Before you start

Spend two or three minutes gathering the week so you're not relying on memory.

  • Your calendar for the past seven days
  • The photos you took this week
  • Your journal entries, or at least their titles
  • Your to-do list, done and not done

Talk through five questions

  1. What actually happened this week? Go day by day
  2. What went well, and why?
  3. What didn't go well, and what got in the way?
  4. What do I want to carry into next week?
  5. What one or two things will I do differently?

An example review

"This week was mostly the move. Monday and Tuesday were packing, Thursday was the van. What went well was asking Leo for help early. What didn't was sleep. I was up past one most nights. Next week I want to unpack the kitchen first. And I'll stop work at six on Wednesday.".

Pick a fixed slot

Friday afternoon works if you want to close the work week. Sunday evening works if you want to plan the next one. Whichever you pick, put it in your calendar like any other appointment, so it doesn't drift.

Keep it short enough to keep doing

  • Cap it at 15 minutes. A rushed review beats a skipped one
  • Choose one or two changes, not ten
  • Start next week's review by asking whether last week's changes happened
  • Once a month, listen back to four reviews in a row

Weekly reviews in Dawn Light

Record your review as an ordinary entry and add a tag such as week. The Journal tab can show one tag at a time, so all your reviews sit together. With Plus, Your week is a weekly recap built from your own entries, a useful starting point before you talk.

Questions about the weekly review

How is a weekly review different from daily journaling?

Daily entries capture what happened. A weekly review steps back to find patterns and decide what to change. The review is easier when you have daily entries to look over.

What if my week was a mess?

That's exactly when a review helps. Keep it short, name the one thing that made it hard and choose one small change. Messy weeks are part of the record too.

Are there questions for a monthly review?

Yes. A monthly review uses longer questions and looks for patterns across several weeks.

Review your week by talking

Talk through your week and Dawn Light keeps it as a dated, tagged entry. With Plus, Your week recaps the days before you start.

Get Dawn Light free

Unlimited entries, transcripts, search and iCloud sync. For iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Works with iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and watchOS 26 or later.