A weekly review template Fourteen steps you can copy from this page.
A weekly review is one checklist you run once a week so your task lists match your life again. Here is a template of fourteen steps you can copy, how long it takes, and how to keep it in the app you already use.
I build Driftto, an iPhone app that sends a thought to the app where it belongs. Capturing is half of a task system and the weekly review is the other half, so I wrote the checklist I would hand someone who asks. It pairs with my pages on how to brain dump, the best GTD apps and setting up GTD in Todoist.
In October 2026 I read the help pages of Notion, Todoist and Apple for the part about keeping the template in each app. What an app can do comes from those pages. Where a page says nothing, I say so. The checklist itself is my own wording.
The short answer
A weekly review template is a checklist you run once a week to empty your head and inboxes, bring your task lists up to date, and plan the week ahead. The one below has fourteen steps in three parts: get clear, get current, look ahead. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes. Copy it into any task app.
Where the weekly review comes from
The weekly review is a habit from Getting Things Done, the method David Allen wrote down. Getting Things Done is a registered trademark of the David Allen Company, and Allen publishes his own checklist. I have not copied it. The steps below are my wording of the same idea: clear your inputs, check your lists against reality, then decide what the coming week holds.
Each step is one line, then one sentence on why it is there. Skip any step that doesn't fit your life. A review you finish in twenty minutes beats a perfect one you never start.
Part 1: Get clear
The first part gets everything out of your head and off your desk and into one place. You are not doing the work yet. You are only finding out what is there.
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01
Gather every loose item in one place.
Papers, receipts, notes and business cards go on one pile, because you can't judge what you can't see.
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02
Write down everything still in your head.
Set five minutes and list each open thought, big or small, without sorting it, because a thought you are holding costs attention until it sits somewhere you trust.
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03
Empty your inboxes.
Go through email, messages, voice notes and the screenshots you took as a reminder, because an inbox is a task list nobody agreed to.
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04
Scan last week's calendar.
Look for follow-ups, promises and bills hiding in meetings that already happened.
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05
Decide what each loose item is.
Do it, file it, hand it off or schedule it, and do it now if it takes a couple of minutes, because a pile only shrinks when every piece gets a decision.
Part 2: Get current
The second part checks your lists against what is true today. This is the step most people skip, and it is why their lists stop being trusted.
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06
Check off what is finished.
A list that shows only open work is easier to read, and the checked items show you what the week did produce.
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07
Read every open task and ask if it is still real.
Delete it, reword it or move it, because tasks you no longer mean to do teach you to ignore the whole list.
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08
List what you are waiting on.
Note each reply, delivery or piece of work from someone else, with a date to chase it, because nothing on your plate reminds you of these.
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09
Give every project a next step.
A project with no visible next action stalls, and you only notice weeks later.
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10
Skim your someday list.
Promote what you now want to do and cut what you don't, so the list stays short enough to read.
Part 3: Look ahead
The last part turns a clean set of lists into a plan for the week. Keep it short. Four steps are enough.
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11
Look two weeks ahead on the calendar.
Deadlines, trips and crowded days show up early enough to move other things around.
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12
Pick the few things that matter most this week.
Three is plenty, because a short list is one you finish.
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13
Put those things on specific days.
A task with a day on it is a plan, and a task without one is a wish.
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14
Book the next review.
Put it in the calendar before you close the list, because a review with no slot is the first thing to slip.
How long it takes
Plan on 30 to 45 minutes once your lists are in decent shape. The first one runs longer, often an hour or more, because Parts 1 and 2 have a backlog to clear. That range is a guideline from how the steps add up, not a measured figure. Each week gets shorter if you put things in the right app as they come up, so the pile you gather in step 1 stays small.
When to do it
Pick a fixed slot and put it in your calendar like a meeting. Friday afternoon lets you close the week clean and leave work behind. Sunday evening or Monday morning plans with the week in front of you, and you see the new week's calendar fresh. Both work. What matters is that it is the same slot every week.
Keeping the template in Notion, Todoist or Reminders
Notion: make a database template with the fourteen steps in it, then make it repeat. Open the dropdown next to New at the top of your database, select the three dots next to the template, and open Repeat. You can repeat it daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, with a start date and a time. The page doesn't say which Notion plans include repeating templates.
Todoist: keep the fourteen steps as tasks in one project, then save it. Open the project, use the three dots at the top right and choose Save as template. It lands in My templates, and you use it again from there. To remind yourself, add a task called Weekly review with a repeat such as every fri at noon, which is the pattern Todoist's help page shows. A plain every counts from the scheduled date, so finishing late doesn't move the next one. every! counts from the day you finish.
Apple Reminders: make a list called Weekly review with the fourteen steps. Open the list, tap the More button and choose Save as Template, then name it. To start a fresh copy each week, tap Templates, tap the template and tap Create. Apple's guide says changes you make to the original list don't change the template, and you can choose whether completed reminders come along. To get a nudge, open a reminder's details, turn on Date or Time, tap Repeat and pick the frequency.
Emptying your head, with Driftto
Step 2 is the long one, and it gets shorter if you don't save everything for Friday. That is where Driftto fits, in a small way. It doesn't run your review and it never reads or checks off what is already in your lists. It writes new items.
During the week, each loose thought goes to the app where it belongs as you think of it: a task to Todoist, a page to Notion, a reminder to Apple Reminders. You type or speak it and tap where it goes. When Friday comes, step 2 is mostly done, because the thoughts are already in the right place.
The History screen helps with the review too. It lists what you sent, grouped by day, with the note and a line such as Sent 17:40 · Notion. A note that didn't arrive says Didn't reach, with the destination, and has a Try again link. Scroll through the week and you see what you sent and whether anything got stuck. It shows what you sent, kept on your phone. It does not show what is in your lists now.
Questions
What should a weekly review include?
Three things: getting everything out of your head and inboxes, bringing your task lists up to date, and planning the week ahead. The template above splits that into fourteen steps.
How long should a weekly review take?
About 30 to 45 minutes once your lists are in shape. The first one takes longer because there is a backlog to clear.
What is the best day for a weekly review?
The one you will keep. Friday afternoon closes the week, and Sunday evening or Monday morning plans the next one. Pick one slot and book it in your calendar.
Is the weekly review part of GTD?
Yes. It is one of the habits in David Allen's Getting Things Done. You can run it without the rest of the method, and the template above works that way.
Driftto is in the App Store now. The yearly plan starts with a free week.
