The Weekly State-of-Me Email
Write a self-initiated weekly note of what worked, what didn't, and what's blocked
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
A simple, self-imposed weekly email — not a demand placed on reports — in which you summarize what you did, what worked, what didn't, and what you're stuck on, then share it upward. It creates a personal tracking record, surfaces blockers for help, and frees up synchronous meeting time.
Origin
Barrios practiced this for years; he and Lenny Rachitsky trace the idea to Lenny's own 'state of me' / weekly-update post, making the origin a shared loop between them.
Core principles
- 01The value comes from doing it yourself, not from mandating it of others
- 02A written weekly summary keeps you honest about what actually worked
- 03Surfacing blockers in writing invites help before they fester
- 04Written updates free live meeting time for higher-value discussion
How to run it
- 1
Write it yourself, weekly
Each week, write a short update covering what happened, what worked, what didn't, and anything interesting you discovered.
Pro tip Do it as a personal practice with no expectation that others reciprocate — the discipline is the point.
- 2
Include priorities and blockers
Add your next set of priorities and any blocker you need help unlocking, so the note doubles as a request for support.
Pro tip Frame blockers explicitly as 'something I need help with' so recipients know how to act.
- 3
Share it upward and selectively across
Send it to your manager/CEO and share relevant parts with your team; use it to feed and shorten your weekly 1:1s.
Pro tip Pull agenda items from the email so the live meeting skips status and goes to what's relevant.
Watch out Framing it as 'what did you get done this week' can read as controversial/surveillance; frame it as a personal update instead.
In the wild
Barrios writes a weekly update to his executive team and the CEO he reports to, covering what worked and didn't and important releases. Because the status is already written, the weekly meeting can skip those specifics and focus only on what's relevant.
→ He keeps a running record of progress, regularly receives feedback and offers of help on the emails, and reclaims synchronous meeting time.
Common mistakes
Imposing it top-down as a status demand
Framed as 'what did you get done this week?' and required of everyone, it becomes a surveillance meme people resent. Barrios does it himself with no expectation others send him theirs, which is what makes it work.
Only listing accomplishments
An update that reports what got done but omits what didn't work and what's blocked wastes the format — the blockers and failures are where help and course-correction come from.
Is it for you?
Best for
Individual contributors and leaders who want visibility, feedback, and shorter status meetings without a heavy process
Not ideal for
Cultures where a weekly written update would be perceived as micromanagement when mandated across a team
From the transcript
“I don't actually have an expectation that that that people are going to send that to me. It's something I do myself.”
“you can write like a weekly email to your boss or to your team and saying like, well, this is this is what happened this…”
“I emailed my manager. Here's what I got done. Here's my next set of priorities. And here's blockers. I need you to help.”
From the episode
How Mercado Libre built Latin America's most valuable company: 18k engineers, 30k deploys a day, and their own fleet of planes
Sebastian Barrios