How do people schedule when they do a weekly reflection?

[oxband]

I'm new to GTD done but enjoying it. Question: when people go over their lists each week, how do they approach scheduling what to do? I wonder if it makes sense to set aside blocks of time each week for specific projects, and then look at my GTD lists to see what next actions to take. That said, I know one part of GTD is keeping the calendar clean and not scheduling unless it's a hard deadline.

Thoughts/strategies on how to better plan and schedule when I go through my lists?

 

[GTDmw]

Oxband,

Welcome to the GTD practice. Glad you are enjoying it. It will continue to get better. Sounds like you are off to a good start. Kudos to you!

Here are some thoughts on the Weekly Review:

First, think of finding a place that is your "special" place for doing a Weekly Review. It is really fun to go to a place that is attractive and joyful to you. Doing so creates space for thinking, reviewing and reflecting with minimal distractions. Some people even create specialized Weekly Review music play lists to listen to.

Second, I recommend when you are starting out to follow the standard Weekly Review checklist for the 5 to 10 reviews. If you find yourself getting stuck on "get ins to empty" (which is common) I suggest skipping that step and adding more defining work time to your calendar. There is a magic that happens when you follow the process as David has defined it.

I think these two steps will help get you off to a great start. If you feel like doing a separate project list review, go for it. However, my recommendation is to go through the process as defined. You may discover this takes care of your questions around projects and lists.

The beautiful thing about GTD is that you can play with it and test different things.

Hope this helps,

Mike

 

[Cpu_Modern]

A lot of it comes down to project planning. When you plan a project, what do you write into that plan? How do you want to work on that project? Is it okay if you just work on it ones in a while during your discretionary time? If yes, then just having a Next Action somewhere should suffice. If not, you need tighter scheduling.

My prefered strategy is coming from the end, having the end in mind. When do you want the project to be finished? What concrete result is due to be presneted when and to whom?

 

[TesTeq]

Thoughts/strategies on how to better plan and schedule when I go through my lists?

Move as many Projects as you can to Someday/Maybe. We overestimate what we'll be able to do during current and next week.