Three-Question Weekly Review
Score the week, assess consistency, and choose next week's three
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
Kagan's Friday review uses only three questions. First, he rates the week from one to five and explains why, creating a record of what produced strong or weak weeks. Second, he rates whether his behavior was consistent, especially whether teammates received a stable leadership experience. Third, he names his top three priorities for the coming week. Those priorities are then compared with his schedule so his executive assistant and chief of staff can realign time away from unrelated work. A recurring Slack prompt and Google Form make the practice visible and trackable, but the mechanism does not depend on either tool. Its simplicity is what allows the review to stick when more elaborate frameworks often disappear.
Origin
Kagan says this weekly review changed his work as a CEO and shows the recurring Friday prompt and Google Form during the interview.
Core principles
- 01Keep reflection brief enough to sustain
- 02Explain the score rather than recording a number alone
- 03Treat consistency as a leadership responsibility
- 04Let next week's priorities reshape the calendar
How to run it
- 1
Rate the week
Give the completed week a score from one to five.
Pro tip Use the same scale every week for comparability.
Watch out A number without explanation has little diagnostic value.
- 2
Explain the rating
Bullet the events and choices that made the week strong or weak.
Pro tip Short bullets are sufficient; a narrative is unnecessary.
Watch out Do not rewrite the week as a vague mood report.
- 3
Score consistency
Rate whether your behavior gave colleagues a dependable experience.
Pro tip Consider meetings where criticism lacked solutions or your tone shifted.
Watch out This is a subjective check, not a substitute for team feedback.
- 4
Choose next week's three
Name the three most important things to work on during the coming week.
Pro tip Tie them back to quarterly priorities and the singular goal.
Watch out More than three weakens the constraint.
- 5
Rebuild the calendar
Compare the priorities with scheduled time and remove or move conflicting work.
Pro tip Use a recurring Friday reminder.
In the wild
Kagan rated a week five after spending time with Ferriss, resolving Q1 planning clarity, and finishing executive compensation work. He then used the final question to select the next week's top three.
→ The review connected the causes of a strong week to future calendar choices.
Common mistakes
Building an elaborate ritual
The framework works because three prompts are easy to repeat; unnecessary tooling can reduce adherence.
Ignoring the calendar
Priorities that do not alter scheduled time remain aspirations rather than commitments.
Is it for you?
Best for
Leaders and individual contributors who want a lightweight Friday reflection that feeds directly into planning.
Not ideal for
Detailed project retrospectives requiring team-wide root-cause analysis.
From the transcript
“How was the week, one through five, and why?”
“Was I consistent this week, one through five?”
“What are my top three for next week?”
From the episode
#717: Noah Kagan — How to Launch a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend
Noah Kagan