Have you ever wondered how a planner review checklist can streamline your weekly review process and boost your productivity? Let’s delve into my personal experience with the Q2 version of my hyperlinked digital planner PDF.
I noticed that I was randomly missing different weekly review steps from week to week. To address this, I created my planner review checklist and included it on the weekly review page itself (highlighted below in blue). This ensured a consistent procedure each week. Some might view this as overkill, but forgetting intentionally designed steps in the review process led to suboptimal results and eroded my subconscious trust in my system.
Let’s break down the planner review checklist:
- Deferred Tasks: I review the deferred tasks from the previous week’s daily pages to ensure they are still on or made it to my task list in Microsoft ToDo. I mark any deferred task with an arrow like this: ->.
- Notes: I review any notes I made on the daily planner pages and transfer them to a relevant project or add tasks where appropriate. I flag tasks that arise during the week but are not time sensitive in the notes section of my daily planner with an empty checkbox (pretty much just a rectangle) so that they are easily identifiable during the weekly review.
- Fill Out Calendar: I review my outlook calendar and add any appointments for the upcoming week to my planner. This step forces me to think about each meeting and often generates additional preparatory tasks that I add to my to-do list.
- To Do List: I review my actual to-do list in Microsoft ToDo and update for everything that I have already completed. I then mark any tasks that I want to get done in the following week as important.
- Delegate: This is a double-check step. I review all the week’s tasks that I would like to complete to ensure none of them could be further delegated. I have a tendency to jump into tasks without first asking if someone else should be doing the work.
- Break Down Big 3: I review big three tasks I have selected for the week. I ensure that I have broken them down into actionable steps or tasks. I also confirm that are on my ToDo list and marked as important. Without this step, I often determine my weekly big three but not add any related tasks to my to-do list and inherently start working on all non-big-three tasks first.
The Benefit
My planner review checklist has significantly enhanced my productivity. It ensures a consistent review process and builds trust in my system. If you would like to give it a try download my free planner PDF here.