Most weekly review advice assumes you enjoy writing, have infinite executive function, and find prose-based introspection energizing rather than draining.

If that’s not you—if journaling feels like homework and “morning pages” sounds like a threat—here’s a different approach: questions with checkboxes, not paragraphs. Divination through data collection.

This takes 10 minutes, max. You don’t need to write beautifully. You don’t need to write at all if you don’t want to. You just need to answer some diagnostic questions about where your energy went this week and where it’s going next.

The Anti-Journal Weekly Review

Set a 10-minute timer. Pull up a blank note or grab paper. Answer these questions in whatever format uses the least cognitive overhead for you: checkboxes, bullet points, single words, voice memos, whatever.

Think less creative writing, more maintenance ritual. Tending your practice so it doesn’t rot.

Section 1: Triage (2 minutes)

What actually got done this week?

List 3-5 things. Not everything, just the things that mattered or took significant energy. You need to see what consumed your resources so you can decide whether that allocation makes sense.

What didn’t get done that I thought would?

Pick 1-3 things max. The point isn’t guilt, but visibility and pattern recognition. If the same thing shows up here week after week, that’s data. Either it’s not actually important (and you can stop putting it on your list), or there’s a structural blocker you need to address.

Section 2: Diagnostics (3 minutes)

What worked well this week?

Name one thing. Just one. What ritual fired correctly? What decision preserved your energy? What boundary held? Your brain will want to skip this. Don’t let it. Identifying what worked is how you build more things that work.

What drained more energy than it should have?

One specific thing. Not “everything.” One thing. A meeting that should’ve been an email. A task you kept context-switching back to. A decision you had to remake multiple times because you didn’t systematize it.

This is where you find your automation opportunities. Recurring energy drains are showing you exactly where you need better wards and infrastructure that protects your resources automatically.

Where did I lose time to ambiguity or indecision?

Think about moments where you stalled out because you didn’t have clarity. Didn’t know what “done” looked like, or didn’t have the right information to make a call.

Each instance of decision paralysis is showing you where to build scaffolding. Templates, decision trees, pre-made choices you don’t have to remake every time. (Now is not the time to excitedly dive into another list, though!)

Section 3: Course Corrections (3 minutes)

One thing to stop doing.

What’s taking up space without providing value? What are you doing out of obligation, habit, or because you haven’t explicitly decided to quit yet?

Permission to stop doing things is underrated. Your time is finite, your energy more so. Treat them accordingly.

One thing to start doing, or do differently.

Based on this week’s diagnostics, what’s one adjustment that would reduce friction or reclaim energy?

Not ten things. One. Install it as a protocol, test it next week, see if it works. Iterate from there.

One thing I need to remember for next week.

Could be a commitment, a deadline, a pattern you noticed, or just something you want to carry forward.

Section 4: Scrying the Week Ahead (2 minutes)

What’s coming next week that will take energy?

List known commitments, deadlines, or events. You can’t plan around energy expenditure if you don’t know what’s demanding it. Read your calendar like tea leaves. What patterns do you see?

Where do I need to build in recovery time?

Look at your energy forecast. Where are the gaps? Where do you need buffer space, downtime, or low-demand blocks to recharge?

If you don’t schedule rest, you’ll hit empty and crash. Recovery isn’t optional—it’s how you recharge for the next round of spell-casting.

Is there anything I need to prep now to make next week easier?

Could be practical (lay out clothes, prep food, set up workspace). Could be mental (make a decision now so you don’t have to make it later). Could be relational (send a message, set a boundary, clarify an expectation).

Future you will thank present you for reducing decision load in advance.

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The Point Isn’t Revelatory Insight

You’re not looking for profound realizations or narrative arcs, you’re running diagnostics on your life’s operating system. Checking what’s working, what’s draining power, what needs adjustment before small glitches become major failures.

Traditional journaling asks “How do I feel about this?” This asks “What’s the data telling me?”

You don’t need to enjoy this process or treat it like self-indulgent “me time.” You just need to do it. Ten minutes a week so you’re not flying blind through your own life.

Set a recurring calendar event. Same time every week. Fridays work for a lot of people as their end-of-week retrospective before you disconnect. Sundays work for others as a threshold ritual before the week starts. I like Fridays because I can take the last few minutes of work to bundle this retrospective in with a work-related one.

Pick whatever time you’ll actually do it. Put it on your calendar like any other maintenance task. Because that’s what it is.

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Optional: Pattern Recognition Over Time

If you want to level this up (but only if it doesn’t add friction), keep your weekly reviews in one place. A single ongoing document, a folder of dated notes, whatever. I’ve used a Google Form. Your own personal record of what works and what doesn’t.

After a month or two, skim back through them. You’ll start seeing patterns. Real divination, the useful kind:

• Tasks that keep appearing in “didn’t get done” (stop putting them on your list or build proper infrastructure to handle them)
• Energy drains that recur (automate, delegate, or eliminate)
• Things that consistently work (do more of those)
• A list of stuff that got done that you can look over when you feel like you’re not making any progress

But this is optional. The core practice is just answering the questions, once a week, for 10 minutes. That alone will give you more visibility into your operating system than most people ever get.

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Want more like this? This is part of the Quick Frameworks series: practical tools for daily living that don’t require you to perform productivity or pretend that journaling doesn’t feel like work.