A few years ago I shared my weekly markdown template: one file per week, Typora, a simple split between tasks, notes and ideas. Here's the short version of what changed since then.
The template got simpler
After a year of running the routine, I trimmed it down to four blocks:
# Tasks
## This week
- [ ] Project | task for the week | w!
# Backlog
- [ ] Project | task | due: 2026-07-15
# Bilan
- went well:
- didn't go well:
- to improve:
# Notes
#### Meeting - Project X
- point 1
- point 2
- Task bar — what's on for the current week.
- Backlog — same idea, but every task now has a due date instead of just sitting there.
- Bilan — a short weekly review. Still the section I struggle with most, but it's the one that pays off.
- Notes — meeting points, noted as they come up.
Letting AI read my own notes
Markdown turns out to be a format AI tools handle really well. I started feeding my weekly files to Claude and asking it to analyze them — including a full pass on every weekly note from 2025.
The output was a solid, honest yearly bilan: patterns I'd missed, blockers that kept coming back. An automatic, external read on my own notes, basically for free.
I now run it on three cadences:
- Monthly — catch what I missed in the past few weeks.
- Quarterly — broader pass, used to adjust where I focus.
- Yearly — full year review, like the 2025 one above.
If you already keep weekly notes in markdown, this costs nothing to try: paste a few months in and ask for an honest summary.
Full write-up with more detail: My production markdown template — 2026 update
