📖 Read Time: 5 minutes
📩 What you’ll get out of this newsletter: a 45‑minute ritual, a checklist, and a one‑page template to reset your week.
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Coming to you live from a boat 🚢
So I'm currently traveling internationally (which always makes me extra grateful for async work!), and Brian and I were chatting about something that's become pretty essential to how we operate: our weekly reviews.
Neither of us were always consistent with doing these, but since we started working together so much asynchronously, we've both gotten really into the rhythm of it. It's not about planning tomorrow, it's more like a 45-minute system reset that helps close our mental loops, actually choose what outcomes matter, stop stuff from falling through the cracks, and pre-loads our calendar so each week doesn’t feel like a scramble (I’m sure some of you can relate!).
We each do our own, compare notes, decide what to work on together / solo, and it's become one of the most useful parts of our work week. It's a routine we can run when we’re traveling and jet-lagged (like me right now) or just hanging out at home (like Brian and his fam).
Anyway, we’ve been refining our approach and figured it might be useful to share our framework with all of you. Let’s dive in, thanks for being here!
1. Why it works, the psychology
Zeigarnik effect: open loops steal attention. Capture and clarification release it.
Prospective memory fails: “I’ll remember” is a lie. Calendar blocks and checklists make intentions visible.
Decision fatigue: you make small choices once, in batch, rather than every morning.
Implementation intentions: when you pair a task with time and place, follow‑through jumps.
Loss aversion: auditing time shows where you leak hours, which creates honest trade‑offs.
2. Repeatable mechanics, the levers
Same time, same place. Pick a recurring slot, protect it.
One source of truth. Tasks live in one list, not five apps.
Hard stop. 45 minutes. If it does not fit, it waits.
Capture, then decide. Collect first, clarify second, schedule last.
Calendar before to‑dos. Time wins. If it is not on the calendar, it is wishful thinking.
Score the week. Simple 0–5 for Focus, Energy, Progress. Trends beat vibes.
3. Workflow, the 6R framework (45 minutes)
R1; Reset inputs, 10 minutes
Empty all inboxes: email, notes, downloads, voice memos, DMs.
For each item ask: trash, archive, task, or calendar.
Rename tasks as visible verbs: “Draft Q3 hiring plan,” not “Hiring.”
R2; Review last week, 10 minutes
Scan last week’s calendar. Tag wins, misses, stuck items.
Time audit: meetings, focus, admin, personal. Rough percentages are enough.
Close loops: send two follow‑ups you owe. Drop one task that no longer matters.
R3; Reprioritize, 10 minutes
Choose Top 3 outcomes for the next week. Outcomes, not activities.
Define success in one line each. Example: “Publish the landing page with working signup.”
List major blockers and one move to clear each.
R4; Rehearse the week, 5 minutes
Look ahead two weeks.
Block time for the Top 3, add pre‑reads and deadlines.
Convert vague tasks to first actions: “Open Figma file and outline hero section.”
Prep two meetings: agenda bullets, decision owner, desired result.
R5; Restore the cockpit, 5 minutes
Clean desktop and desk, set tomorrow’s start task at the top, pick a theme for the week, for example “Reduce handoffs.”
R6; Remove the clutter, 5 minutes
Intentionally remove something (literally or figuratively) from your process / routine with the goal of simplifying your life.
Do it for a week, see how it feels, and then decide if it has a place in your life.
4. Patterns to avoid
Turning the review into therapy. Reflection is fine, decisions matter.
Re‑writing the same 40 tasks. Cull aggressively, archive without guilt.
Planning the quarter. Stay at week altitude.
Mixing capture with doing. If you start doing, the review dies.
Using four tools. Pick one task list, one calendar, one notes doc.
Blocking every minute. Leave 30 percent slack for reality.
5. Make this your next move, a fill‑in skeleton
First, book it! Make it real.
Event: Weekly Review
When: day, :–:_______
Where: _____________
Trigger: playlist or beverage you like
Paste this checklist into your notetaker of choice (Notes, Notion, Google Docs, etc.) and replace or add additional checkboxes for your specific approach:
RESET
☐ Empty email, DMs, downloads, notes
☐ Clarify each: trash, archive, task, calendar
REVIEW
☐ Calendar scan: wins, misses, stuck
☐ Time audit: % meetings, % focus, % admin, % personal
☐ Two follow-ups sent, one task dropped
REPRIORITIZE
☐ Top 3 outcomes defined with success lines
☐ Blockers named with one clearing move
REHEARSE
☐ Time blocks on calendar
☐ Prep agendas, add pre-reads
☐ Convert vague tasks to first actions
RESTORE
☐ Clear desktop and desk
☐ Tomorrow’s start task set
☐ Weekly theme noted
REMOVE
☐ Get rid of all the items with processed sugar in the house
Scorecard
Focus ___/5, Energy ___/5, Progress ___/5
Biggest win: _________________________________________________________
Lesson learned: ______________________________________________________
One experiment for next week: _________________________________________
TL;DR (Keep It Simple!)
Your calendar is your commitment device, not your memory.
Outcomes first, actions second, time third.
A good review ends with fewer tasks than it started with.
Data beats vibes, score your week.
Consistency compounds, same time each week.
Speaking of sharing useful stuff…
We’ve been talking about making this a regular thing. Maybe doing more skill-based or task-based content that you can actually use in your daily/weekly/monthly routines. Partly because it's genuinely helpful to document how we work, and partly because it's fun for us to dive into topics we want to get better at ourselves, then share what we learn.
This weekly review framework is a perfect example; something we each developed individually but found so much more valuable when we brought our approaches together.
What do you think? Would more content like this be helpful? (reply and let us know 🙂)
Fair winds and following seas,
— Alex 💭 (@heyalexfriedman)
P.S. We’ve got a couple slots left for October for personal brand audits and strategy. If you are a founder / CEO with a growing business and are looking for clarity & purpose in building your brand online and offline, let’s chat!
