How to review your to-do list at the end of the week
Use a weekly review to update the list you already have, then choose what belongs in your next daily plan.
Updated 2026-10-26
Review your to-do list before carrying unfinished work into another week. Check what you completed, whether the remaining tasks still matter and what needs to happen next. Then choose work for the coming days from that updated list.
You do not need to assign Monday's date to every unfinished item. A weekly review checks the whole collection; a daily plan chooses what you can work on during a particular day.
Open all the places where you keep tasks
Start with every active personal list, including the one you rarely open. Look at task notes and any separate place where you captured work during the week. Check your calendar for commitments that need preparation or follow-up.
The GTD Weekly Review checklist includes reviewing next actions, calendar entries and work you are waiting for. The process here uses that general review idea for a smaller personal list; it does not require you to adopt the full GTD method.
In To-Do List for Chrome, use lists, subtasks and notes to record these decisions. You could name lists "Waiting" or "Later"; these are examples you can choose, not built-in statuses.
Decide what each unfinished item needs
Read the task as if you had to start it now. Can you tell what it asks you to do? Is it still your responsibility? Has anything changed since you wrote it?
| What you find | A possible review decision |
|---|---|
| The work is already finished | Check the result, then mark the task complete. |
| The task still matters and you can act | Keep it and write a clear next action. |
| You need someone else's answer first | Note what you are waiting for and when to follow up. |
| The work no longer applies | Remove it from the active plan after checking any commitment. |
| The task is useful but has no current place | Keep it in a separate later list for another review. |
Use this table to make your own decisions, then update the entries yourself. It describes a manual review, not an automatic sorting feature.
For example, "Finish presentation" may need a smaller action such as "Draft the comparison slide." "Book room" may be waiting for a confirmed date. Those illustrative entries need different treatment even if both have sat on the list all week.
Keep the context with the task
Use a note for the detail you would otherwise have to rediscover: the file to open, the question you sent or the person whose answer you need. A task title should remain easy to scan.
For waiting work, record the dependency in plain words. A note such as "Waiting for the event date before booking" explains why the task is paused. If you need to chase the answer, write a separate action to follow up.
The extension's store listing documents task notes, deadlines and dragging tasks to reorder them. Use those controls to record your decisions manually. Record dependencies in your notes rather than assuming the extension will track them automatically.
Check deadlines before moving work forward
For each dated task, ask where the date came from. Keep an actual submission or delivery deadline tied to that commitment. If it has passed, check the next required action rather than changing it to next week and assuming the commitment moved too.
For a self-chosen work date, decide whether you still intend to use it. An old planning date alone should not make the task urgent.
Do not assume that setting a due date will trigger a notification. If you need an alert at a particular time, set it in a reminder or calendar tool you already use and check its settings.
Choose the next daily plan after the review
When the active lists reflect current work, choose a manageable set for your next workday. Consult the time already occupied by meetings or other fixed commitments before making that choice.
Keep the broader reviewed list available so that tasks outside tomorrow's plan do not disappear. The daily planning guide explains that next step. For a task that is still too vague to start, use the subtask guide.
Before closing the review, leave a next action or a waiting note on each active item. Open that updated list when you next plan a workday.