Weekly Routines: The Only New Year Resolution I'm Serious About
Here's why 2026 is the year of building routines.
“Most New Year resolutions fail by February. Mine won’t — because I’m only making one.”
I’ve been in the productivity circle for years. Every January, I’d commit to a list of ambitious resolutions — wake up at 5 AM, meditate daily, read 50 books, exercise five times a week. And every February, I’d quietly abandon them, ending the year as the same person who started it.
This year, I’m changing the story. Instead of a laundry list of habits, I’m committing to just one discipline: a simple weekly routine.
No elaborate templates. No complex systems. Just a consistent practice of reviewing my week — notes, projects, tasks, and schedule — and planning the next one with intention.
Why Weekly Routines Work
Daily habits are fragile. Miss one day and the guilt spiral begins. Monthly reviews feel too distant to course-correct. But weekly? Weekly is the sweet spot.
A weekly routine gives you:
Perspective — enough distance to see patterns, close enough to remember details
Control — a regular checkpoint to realign with your priorities
Momentum — small wins compound when you acknowledge them consistently
The magic isn’t in the template — it’s in the consistency.
My Simple Weekly Review Framework
I keep it intentionally minimal:
Review your schedule — What happened last week? What’s coming up?
Check your top projects — Are they moving forward or stalling?
Audit your tasks — What got done? What’s still pending? What needs to be dropped?
Capture key notes — What did you learn? What ideas emerged?
That’s it. No scoring systems. No elaborate journaling prompts. Just honest reflection and intentional planning.
The Two Apps That Make This Work
After experimenting with dozens of tools, I’ve settled on a two-app system that handles everything I need:
Tana — For Quick Capture, Notes & Projects
Tana has become my thinking space. It’s where ideas land first, where projects take shape, and where notes live. The flexibility of its node-based structure means I can capture quickly without worrying about organization — structure emerges naturally over time.
For weekly routines, Tana holds:
Project outlines and progress notes
Quick captures (ideas & daily notes) throughout the week
Reference material and ideas worth revisiting
Sunsama — For Intentional Daily Planning
If Tana is where I think, Sunsama is where I act. It’s the calm, focused planner that brings everything together.
What makes Sunsama perfect for weekly routines:
Integrations that matter — It pulls tasks from Todoist, events from Outlook, and emails from Gmail into one unified view
Daily planning ritual — The guided shutdown and planning routines build the weekly habit naturally
Realistic workload management — It helps you see when you’re overcommitting before you burn out (this means a lot, actually)
The weekly review in Sunsama feels less like a chore and more like a reset. You see what you accomplished, what rolled over, and you enter the new week with clarity instead of chaos.
If you’re looking for a planner that respects your time and integrates with the tools you already use, try Sunsama free for 14 days. It’s been a game-changer for my weekly routine.
The Real Resolution
This isn’t about productivity porn or optimizing every minute. It’s about building one sustainable practice that keeps me in control of my time, projects, and tasks.
One routine. Every week. That’s the resolution I’m actually keeping this year.
What’s your approach to weekly planning? I’d love to hear what works for you.
Thank you for reading,
Keep reading, Keep sharing and Stay Productive.