Weekly Review--two inboxes

B

BrandiFig

Registered
So, I am very new to GTD and am sitting down to do my first Weekly Review, and the first thing on my list is to get my inbox to zero and I'm already stymied. I have two inboxes, one in my home "office" (really just a small desk in my bedroom) and one in my office at school. How do you do a weekly review on a Sunday afternoon at home (my preferred time and local) when you only have access to about half (or less) of the "paper material" that you might review? Now, I do keep most of what I'm keeping track on in Things 3, but I couldn't tell you right now what's in the inbox on my desk at work.

How do you all approach? All suggestions welcome.
 
BrandiFig said:
So, I am very new to GTD and am sitting down to do my first Weekly Review, and the first thing on my list is to get my inbox to zero and I'm already stymied. I have two inboxes, one in my home "office" (really just a small desk in my bedroom) and one in my office at school. How do you do a weekly review on a Sunday afternoon at home (my preferred time and local) when you only have access to about half (or less) of the "paper material" that you might review? Now, I do keep most of what I'm keeping track on in Things 3, but I couldn't tell you right now what's in the inbox on my desk at work.

How do you all approach? All suggestions welcome.
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I would be careful about starting with getting to inbox zero when new as your first step in weekly review. I know that sounds counterintuitive but unless you have discipline that can be a time trap. And no rule that says you cannot split things up. So what I would do is create a daily checklist where clarify and organizing daily is part of your life. Which reduces time spent doing it during a weekly review. Depending on your schedule last day in your office either Fri afternoon or first thing Monday make that the longer "weekly review" part in your office.

But focus less on getting current and try to be closer to current at review time. Focus on lifting your eyes to what has your attention (not just physical or digital things in front of you, what is on your mind) and look to review the week prior and prepare for the weeks to come. Getting your lists clean etc.

During my weekly review my capture, clarify, and organize is a fraction of the time spent in the larger review.
 
ivanjay205 said:
I would be careful about starting with getting to inbox zero when new as your first step in weekly review. I know that sounds counterintuitive but unless you have discipline that can be a time trap. And no rule that says you cannot split things up. So what I would do is create a daily checklist where clarify and organizing daily is part of your life. Which reduces time spent doing it during a weekly review. Depending on your schedule last day in your office either Fri afternoon or first thing Monday make that the longer "weekly review" part in your office.

But focus less on getting current and try to be closer to current at review time. Focus on lifting your eyes to what has your attention (not just physical or digital things in front of you, what is on your mind) and look to review the week prior and prepare for the weeks to come. Getting your lists clean etc.

During my weekly review my capture, clarify, and organize is a fraction of the time spent in the larger review.
Click to expand...
Great advice! I tend to keep my inbox relatively managed most of the time. If I make my office inbox a daily (or near daily) task, I should be able to do the rest from home on Sunday afternoons. Thanks!
 
The weekly review template is something to aim for, but you may need to modify it to suit your circumstances, as @ivanjay205 says. In starting to implement GTD, I think you can get a lot of value from a Mind Sweep, dumping out what’s in your head. If you end up looking through piles of papers to find some elusive thing nagging at you, that’s fine for now. The Incompletion Trigger Lists can be helpful here. The point is to learn how to get better clarity and control, not to have everything run smoothly on day one.
 
I have an office at work and home and work out of both daily. I have paper inboxes in both offices. I process the office in box on Thursday afternoon. (I am a pastor so my Thursday is my Friday.) I do the rest of my weekly review including processing my home in box which can be a combination of work and personal on Saturday morning since everything else is digital. I am able to get both in boxes to zero the majority of the time.
 
Thank you. I’m thinking of trying this, too. Friday to process the work inbox and my full weekly review on Sunday.
 
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