A weekly review template for a more intentional week.

Choose a repeatable moment at the end of your week or before the next one begins. Start with a 15-minute appointment as a practical limit, not a performance target. Have last week’s calendar and your next week’s commitments open.

1. Name what you wanted to protect.

   Write down one to three priorities you had at the start of the week. Include life outside work: a quiet evening, a family commitment, a walk, or time to recover. If you did not make a plan, leave that column blank and use this week as a baseline. Do not turn today’s expectations into an imaginary past plan.

2. Reconstruct the week you actually lived.

   Check your calendar against what happened. A scheduled meeting may have run late; an empty evening may have contained care, travel, and household work. Use notes or time records where you have them, and label estimates honestly. A calendar alone does not prove how long an activity took.

   If you want totals, use the free 168-hour time audit calculator. Count each hour once, including sleep and weekends. You can also review just one part of your week, provided you label that smaller scope.

3. Notice one gap and its context.

   Compare planned and actual hours for each area. Ask which difference matters to you. More time in a category is not automatically a problem: unexpected care may have deserved your attention. Note a possible explanation and what evidence supports it. One week can suggest a question; it cannot establish a recurring pattern or prove a cause.

4. Decide what deserves another place.

   For each unfinished commitment, choose whether to carry it forward, change its scope, ask for help, or let it go. Carrying every task into next week can recreate a plan that already failed to fit. Check fixed obligations before adding discretionary blocks, and keep some space for things you cannot predict.

5. Choose one adjustment you can check.

   Give the change a time and a fallback. “On Wednesday I’ll keep 18:30–19:30 free for dinner with family; if work runs late, I’ll move the non-urgent admin block” is more reviewable than “have better balance.” At the next review, check whether the hour happened and whether it helped. Keep, adapt, or drop the change based on what you learn.

This is an illustrative week, not customer data or an ideal schedule. Both columns cover the same seven days and add up to 168 hours.

Work took six hours more than planned, while family and friends received four hours less. Those differences do not establish that work caused the shortfall. The useful next step is to check which commitments changed and decide whether any of them can move.

The “other time” row is not a waste category. It may include essential travel, ordinary gaps, leisure, or time that has not been recorded in detail. You choose what is worth examining.

Copy these prompts into a notebook or notes app. The text download contains the same worksheet and a blank planned-versus-actual table. Use your browser’s Print command to print this guide or save it as a PDF.

How is a weekly review different from a time audit?

A time audit records and compares where the hours went. A weekly review uses that information, alongside commitments and priorities, to decide what happens next. You can review a week without counting every hour. Use the audit when you need a clearer picture of a gap.

What if I did not track my time?

Start with what you know. Check appointments and notes, estimate broad categories, and mark uncertainty. If the estimate feels too vague to act on, record just the relevant part of next week and revisit it. Do not fill missing time with invented precision.

What if the week was unusual?

Label the reason, such as travel, a deadline, or caring for someone. Review what you learned, but avoid treating an exceptional week as your normal capacity. Compare another week before deciding there is a repeated pattern.

Do I need to review on Sunday?

No. Use the moment that fits your commitments. If your work or care schedule does not follow Monday to Sunday, choose another consistent seven-day window. Compare the same window in your plan and your observations.