MASTERING THE ART OF THE WEEKLY REVIEW

Hey there! I'd like to talk about something that could change your life: the weekly review. Now, if you think I'm being a bit dramatic, I assure you, I'm not!

This wonderful routine can help you become more productive, manage your time better, and reduce stress. Believe me, I've seen it work wonders in my own life.

The Magic of Weekly Reviews

Several years ago, I was a frazzled mum, always running late and feeling overwhelmed. That's when I discovered the power of a weekly review. By setting aside just 30 minutes each week to reflect on my accomplishments and plan for the week ahead, I gained clarity and control over my chaos. It's now an essential part of my self-care routine, and I can't imagine living without it.

Setting the Stage

Before you dive into your weekly review, it's important to choose a quiet time and space where you won't be disturbed. Early mornings or evenings after the kids are asleep could be perfect.

Then you'll need to gather your tools—a good planner or journal, colourful pens (I like these erasable ones), sticky notes, and maybe even a notebook for brain-dumping thoughts and ideas if you don't want to do this directly in your planner.

The Weekly Review Process

1. Reflect on the Past Week: Look back at your previous week in your planner to review what you accomplished and what you didn't. Ask yourself, "What went well? What were the challenges? How can I improve next week?". Think about what you achieved, and also what didn't turn out as planned - and why.

A Weekly Review page from our monthly stationery club.

2. Brain Dump: Write down all your thoughts, tasks, and ideas to clear your mind. Use a separate note page or section in your planner for this, or even a separate notebook. Get down all the those niggling tasks - personal or work-related - that you've been saying to yourself you'll get done or look into. There's no task too small. Just get it all out!

A Notepaper page from our monthly stationery club.

3. Review Your Calendar and To-Do List: Check for upcoming appointments, deadlines, and events. I recommend using a digital calendar like Google Calendar in conjunction with your physical planner for better tracking. I'll often look ahead at the next two weeks because sometimes there are events coming up in just over a week that I'll need to act on in the coming week.

An example of this could be a relative's birthday. I may need to pick up a present this week, wrap it and post it on Monday to arrive in time. If I waited to look at my upcoming week on Sunday night, I might have to throw all other tasks aside for Monday so that I can make sure I pick up, wrap and post that present. Whereas, because I've seen it coming more than a week away, I can add the present shopping to my errand day so that I can pick it up whilst I'm already going to the shops.

Looking further into the future can help you better prepare for things and also help you to use your time a lot better!

The November calendars in our monthly stationery club.

4. Set Priorities for the Coming Week: Identify 3-5 main goals or tasks for the week. Highlight these in your planner for easy reference or write them out on their own goal page so that you can add goal actions and track your goal progress.

These are the main goals you want to keep front of mind whilst you go about your week, so be sure that you review them daily, if not multiple times a day.

A Goal Planner page from our monthly stationery club.

Tips for Success

1. Stay Flexible: Life can be unpredictable. Be prepared to adjust your plans as needed.

2. Involve the Family: Consider a quick family meeting to coordinate schedules and share important dates. Even 10 minutes discussing everyone's movements or plans can be really helpful in avoiding conflict of calendar interests!

Did you know that you monthly stationery club includes a monthly family calendar?

A monthly Family Calendar from our stationery club.

3. Celebrate Wins: Acknowledge and celebrate completed tasks and achievements, no matter how small. And if you achieved your top three tasks for the week, make sure that you congratulate yourself with a reward - big or small. Reinforcing your achievements actually helps you to achieve more things in the future as it helps you build confidence and supports the belief that you can achieve your goals.

Recommended Stationery and Tools

There's a lot of stationery out there! But we have our favourites - and with good reason! Check out our recommended stationery for doing a weekly review here:

Planners and Journals: A Filofax paired with a Paper Me Pretty stationery membership for refills. Well, of course we're gonna recommend our stationery! The A5 pages inside our monthly membership are perfect for your A5 Filofax or ring binder. I have five A5 planners (and counting! 😬).

We create different A5 weekly layouts so you can choose whether you want a vertical or horizontal layout in your planner. Or you can switch it up whenever you like!

Pens and Markers: I love erasable pens like these because I often find that as I'm planning, I want to change things up and will often need to move things around. Erasable pens allow me to colour code and keep things flexible at the same time.

Sticky Notes and Tabs: Post-it Notes. We consider these a stationery must-have especially when doing any kind of planning. If you're the kind of person who likes to move things around a lot before settling on a plan. Then you absolutely need to use these when planning. They allow you to write a note or idea and position it and re-position it multiple times.

Digital Tools: Productivity app like Notion for task management, and a calendar app like Google Calendar. I would love to keep all of my tasks in my planner, but alas, I have a team here at Paper Me Pretty, and as such, we need to collectively manage our tasks together so that we can easily assign tasks from one person to the next.

But even if you don't work with a team, I find that housing all of your tasks in a digital app ensures that you never lose them (especially if your task brain dumps produce 20-50 tasks each time!). Managing a lot of tasks on paper can be overwhelming.

I use a digital app to house all of my tasks. And then I move my priority tasks into my paper planner so that I have a higher level of focus and a greater sense of achievement as I check off my more sensibly-sized To Do list!

If you like Notion, then you'll love the One Life System built to organise your entire life in Notion. It was created by our sister company One Life Planner.

Making it a Habit

Start small and gradually build the habit. Begin with just 15 minutes each week, and increase the time as you become more comfortable. Remember, consistency is key. As you build the habit of doing a weekly review each week, you'll start to notice how much more organised and balanced you'll feel!

Now it's your turn! I'd love to hear about your weekly review tips or favourite stationery items. Share them with me on Instagram, and download our free Weekly Planner to help you get started. Happy planning!

Other posts you may like:

• Stationery Secrets: Boost Focus and Motivation With Pretty Routines

• How to Build a Success Mindset

• How to Prioritise and Conquer Your Tasks for Success