Getting Things Done
The goal is a clear head: every commitment captured in a system more trustworthy than memory, so the mind stops rehearsing open loops at 2 a.m. The costly failure this skill prevents is the half-adopted system - lists that exist but aren't trusted, so the user runs both the lists and the mental inventory, and gets the overhead of both with the relief of neither. Trust comes from one thing: the weekly review. A GTD setup without it decays into another abandoned app within 3 weeks.
Inputs to collect
- Current tools: where tasks, calendar, and notes live today. Default: keep the user's existing tools - GTD is tool-agnostic, and a tool migration on day one doubles the failure risk.
- Open commitments: work, personal, waiting-on-others. Gathered in Step 1, not asked up front.
- Contexts that fit their life (@calls, @computer, @errands, @home, @agenda-boss). Default: those five; label the guess.
- A weekly review slot: a recurring 60-90 minute block. Non-negotiable - get a day and time on the calendar before finishing setup.
Operating procedure
The five steps run in order because each consumes the output of the last: clarify processes what capture collected; organize files what clarify decided.
Step 1: Capture
Collect everything with the user's attention on it into one inbox - no judging, no organizing yet. Sweep with a trigger list: projects promised to others, projects others owe you, emails needing replies, calls to make, errands, home maintenance, health appointments, finances, people to reconnect with, ideas parked in your head. Keep prompting "what else is taking up space? Keep going" until two prompts in a row return nothing. A first full capture typically yields 50-150 items; a list of 15 means the sweep stopped early.
Step 2: Clarify
Process each inbox item, one at a time, top to bottom, with one question: is it actionable?
- No → trash it, file it as reference, or park it on Someday/Maybe.
- Yes → determine the very next physical action.
- Takes under 2 minutes → do it now; tracking it costs more than doing it.
- Someone else should do it → delegate, and log it on Waiting For with who and since when.
- Otherwise → defer it to Next Actions or the Calendar.
Any outcome requiring more than one action is a project. The project goes on the Projects list; only its next action goes on an action list.
Next-action phrasing rules - an action must start with a physical verb and be executable with no further thinking:
Bad: "Dentist." "Q3 planning." "Mom's birthday."
Good: "Call Dr. Reyes' office at 555-0142 to book a cleaning." "Draft the three Q3 options in a doc and send to Ana for reaction." "Order the blue teapot from the saved cart before Friday."
The bad versions are topics - each forces a re-decision about what "doing it" means every time it's read, which is exactly the fatigue the system exists to remove.
Step 3: Organize
Sort clarified items into exactly these lists:
- Next Actions - concrete actions grouped by context (@calls, @computer, @errands).
- Projects - every multi-step outcome, each with a defined "done" and at least one next action on an action list.
- Waiting For - delegated items: what, who, since when.
- Calendar - only items that must happen at a specific day/time. The calendar is sacred territory: no "should do Tuesday" wishes, because one ignored calendar entry teaches the user to ignore all of them.
- Someday/Maybe - not now, revisited weekly.
Step 4: Reflect - the weekly review
The anchor of the whole system, 60-90 minutes, same slot every week: empty every inbox to zero; review the calendar two weeks back (loose ends) and two weeks ahead (prep needed); walk the full Projects list and confirm every project has a live next action - any project without one gets one on the spot; nudge stalled Waiting For items; scan Someday/Maybe for anything to activate or delete. Use the checklist below. For a deeper standalone treatment of this ritual, pair with weekly-review.
Step 5: Engage
Choose work by four filters, in order: context (what can be done here), time available (what fits before the next commitment), energy (match hard tasks to sharp hours), priority. Working from the lists - not from memory or the loudest ping - is the payoff of Steps 1-4.
Worked artifact: filled weekly review checklist
WEEKLY REVIEW - Fri 3:00-4:15pm
GET CLEAR
[x] Email inbox to zero (processed 34; 5 became actions)
[x] Notes app + desk pile processed (7 items captured)
[x] Head sweep with trigger list (4 new items)
GET CURRENT
[x] Calendar -2 weeks: found un-sent follow-up to Priya → @computer action
[x] Calendar +2 weeks: passport appt Tue - added "Print confirmation" to @home
[x] Projects list (14 projects): 2 had no next action
- "Hire contractor" → "Text Luis for the referral's number"
- "Q3 offsite" → "Email venue for quote by Monday"
[x] Waiting For: invoice from Dana 12 days old → nudge sent
[x] Someday/Maybe: activated "Set up 401k rollover" → new project
GET AHEAD
[x] Top 3 outcomes next week: venue booked / draft review done / rollover started
Deliverable
Produce a complete GTD system: a processed-to-zero inbox, a Projects list where every project has a defined done-state and a live next action, context-grouped Next Actions phrased verb-first, a Waiting For list with dates, a calendar containing only hard commitments, a Someday/Maybe list, and a recurring 60-90 minute weekly review block with the checklist above.
Do NOT
- Do not put priorities or wishes on the calendar - polluting it kills its authority.
- Do not leave any project without a next action; a project with no next action is a worry, not a plan.
- Do not write topic-style actions ("Taxes") - every read of one costs a re-decision.
- Do not skip capture when overwhelmed and jump to reorganizing lists. Overwhelm is almost always uncaptured loops; return to Step 1 first.
- Do not build the system without booking the weekly review. That is the difference between a system and an app with old lists in it.
Quality bar
- Inbox at zero after processing; nothing parked "to decide later."
- Every next action starts with a physical verb and names enough detail to start without thinking.
- Every project has a done-state and a live next action; every Waiting For has a who and a since-when.
- Calendar contains only day/time-specific commitments.
- A recurring weekly review block exists on the calendar with the checklist attached.