How to Plan and Review Your Week With Claude and SelfManager.ai

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You can use Claude with SelfManager.ai to review your recent work, propose a realistic weekly plan, create dated task tables, and reflect on what happened. The MCP connection lets Claude work with your actual planning records, so you can turn the conversation into actions in your task manager.

The useful part is the continuity. Monday’s plan gives you something to check on Wednesday. Friday’s review gives you something to improve the following week.

This guide walks through that cycle. The prompts are original examples to adapt, rather than a diary of a tested week or a promise of particular results.

Before You Start: Connect Claude and Check Access

You need an active SelfManager plan; the seven-day trial counts. The SelfManager MCP page has the current setup steps.

In Claude’s web or desktop app, add SelfManager under Settings → Connectors using this address:

https://api.selfmanager.ai/mcp

Then sign in to SelfManager and choose the connection permissions. For an initial review, you can disable changes. Images and voice transcripts, document text, and writing in shared tables have additional permissions.

A prompt asking Claude to focus on one table is a working instruction, not a restriction on which tables the connection is authorized to read.

What the Weekly Workflow Looks Like

SelfManager organizes work by date, with tables inside each day. That gives this workflow a natural structure: choose the work, put it on specific days, and review those dated records afterward.

You do not need to use every step. If maintaining a daily list already feels like enough, begin with Monday planning and Friday review.

1. Monday: Ask for a Proposal Before Creating Tasks

Start with the previous week’s unfinished work, your existing commitments, and the time you actually have available.

Avoid giving Claude an unlimited instruction such as “make me productive this week.” Give it a decision to help you make: which few outcomes should come first?

Example prompt: Build a weekly proposal

Help me decide what to focus on from [Monday date] to [Friday date].

Read my SelfManager tables from [previous Monday] to [previous Sunday], my deadlines, and my pinned tables. Check the existing tables for the coming week too.

My available focused work time is [hours] this week. These commitments also matter: [meetings, appointments, or other constraints].

Propose three main outcomes. Separate unfinished commitments from new suggestions. Identify relevant tasks that already exist so we avoid duplicates.

Show the proposed work by date, with assumptions and anything that needs my decision. Do not create or change anything yet.

Claude can retrieve dated work, deadlines, and pinned tables through the connection. You still need to supply constraints that are missing from those records, such as meetings held in another system.

Read the proposal as a set of tradeoffs. If it contains six substantial outcomes despite a request for three, narrow it. If Tuesday is already full, remove work from Tuesday.

A smaller plan can be more useful than a comprehensive list that makes every task appear equally urgent.

Make the outcomes concrete

“Work on the website” leaves too much interpretation. “Finish the pricing-page draft for review” gives you a clearer stopping point.

A hypothetical freelancer’s week might have these outcomes:

These are illustrative commitments, not results generated from a real account.

2. Turn the Agreed Plan Into Dated Tables

Once the proposal looks realistic, give a separate instruction to create the work.

That separation gives you a useful pause between discussing possibilities and adding commitments. The instruction to wait is a conversational workflow; it does not create an additional technical approval barrier.

Example prompt: Create the approved plan

Create the daily SelfManager tables from the final plan above for [exact dates].

Use the agreed table names and task wording. Create private tables, skip tasks already present on those dates, and report any ambiguous matches before creating them.

Keep uncertain ideas in the table notes under “Possible later work.” Do not turn those ideas into tasks.

Leave existing tasks and deadlines unchanged. After creating the tables, summarize what was added on each date.

The connection supports creating dated tables with tasks and notes. This is where the planning conversation becomes work you can return to during the week.

Keep the first version simple. For many individuals, one work table per day is enough. Someone switching between clients may prefer separate tables for each engagement.

Choose the structure that makes tomorrow’s work easier to find.

3. During the Week: Turn Context Into Specific Next Actions

A plan becomes outdated when new information arrives. A client changes the scope, a meeting produces a decision, or a brief answers a question that was blocking progress.

Use Claude to examine the relevant context before expanding the task list.

With the appropriate permissions, the connection can expose document text and recording transcripts. Claude reads the transcript rather than hearing the recording. Document access through MCP supplies extracted text, so do not assume it can inspect a scanned page or a visual layout.

Example prompt: Extract follow-ups from a brief

On the SelfManager table [table name and date], read the document [document name] and the table’s current tasks.

Draft a list of remaining deliverables, open questions, and proposed next actions. For each action, identify the passage or section that supports it.

Separate explicit client requests from your suggestions. Flag anything you cannot read or verify.

Show the draft here first. Do not add tasks, set deadlines, or post comments yet.

This distinction matters when a brief mixes requirements with possibilities. “We could include a customer interview” should not automatically become a promised deliverable.

Once you approve the actions, ask Claude to add only those items to the relevant private table. You can also ask it to append a short decision summary to the table’s notes.

Appending notes is supported; rewriting existing table notes through the connector is not.

4. Wednesday: Reconsider Unfinished Work

Midweek is a useful point to ask whether the remaining plan still fits.

An unfinished task might need more time, a smaller scope, a decision from someone else, or simply a lower priority. Copying everything forward avoids making that decision.

SelfManager does not automatically roll unfinished tasks into the next day. Treat carrying work forward as an explicit choice.

Example prompt: Triage the rest of the week

Review my SelfManager tables from [Monday date] through [Wednesday date], then check the tables already planned for Thursday and Friday.

List unfinished work under four headings: finish this week, reduce the scope, waiting on something, and reconsider next week.

Use recorded priorities, deadlines, and notes as evidence. If a blocker is only a possibility, label it as a question rather than a fact.

I have [hours] of focused work remaining. Recommend a shorter plan that fits. Do not make changes yet.

After reviewing the recommendation, select the work you still intend to do.

For a selected unfinished item, you can ask Claude to create a new task on the chosen future date while leaving the original day’s record intact. Check whether a matching task already exists before adding another copy.

Make the remaining action specific. If the proposal is almost ready, “proofread the budget and send the proposal” is more useful than copying “write proposal” again.

5. Record Progress Without Inventing Time

A useful Friday review depends on an honest record during the week.

Mark work complete when it is complete. Add a short explanation when a decision or blocker matters. Record time when you know the duration.

For example, after finishing a piece of work, you might say:

I completed [exact task] on [table and date] and spent 45 minutes on it. Show me the matching task before recording that completed duration.

The MCP time-recording action completes an unfinished task with the stated duration, or updates the time on a completed task. It does not start or stop a live timer from Claude.

If work is still underway, use SelfManager’s timer in the app as appropriate. Do not ask Claude to infer your hours from a task title.

Missing time is a gap in the record. It should stay a gap until you can supply a reliable value.

6. Friday: Review the Evidence Before Drawing Conclusions

Friday’s review should help you answer three questions: what moved forward, what remains unresolved, and what you should change next week.

SelfManager has its own built-in AI Review. A review written by Claude through MCP is separate: Claude reads the available records and produces its own analysis. It cannot launch SelfManager’s native AI Review or AI Plan through the connector.

Example prompt: Write a grounded weekly review

Review my SelfManager work from [Monday date] to [Friday date].

Read the dated tables, relevant notes and comments, recorded time, and remaining deadlines. Compare the records with these planned outcomes: [paste Monday’s outcomes].

Structure the review as:

- Outcomes completed, with supporting tasks and dates.
- Work that progressed but remains unfinished.
- Blockers explicitly recorded in notes or comments.
- Recorded time by main area, with missing coverage noted.
- Three decisions for next week.

Distinguish recorded facts from interpretations. Do not treat task completion counts as a measure of effort or impact. Show the draft before saving anything.

Look for claims that sound plausible but lack evidence. “The client caused the delay” requires a recorded dependency or explanation. An open task alone does not establish the cause.

The same caution applies to time totals. Two recorded hours on administration do not establish that administration consumed most of your week if other work was not timed.

Before saving, correct missing context and remove conclusions you would not be comfortable explaining to someone else.

7. Save the Review and Bring It Into Next Week

Once the review is accurate, ask Claude to save it to SelfManager’s AI History. The connector can save its own reviews there and retrieve saved reviews later.

Example prompt: Keep the useful conclusions

Save the approved review to my SelfManager AI History with the title “Weekly review: [start date] to [end date].”

Include the three decisions for next week and the data gaps we identified. Do not create next week’s tasks yet.

At the next planning session, ask Claude to read that saved review before proposing new work.

The important comparison is between decisions and behavior. If last Friday’s decision was to protect time for the demo, did this week’s plan actually make room for it?

Use the review to adjust one or two things. Rebuilding your entire planning system every Friday creates another job to maintain.

Optional: Make the Review Checklist Repeat

If the review proves useful, you can ask Claude to propose a repeating Friday-review table, checking existing repeats first to avoid duplicates.

SelfManager routines repeat whole tables. Each scheduled day gets a fresh copy when that day is opened. A repeating checklist gives you a place to do the review; it does not automatically run a Claude conversation.

A short checklist is sufficient:

• Check completed and unfinished work.
• Review recorded time and missing context.
• Choose next week’s main adjustments.
• Save the approved review.

Keep the First Week Small

Start with one planning conversation, one midweek adjustment, and one review. You can add document-based follow-ups or a repeating checklist later if they solve a recurring problem.

The workflow fits people who want to discuss priorities in Claude while keeping dated tasks and work history in SelfManager. If you prefer to plan and review entirely inside SelfManager, its native AI tools may be the simpler route.

Also check usage as you go. MCP actions have different SelfManager credit costs: some reads and updates are free, while multi-day retrieval, searches, new content, and saved reviews can use credits. A single conversation may involve several requests.

Once you're connected, begin by asking Claude to review the previous week without making changes. That gives you a concrete starting point for deciding what deserves space in the next one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Claude plan my week using SelfManager.ai?

Yes, for accounts with MCP access. Claude can use available work records to propose a plan and, with permission to make changes, create dated tables and tasks. Review the proposal before asking it to create the work.

Does the connection automatically reschedule unfinished tasks?

No. Unfinished tasks do not roll forward automatically. Decide what still matters, then explicitly ask for selected work to be added to a future date.

Is a Claude weekly review the same as SelfManager’s AI Review?

No. Claude produces its own analysis through the MCP connection. SelfManager’s built-in AI Review runs inside SelfManager; Claude cannot launch it through MCP.

Can Claude use client briefs and voice notes?

With the relevant permissions, it can read supported documents’ extracted text and recordings’ existing transcripts. It cannot hear recordings through the connector, and some documents have no readable extracted text.

Can I use the workflow without allowing changes?

Yes. A read-only connection supports reviewing available records and discussing a proposed plan. Creating tasks or saving a review requires permission to make changes.

Does repeating a Friday checklist automate the review?

No. The checklist table repeats on its schedule. You still initiate the review in Claude or use SelfManager’s built-in review tools.