The Productivity Show · Asian Efficiency

Why the Best Weekly Reviews Focus on Values, Not Tasks

·34 min·3 clips

Tan reveals how a date quizzed him on GTD and nailed the most crucial phase: the weekly review.

1. The Productivity Show hosts Tan (founder of Asian Efficiency) and Brooks Duncan discuss why the best weekly reviews should be organized around values and goals rather than task lists. 2. Tan is the founder of Asian Efficiency and host of the Productivity Show for over ten years; Brooks Duncan co-hosts from Canada; there are no outside guests in this episode. 3. The episode's core argument — inspired by Scott Young's article 'The Most Underrated Productivity Technique' — is that most people spend their weekly review on the 'clock' (efficient task scheduling) when they should start with the 'compass' (defining their North Star). 4. Tan recalls asking a date to name the most important phase of David Allen's Getting Things Done; she correctly said the weekly review, prompting him to note that without it, the entire GTD system 'falls apart like glue dissolving.' 5. Brooks frames the weekly review as a 'prevent bad things from happening' mechanism, noting that every time his productivity has 'gone off the rails,' it was because he had stopped doing consistent weekly reviews. 6. Both hosts note that the problem of feeling busy but unproductive gets worse as people move up in organizations, because senior roles involve less widget-cranking and more strategic thinking that doesn't produce visible checkmarks. 7. Scott Young's compass/clock distinction, referenced throughout, argues that most productivity writing focuses on efficiency (the clock) while the more fundamental question is direction (the compass) — which Oliver Burkman's '4,000 Weeks' also addresses by arguing that finishing a to-do list is unrealistic. 8. Tan explains that opening his weekly review by glancing at his goals creates a ChatGPT-like context window — every subsequent planning decision is filtered through that initial framing, producing more goal-aligned choices. 9. Brooks notes that the compass framing changed his thinking: rather than optimizing the weekly review for speed (to encourage adherence), he now sees the compass as both a filter for eliminating tasks and an additive prompt for inserting values-aligned activities. 10. Tan distinguishes goals (a destination and a route) from values (a way of being, such as 'I want to be a good parent'), arguing both can serve as compass filters, and that people without explicit goals can still use values to guide planning decisions. 11. Tan introduces his 'five rules for a perfect week': at least five hours of deep work, fewer than ten meetings per day, at least three exercise sessions (gym, padel, pickleball), no more than three social events, and at least two recovery sessions (cold plunge, sauna, long walks). 12. He notes he has run this system for a year and a half, started with three rules and added two over time, and that hitting all five parameters makes the week feel successful regardless of whether he hit his goals. 13. Brooks points out that Tan's five rules were built organically from his values rather than adopted from external advice, suggesting listeners ask themselves 'what are my rules for a perfect week?' as a standalone values-discovery exercise. 14. The hosts recommend doing the weekly review at the same day and time each week; Tan uses Sunday at 6pm, and both agree that inconsistency of timing is a primary reason people fail to sustain the practice. 15. Brooks advises that if the chosen time isn't working, the problem is the time slot rather than the practice itself, noting that David Allen's recommendation of Friday afternoon is impractical for most people who are trying to leave the office. 16. Tan recommends building a written checklist for the weekly review, starting short (to prevent the hour-long review that gets abandoned after two weeks due to delayed-gratification dynamics) and expanding it gradually. 17. Brooks references the book 'Cabin Off the Grid' by Patrick Hutchinson as an example of a knowledge worker who felt unfulfilled despite productivity, and found direction only by doing a values-clarification exercise that led him to buy a $7,500 cabin in Washington State. 18. The episode is conversational and practical, with both hosts frequently updating their own views in real time — Brooks admits the compass framing changed his outlook mid-episode, and Tan realizes he already does values-based planning without labeling it that way. 19. Listeners who already do weekly reviews but feel their planning is task-heavy or directionless, or who want a simple framework to add values-alignment to an existing GTD practice, will get the most from this episode. 20. People who have no goals or values defined and are looking for a guide to setting them from scratch will need additional resources before this episode's advice is actionable.

As heard by us

A weekly review that starts with goals or values and changes how the week gets planned.

Tan and Brooks treat the weekly review as a way to start with goals or values, then sort the week through that lens. The strongest part is how it makes a familiar productivity ritual feel more reflective without losing the practical edge.

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Why you'd press play

Plan your week through your goals, or your values if you do not have goals yet.

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