A 20-minute weekly review with AI
Use AI to look back at your week, spot what slipped and plan the next one, without it taking over your judgement. Step by step.
, 2 min read
A weekly review is one of the most useful habits there is, and one of the easiest to skip. The hard part is not the thinking. It is getting started, and remembering which questions to ask. AI is good at both.
What you need
Gather whatever you have from the past week:
- Your task list, done and not done.
- Your calendar.
- Any notes, journal entries or messages that matter.
Paste them into one chat. Most assistants can hold a full week of this comfortably within their context window. Remove anything private you do not want to share first.
Step 1: what happened (5 minutes)
Ask the model to sort the week into three lists: finished, moved forward, and stuck. Ask it to point out anything that appears in your notes but not on your task list. These are the commitments that slip through the cracks.
Step 2: what slipped and why (5 minutes)
For each stuck item, ask one question: "What is the next physical action, and what is blocking it?" Big, vague tasks stall because nobody knows what to do first. The break down a big task prompt turns them into steps small enough to start.
Here the model asks and you answer. Do not let it decide why things slipped. You know that better than it does.
Step 3: what matters next week (5 minutes)
List what is coming up and ask the model to help you pick three priorities. If you are torn between options, the decision matrix prompt lays out the trade-offs in a table.
The point is not to let AI choose. It is to have something to push back against. Disagreeing with a suggestion is often the quickest way to find out what you actually think.
Step 4: plan the first day (5 minutes)
Finish by turning Monday into a short plan with the daily plan prompt. Starting the week with a clear first task makes the rest of the plan far more likely to happen.
Use the prompt, or the skill
The weekly review prompt covers all four steps in one go. If you want the assistant to walk you through it, question by question, every week, add the weekly review skill instead.
Keep your judgement in charge
AI is a good interviewer for a weekly review: patient, consistent and never bored of the same questions. It does not know your priorities, your energy or your relationships. Use it to ask the questions and organise the answers. Keep the decisions for yourself.