and I am just now realizing that some things don’t need to be done right now! Focus on the here and now and don’t worry about the future.

    Yesterday we did a webinar with David Allen and I learned so much from him! It was a very nice followup to read your article after hearing him talk about GTD.

    Thanks again Carolyn!

  2. A great reminder. I’ve recently felt quite overwhelmed and exhausted, especially as I’m dealing with a partner who has recently suffered a severe stroke. So I’m getting two lives ‘done’. I just spent some time by the beach doing a brain dump and weekly review and feel much better.This system really helps your mental health – it’s not just an organizational device.

  3. The concept you present here — the weekly consultation with the “assistant” to assess and delegate specific tasks in service of the big picture — really clarifies what a Weekly Review can mean. I too often put off the Weekly Review with the excuse that it will only reveal how little I’ve accomplished. It’s great to have a different, better way to think of it. Many thanks!

  4. Ahhh, Carolyn, what an INSPIRED and INSPIRING way to position the weekly review. As someone who encourages & supports others in their quest to end each day feeling productive, happy & at peace, it can sometimes be a challenge to “walk the talk”, lol! What I appreciate most about your post Carolyn are the comments about the value of clarity when it comes to delegating to my “assistant” and the reminder to ask “what’s the desired outcome”.

    With gratitude,
    CAL
    Cheryl A. Lowitzer

  5. As others have said, this is a GREAT way to think about the Weekly Review! I am a big fan of reframing things in ways that allow us to break free from psychologically-induced “action paralysis.”

    I also love that Tony did his Weekly Review on the beach! It reminds me of what Cal Newport calls “Adventure Studying.” He suggests that our brains crave novelty, and an inspiring environment helps us to engage and work more creatively — and just maybe, even to enjoy it! I never thought to apply it to the Weekly Review, though. Maybe I’ll grab my laptop and do my next Weekly Review at a state park…

  6. That’s an ingenious re-frame – externalizing the Weekly Review onto an Imaginary Personal Assistant. This is just what I’m needing right now.

    I’m now imagining being President Jed Bartlett on “The West Wing” barking “What’s Next?” to Charlie. If the President can have a BodyMan, so can I.

    Thanks for your post.

    Paul

  7. I also think doing a Weekly Review outside is a great idea. I also think it may go beyond novelty, as Vivian suggests. I just finished Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows,” which I strongly recommend. One of his final points is that there is evidence suggesting that time with nature allows our brains to do “deep thinking” better–the kinds of reflection and contemplation that make the Weekly Review so powerful for GTD’ers. Even looking at pictures of nature can have a similar effect. I’m going to give this a try myself and see what I notice.

  8. I have to thank you for this post. I’ve never considered planning as if for someone else but it resonates for me. I can’t wait to give it a try!

    Thanks – Cori

  9. I echo all the remarks above –this is a brilliant idea, and one I plan to implement today, as my weekly review is on my list for today. Too often it’s there and I don’t do it; this slight reframing is ingenious. It reminds me to check in with my assistant as well –I am really working on learning to delegate more systematically. I have been looking over the new implementation guide as well, a review of the whole GTD process. Last week I sat with my primary research assistant as we both did a mind sweep; I found most items there were already in my “trusted system” which is Omnifocus at the moment. My computer has been quirky, so I am thinking about going back to online Vitalist, but I sure love Omnifocus. I wish it had an online version. Your idea is so compelling, it’s inspiring, perhaps particularly to those of us who find it difficult to really do our weekly review.

    I too have a daily meditation (and more) practice, and it has been very good for me. As for nature –I am convinced that we, and I mean at least us knowledge workers, suffer from what I’m calling “nature deficiency.” It’s effecting our moods, productivity, and even our blood chemistry. We don’t get enough sunlight, so we are vitamin D deficient, we don’t get enough exercise so our “brain derived neurotrophic factor” gets too low and we are vulnerable to neuronal death –more exercise and we have neurogenesis. We were designed to live in the natural world and living inside our computers, our offices (home or outside the home), we are probably deficient in many things we don’t even know about.

    Thanks for a really brilliant idea that I think is going to change my weekly review, and my willingness to do consistently do it.

  10. Great inspiration. This post made me realize that maybe I was beating too hard upon myself during the weekly review, for all the stuff not done.
    I have been a GTD’er for a year and a half now, and the weekly review is still the part that takes more willpower to stick to, even in spite of that lovely feeling you mention, once you’re through. I think your imaginative approach will be a great help. Thank you.

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