Top Tools for Eliminating Resistance to The GTD Weekly Review
The GTD Weekly Review is likely one of the most talked about and most resisted aspects of following the GTD methodology. And it makes sense. It takes time to do it right and it requires thinking at a level that is less than enjoyable.
And that means we need to remove as much resistance to the process as possible. Otherwise, if you have an instant gratification mind like mine, you will find every excuse possible to doing the Weekly Review and doing it well.
Usually, when we discuss the Steven Pressfield concept of resistance we mention small obstacles that prevent us from doing large tasks. We talk about the need to set out clothes to prepare for a run in the morning. Or we find little tricks to keep us engaged in a daily habit of writing.
If you take the idea of eliminating small obstacles to the commitment of a Weekly Review, we can find ways to streamline the review and use it as a tool for setting up our commitments for the week ahead. At least, that’s the idea. We all fall off the horse when learning, myself included. The goal is to fall off less as time goes on.
The Mind Sweep
The core of the Weekly Review is to bring the whole GTD system up-to-date. And that means you need to start by capturing all the loose ends. In most cases, that translates to the mind sweep. But saying you need to do a mind sweep only works if you know how to do that.
I do not have the wherewithal to sit down and write out everything on my mind. I will always forget things and they will haunt me later. And because I know I will forget things, I have zero motivation to start the task of a mind sweep in the first place. What’s the point if it won’t be complete anyway?
So I need a little help here and the one thing I found to help is reading the Incompletion Trigger List. By going through this list, I have found my mind sweeps more complete and more effective. I can’t say they are 100%, but they feel close enough that the mind sweep does happen.
Sidenote: If you want a markdown version of this list to copy into the tool of your choice, I have it translated here. And if you have kids, it is also helpful to look through this list for moms and dads.
Emptying Inboxes
It is paramount that during a Weekly Review, you have empty inboxes. This is especially true when you have completed the mind sweep as you have very likely generated more than a few items that need clarification and placed throughout your system. But it’s not always fun to do the thinking required to accomplish this task.
The holy grail of emptying inboxes would be to capture the idea and have the decision-making about the item done for you. In most cases, this is far from possible and likely never will be. We are a long way from having “Resolve family dispute” turned into a project and the next action assigned to it without taking the time to think through the situation.
But there are scenarios when this is possible. And two tools help me out here. One is Hazel. The other is the OmniFocus Auto-Parser.
I love Hazel. (And not because my youngest daughter's name is Hazel.) Hazel can move files around your Mac and run scripts based on conditions your filesystem meets. For example, if you set up an “inbox” directory on your Mac, Hazel can watch that folder. If Hazel is looking for “.dmg” files in your inbox and one shows up, it can move it to a folder called “disk images.”
This is the tip of the iceberg with Hazel. And the best place I’ve found to learn more about it and how to use it is through MacSparky’s Field Guide. David has two and a half hours of video here showing how to get the most out of Hazel. It’s well worth the $29.
The Auto-Parser is a tool I wrote that will process items in your OmniFocus inbox given a specific syntax. I have found this great for automating bug reports or replicating tasks from other systems in OmniFocus. You only need to set up the Auto-Parser, configure IFTTT or Zapier to email into OmniFocus with the syntax, and the automation will give those tasks the appropriate metadata.
Task And Project Titles
This is often overlooked. When you do a Weekly Review you need to write out the task or project titles that you committed to completing. That means looking at every task that remains in your inboxes and every project in the system and ensuring proper placement and next actions assigned to each one.
And every GTD system I have seen has some set rules for naming things. Task titles need a clear enough definition that you know what to do without thinking. Project names should convey their “done” state somehow.
And the easiest way to type these out is with text expansion via TextExpander. As an example here are some of the snippets I use every week to speed up this process:
of.wf = “Waiting for “
of.em = “Email (Name Fill-in) re: “
of.li = “Look into “
of.pfm = “Plan for meeting re: “
of.resp = “Waiting for response re: “
These may seem minor, but most of the time these little snippets speed up the processing time required when reviewing my projects and calendars.
Keeping Tools Up To Date
I find it easy to forget that the purpose of the Weekly Review is to ensure my system is up-to-date and that by “system” it can mean more than my GTD system. The Weekly Review is also a great time to refresh your Mac and to update any tools connected to each other.
The easy ones are to run a CleanMyMac scan and check for duplicate files in Gemini. Doing both of these weekly helps keep my Mac healthy and my mind at ease.
At the same time, I have found that keeping TextExpander up-to-date has compounding benefits as well. Most people have noticed that a handful of iOS apps allow you to import TextExpander snippets into their databases. And that means you don’t need to use the third-party keyboard for these snippets to work.
The three that I use with this feature are Drafts, OmniFocus, and Fantastical. It was a common occurrence for me to type a snippet in one of these apps and have it fail or do nothing. That would remind me that I needed to update the snippets in the iOS app before those snippets would work. It wasn’t a huge problem but it was a frustration nonetheless.
During my Weekly Review, I now make it a point to go into these three apps and update the snippet libraries.
At the same time, TextExpander suggests new snippets and stores those in a folder called Suggested Snippets. Each week, I go through this list and treat it as a dedicated inbox for creating new TextExpander snippets.
Blocking Distractions
This should have been at the top. Distractions are a huge threat when doing a Weekly Review. Think about how many different locations you need to go digitally and how many ideas you are intentionally drumming up. Now think about how easy it is to pop open a web browser and type that search term. I speculate that this is what leads many folks to expand the amount of time required to complete the Weekly Review.
In most cases, my Weekly Review takes about an hour, sometimes 45 minutes. This is despite the fact that most report two hours as the required timeframe. For me, I know that I love to jump into the new and shiny as soon as it comes to mind. That’s where Freedom comes in.
I use Freedom to block the internet. When I first debated doing this, I had excuses galore. So much of my processing and data entry relies on information stored on the internet. But when you stop and think about it, the need for a connection doesn’t apply.
My phone is staying up-to-date in the background. So updating snippets and such is fine. All the required data is on the device itself. The same goes for my Mac. Everything I need is on the Mac and does not need the connection for syncing until the whole process is done.
So blocking the internet is perfectly fine. Though, that doesn’t mean I don’t feel nervous every time I click “Start Session.” I still hesitate before clicking. But I also know that as soon as I commit to starting a Freedom session, I am also committing to the Weekly Review.
What did I miss? What tools do you use to keep your Weekly Review on the rails?
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When you first build your GTD system, it’s easy to focus on the tools and setting up the correct lists. At that point, it’s important to build the infrastructure and get your projects under control so overwhelm can vacate the premises. But it is common to let the system slide after a week or two or maybe a month.
The problem comes when the new and shiny wears off and old habits start to resurface. You didn’t write down that request from your spouse and forgot about it . Friday had a lot of unexpected circumstances that prevented you from doing a weekly review and now your system is out of line. Or you have a simple system in place but you keep forgetting to clear out your inboxes so it’s out of date.
It is this point at which your habits have taken over. And I’ve been there all too often. I have done every single one of these and more. But over time, I have picked up a handful of habits that lower the number of times I fall off the wagon and help me stick to the system. I still deviate from time to time, but each time I come back I am better at being intentional with my time.
And that’s the point, right? If I stick to these habits, it means I am better at helping others and building real-world relationships.
Capture at Multiple Levels
This is something I have recently learned. And it only came after reading Making It All Work. In this follow-up book, David Allen often refers to higher levels of thinking. Yes, the day-to-day, “pick up dog food” tasks are important to capture. But there are many levels of capture that we tend to ignore because we focus on these lower-level tasks.
It’s the relational tasks and the conceptual conversations you need to have with yourself that lead to the real cream of GTD. It’s not uncommon to see items like “develop a regular conversation with my siblings” or “help Emma comprehend her reading” in my inbox.
When you adopt this habit, the GTD process starts to make more sense. The “what is it?” and “is it actionable?” questions are better served when dealing with these higher-level items. The answer to these is borderline obvious with most day-to-day projects. But when it turns to relationships or beliefs, these questions become a challenge worth facing.
Decide When to Empty Inboxes
If you listen to the GTD podcast or read articles by David Allen, you’ll hear him reference the timing of “every couple days.” That usually comes with the caveat of how fast your work moves. If you work in IT or support, tasks can enter your inbox and reach completion within a few hours. And that means you need to clear it out more frequently.
But something I have found wrong here is that I am terrible at deciding when to do this thinking work. I will leave my inbox untouched for two weeks and run from my brain without realizing it. And that comes down to too much flexibility in emptying inboxes. Yes, I should be able to sense the feeling that my system needs updating, but I don’t act on it.
The counter to this problem is to schedule a time for clearing inboxes daily. My work moves on a day-to-day basis so I know I need to make these decisions daily. But there have been times when I have two or three critical, fast-moving projects running at once. In those cases, I schedule two or three times a day to empty inboxes.
In any scenario, it is best to have time on the calendar for this. Without a schedule, it becomes easy to put it off entirely and then your system becomes untrustworthy.
Actually Use Someday/Maybe Lists
It’s one thing to collect items on a someday/maybe list. It’s another to put them to work. I can capture ideas all day long every day of the week. But incubating them, curating them, and activating them is work in itself.
I see arguments against deleting items for these lists. But this is unfounded advice. If I have decided a task isn’t something I’ll do, delete it. Get rid of it. Make it go away. I don’t want to keep skipping over it because I remember my decision. If I have decided the answer is no, then act on it and delete the thing.
I see the goal of someday/maybe lists as a place to keep tasks and projects I don’t know if I want to do. It’s also a great place to hold things that you want to do, but don’t have time for this week.
And I say, “this week” intentionally. Sometimes we refer to these lists as bucket lists or a holding place for things to do in years to come. And that’s fine, but these are also places to keep tasks you have committed to do in months to come, but you are not actively working on them right now. It’s better to keep your “active” tasks limited to what you can do this week.
Review When You Don’t Know
David Allen talks about the importance of the Weekly Review. And I have been a strong promoter for the Weekly Review for a long time as well. That’s because I am terrible at sticking to it and need to make it as easy as possible to do.
And although I find a scheduled time for a Weekly Review valuable, you can’t always trust or rely on a single, weekly time for updating your system. It’s pretty common for a new project to land on my plate mid-week or to cut an existing project. And every time that happens, I need to do an extra Weekly Review. It’s the only way I know to refresh my commitments for the week.
A Weekly Review is important, but it’s also important to review your vision and life mission when you have life changes. I try to do quarterly and annual reviews to ensure I have a good vision to work towards and that I’m working on my life mission. But when a job change happens, an illness strikes, or my wife and I decide to take on a big household project, I often need to review these again. It helps to make sure I am not running forward (backward?) haphazardly but moving towards my vision for the future.
Trust Your Previous Decisions
One of the big mistakes I have made in the past with my GTD system is second-guessing my decisions about what to work on each day. I have built dashboards and today lists for a long time. And I still do this.
But the problem comes when I look at the list, see things I don’t want to do, and convince myself that there is something better to work on. And this enables me to procrastinate to no end.
Don’t do that. Trust the system you set up. Trust your thinking-self from earlier and work the list.
If Not Now, When?
This is a question I picked up from Patrick Rhone a few years ago. If I am not committing to completing a task right now, when will I commit to it? What day on the calendar or what time will I set aside for it?
In the case of GTD, we often think about this through the lens of contexts, a set of tools or periods when we work on certain lists. And a common misunderstanding here is working from these contexts “when you find yourself in that context.” I’m sorry, but I don’t “find myself” anywhere by accident. Even if that is the way life worked, I’m pretty sure that working from lists whenever you accidentally end up in a context wouldn’t allow you to complete the tasks you need to complete each day.
Instead, you have to choose to put yourself in those contexts. And I have found that the best way to do that is by scheduling time for different projects and contexts throughout the week. You see this concept employed in a lot of ways: time-blocking, daily themes, yearly themes, tasks on a calendar, etc… Choose the method that works for you, but don’t expect the contexts to magically appear and the work to complete itself when that happens.
Stick to Your Tools
I shouldn’t have to say this. Don’t change tools very often. In the eight years I have practiced GTD, I have used three tools for my GTD system. I started with Evernote because it was the tool I was using at the time and I knew how it worked. Then I upgraded to OmniFocus. I deviated for about six months into the world of text files, but came back to OmniFocus and have been there since.
Here’s the key: I know OmniFocus and I know how to work my system within it. I have looked at Todoist a few times and Things 3 and even Notion and Basecamp. And it’s very common for productivity writers and podcasters to talk about switching tools and show how they are doing it. I’ve even seen folks online switch tools four or five times a year.
But here’s the trick: these writers make money off of talking about these tools. So switching tools gives them more content to talk about. So, of course, they switch a lot. But the problem is that this encourages the general population to switch more often. Don’t fall for it.
Notion is new and shiny and there are a LOT of people talking about it right now. My suggestion: leave it alone. Stick to what you know and what is reliable. If you don’t have a tool you trust, find one that has been around for a long time, has a proven business model, doesn’t completely alter the interface frequently, and has a lot of people talking about it. You will have a much better chance of finding a tool that you can count on in the long run.
I say this because it is easy to spend more time setting up tools than it is learning the intricacies and nuances of GTD. For example, I only learned to capture high-level projects because I had a system I know and understand well. If I would continue switching tools regularly, I would be tempted to spend time learning the ins and outs of the tool instead of focusing on where I spend my time.
Know Your Weakness
My weaknesses are Capture and Review. I know this. It’s likely why I write about these two steps the most. I need the self-encouragement that comes from teaching others what I am doing. And knowing this allows me to focus more on those steps to ensure I am following through and working towards my vision.
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Joe Buhlig
an analog mind in a digital world
In the last month, I have expanded a little over 1,000 snippets in TextExpander. And given the complexity of those snippets, it has saved me over two hours worth of typing in that same period. And although that sounds impressive, I’m guessing the real number is closer to double that number. The snippets I’m using often save me from switching back and forth between applications or hunting down information.
So it’s no secret that I look for ways to use TextExpander as much as I can. The more tools I can integrate with it, the better. And that’s why I was thrilled to discover a bunch of apps that have an integration with TextExpander. It means I don’t have to use the third-party keyboard to use my snippets on iOS.
Note: This article contains affiliate links. That means that if you click one of these links and subsequently make a purchase, I will earn a commission. You pay nothing extra; any commission I earn comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I only recommend tools that I find genuinely helpful and useful. I ask that if don’t feel the same way about them, please do not spend any money on these products.
Drafts
Drafts is my home base. So it has to be at the top of the list. You can use this in the settings for Drafts. Scroll down and under Extensions you’ll find TextExpander. From there you can enable TextExpander and refresh the snippets regularly (more on that later).
OmniFocus
I can’t make this list without mentioning OmniFocus. I have a snippet group in TextExpander dedicated to OmniFocus to make it quicker to enter task titles and dates. To set this up, go to the settings within OmniFocus and scroll down to TextExpander. Again, you can enable the integration and refresh the snippets from the same place.
Fantastical
In recent weeks I find myself using BusyCal on both my Mac and iPhone. But I have used Fantastical regularly over the years. And one of the features I have sorely missed on my phone is this TextExpander integration. To set it up in Fantastical, go to the settings, scroll down near the bottom under Advanced and you’ll see the setting for updating TextExpander snippets.
Ulysses
I thought I had something great in Ulysses. But I recently switched my writing flow due to SearchLink. And in this case, it has been a huge ordeal since I rarely do any writing on my iPhone. Regardless, to use native TextExpander snippets in Ulysses, open a note and tap the “aA” icon at the top. Then go to Editing and at the bottom you’ll see an option to Enable TextExpander and updating the snippets.
Bear
I haven’t used Bear in a long time, but I know it’s popular for folks leaving Apple Notes or Evernote. So, good news! You can use TextExpander with it! Go to Bear’s settings and then tap on General. Right near the bottom you’ll see the settings for enabling TextExpander snippets.
Day One
I tried Day One for 3.1 seconds a few years ago. It didn’t make sense to me. But I know people love it. I’m more of a pen and paper fan when it comes to journaling. But if you want to use TextExpander with it, open up Day One’s settings, scroll down to Advanced, and about half-way down you’ll see the settings for turning on and updating TextExpander.
OmniOutliner
The OmniGroup is great about building in integrations in their apps. And OmniOutliner is no exception. I haven’t used it a ton in the past, but I am looking at it more and more. To set up TextExpander in it, go to the settings and scroll down to TextExpander. It’s similar to OmniFocus that way. Go figure.
Editorial
In the last month or so, Editorial has seen some update love from the developer. It used to be a go-to app for many writers and developers writing scripts. So I’m interested to see what comes of it in future months. To use TextExpander with it, go to Editorial’s settings, scroll down to Snippets and Abbreviations, and then Enable TE Snippets.
One thing to keep in mind, these will quickly become outdated if you are actively updating and adding TextExpander snippets. This is something I do regularly. So I have to make sure I keep these refreshed. For that, I add each of these apps to my Weekly Review as a task to refresh snippets. This way, I know these are always almost-up-to-date.
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Joe Buhlig
an analog mind in a digital world
