How to Run a Weekly Review in Apple Reminders
A weekly review in Apple Reminders is a 7-step Sunday ritual that processes the inbox, audits open lists, closes completed projects, and lines up the upcoming week. Ultra Reminders adds an AI-prepped review screen that does the boring sorting before you sit down, but the core ritual works in vanilla Apple Reminders too.
The weekly review is the single highest-leverage productivity move I know. It is also the first thing most people skip. Honestly, I skipped it for two years before I committed. Then I ran it for 8 weeks straight and my "did I drop something?" anxiety basically vanished. The point is not to reorganize your life. The point is to look at everything once a week so nothing rots in the corner of your system.
This guide is the exact 7-step ritual I run every Sunday at 10am. Takes about 25 minutes. Works in pure Apple Reminders. Faster in Ultra Reminders because the AI does the pre-sort.
What you'll achieve
By the end of this ritual you will have a clean inbox, a clear picture of every active project, completed projects archived, and the top 5 priorities for the upcoming week locked in. Your future self on Wednesday at 3pm will not have to wonder "what was I supposed to be doing?" because the answer is already written down. This is the GTD-style reflection step, applied specifically to Apple Reminders. For the broader system, see the GTD setup with Apple Reminders hub.
What you'll need
- Apple Reminders set up with at least an Inbox list and one or more project lists
- A smart list called "This Week" (we will set this up in step 1 if you do not have it)
- 25 uninterrupted minutes
- A coffee or whatever
- Optional: Ultra Reminders if you want AI-assisted pre-sorting
Step 1: Set up your review smart lists
If you have not already, build two smart lists in Apple Reminders that the review depends on. This setup takes 4 minutes the first time. Skip if you already have them.
- Open Apple Reminders on Mac.
- File > New Smart List.
- Name it "This Week." Set filters: due-date is within 7 days. Save.
- Repeat: New Smart List, name it "No Date." Filter: due-date is none. Save.
- Pin both to your sidebar.
Why these two? "This Week" is what you scan in step 7 to plan ahead. "No Date" is your stale items inventory, the place tasks go to die if you let them. The whole review hinges on these two views.
For more smart list patterns, 15 smart list recipes for Apple Reminders covers a dozen more. For the basics on filter syntax, how to set up smart lists in Apple Reminders.
Step 2: Process the inbox to zero
Open the Inbox list. Look at every item. For each one, do exactly one of these:
- Delete it. Most items in your inbox by Sunday are no longer relevant. Be ruthless. If you would not start it tomorrow, delete it.
- Move to a project list. If it is part of an ongoing project, drag it there.
- Schedule it. If it has a date, set the date.
- Defer it. If it is a someday-maybe item, move to a "Someday" list.
Goal: inbox is empty by the end of step 2. If your inbox has 80 items, this step might take 10 minutes the first time. After 4 weeks of ritual it takes 3 minutes because you stop letting the inbox swell.
"I avoided weekly reviews for 6 years because I thought I had to read every item carefully. Then someone told me 'you can just delete most of it' and the whole thing clicked."
paraphrased from r/gtd, January 2026
In Ultra Reminders, the AI clusters your inbox before you sit down, so you can accept whole groups (like "all the grocery items") at once. Saves about 4 minutes per week.
Step 3: Audit each project list
Open every project list one by one. For each list, scan top to bottom and ask:
- Is this project still active? If no, archive it (move to a "Completed Projects" list or delete entirely).
- Is the next action obvious? If no, add a task with the next concrete step.
- Are there stale tasks (no progress in 2 weeks)? Decide: kill, defer, or commit to doing this week.
This is the "audit" part of the review. It takes 5 to 8 minutes depending on project count. The goal is not to do the work, just to see it clearly.
Pro tip: hide completed tasks in the View menu so the list does not show 50 done items above the active 3. Apple Reminders View > Hide Completed.
For the task inbox setup that feeds this audit, the structure is one inbox + N project lists, never tasks scattered across random lists.
Step 4: Check the "No Date" smart list
Open the "No Date" smart list. These are your orphan tasks. Two questions per item:
- Should this have a date? If yes, give it one.
- Is this still relevant? If no, delete or move to Someday.
The "No Date" list is where tasks go to be invisible. You captured them, but you never told them when to surface again. Without this step, they pile up forever and your system gets heavy.
A typical Sunday review processes 15 to 30 no-date items. Most get a date. A few get deleted. A few get moved to Someday.
Step 5: Close out completed projects
Look at any project list where every task is checked. That project is done. Time to archive.
- Right-click the list in the sidebar.
- Either rename to "Archived: [project name]" and move to a Completed folder.
- Or just delete if you do not need the history.
This step matters because finished projects clutter the sidebar and slow down weekly reviews. Apple Reminders does not auto-archive. You have to do it.
In Ultra Reminders, completed projects can auto-collapse after 30 days, which mostly removes the need for this step. As of May 2026 the default threshold is 30 days but you can change it.
"The week I deleted 12 old project lists, my system suddenly felt usable again. Half of them were trips I had already taken."
paraphrased from a Mac power user thread on Hacker News, December 2025
Step 6: Cross-check Calendar against Reminders
Open Apple Calendar in another window. Look at the upcoming week. For every meeting or event, check:
- Is there a related task in Reminders? (Prep for the meeting, send agenda, etc.)
- Are there blocks of free time? (These are where deep work fits.)
- Is anything double-booked or conflicting?
Then look at this week's reminders. For every task with a due date in the next 7 days, ask:
- Is there a calendar block to actually do this? If it is more than 30 minutes of work, give it a calendar slot.
- Is this realistic given my meetings?
This step is what turns a list of tasks into a plan. Without it, you have a list. With it, you have a week. For deeper time-blocking, Apple Reminders vs Calendar tasks covers the split in detail.
Step 7: Pick top 5 for next week
Last step. Open the "This Week" smart list. From everything in it, pick exactly 5 things that MUST happen.
Not 10. Not 20. Five.
Flag them in Apple Reminders (right-click > Flag). The Flagged smart list is now your "do not drop these" list for the week.
This is the act of commitment. You are saying: if I only get 5 things done this week, these are the 5. Everything else is bonus.
Mine for this week:
- Finish the Ultra Reminders blog batch (today)
- Submit Q4 expense report (Tuesday)
- Doctor follow-up call (Wednesday)
- Renew car insurance (Thursday)
- Sister's birthday call (Saturday)
Five is the magic number. Below 5 and you are sandbagging. Above 5 and you are lying to yourself about what one human can do in a week.
Common pitfalls
- Skipping weeks. Review skipped two weeks in a row will erase the habit. If you skip, do a 10-minute mini-review the next morning rather than waiting another week.
- Trying to make the system pretty. Reorganizing list colors and icons during the review is procrastination dressed up as work. Save that for a separate session.
- Adding new tasks during the review. You will think of new things. Capture them to inbox and keep moving. Do not start working on them now.
- Reviewing too long. If your review takes more than 45 minutes, your system is over-built. Simplify. Delete some lists. Lower the bar.
- Doing it on Monday morning. Sunday is the right day because Monday morning has its own urgency. Do it Sunday at 10am or whenever your week is genuinely "off."
Verification
You will know the review worked if:
- Inbox is at 0 (or near it).
- Every project list has a clear next action.
- Calendar has at least 3 protected work blocks for next week.
- Flagged list has exactly 5 items.
- You feel a small wave of relief instead of dread when you open Reminders.
If any of those are missing, run the relevant step again before closing the laptop.
For the daily version of this ritual (much shorter), see how to plan your day in Apple Reminders.
FAQ
Q: How long should a weekly review actually take?
A: 25 minutes once you have done it 4 to 6 times. The first weekly review might take 60 minutes because there is backlog. Subsequent ones get faster as the inbox stays cleaner week to week. If yours takes longer than 45 minutes after week 6, your system is too complex.
Q: What if I miss a Sunday?
A: Run a 10-minute mini-review on Monday morning. Just process the inbox and pick the top 5. Skip the project audit and calendar cross-check. Then do the full review next Sunday. Missing one week is fine. Missing four in a row means the habit is gone and you have to restart.
Q: Do I need a separate Someday list?
A: Yes. Trying to keep everything in active project lists creates pressure to work on things that are not urgent. Someday is a parking lot. Items there should not generate guilt. Review Someday once a quarter, not weekly.
Q: Can I do the review on iPhone instead of Mac?
A: You can but it is slower. The Mac version of Apple Reminders has multi-pane views and faster keyboard navigation. iPhone works for the inbox processing step but the project audit drags. Use Mac if you have the choice.
Q: Does Ultra Reminders have a "weekly review" mode?
A: Yes. Sunday at 10am the AI clusters everything in your inbox by category and shows a single review screen with accept/edit options. Cuts the inbox-processing step from 8 minutes to about 2. The other six steps are still manual because they involve judgment calls only you can make.
Ultra Reminders solves a Sunday review that actually surfaces what fell through. Free 14-day trial at ultrareminders.com.