The GTD method, explained
GTD, short for Getting Things Done, is a personal productivity method that David Allen described in his 2001 book of the same name. Its premise is that your head is a poor place to keep commitments: anything you are trying to remember keeps pulling at your attention until you write it down somewhere you trust and decide what to do about it. The method is a set of habits for doing exactly that, in five steps: capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage. This page explains the whole thing in plain terms, including the parts people most often get wrong. The official source is Allen's company at gettingthingsdone.com and the book itself; nothing here replaces either.
Why the method exists
Allen's observation is that the stress of work comes less from the amount of it than from open loops: commitments you have made, to yourself or to others, that exist only in your head. The mind keeps bringing them up at the wrong moments, usually when you can do nothing about them, and it is bad at bringing them up when you can. Put every open loop into an external system, decide what each one means, and look at that system often enough to trust it, and the nagging stops. Allen calls the result a mind like water. The rest of the method is the machinery for getting there.
The five steps of GTD
The steps are a sequence for handling anything that comes in, and also a diagnosis: when the system feels off, you are usually skipping one of the five.
1. Capture
Write down everything that has your attention, the moment it does: a task, a worry, an idea, a thing someone asked of you. It goes into an inbox, and the fewer inboxes you have the better (one is ideal, a physical tray plus one digital inbox is common). You do not sort, rank or decide anything at this point. The only rule is that nothing stays in your head. If you are starting from scratch, the first capture is a long one: Allen calls it the mind sweep, and the first pass takes hours rather than minutes.
2. Clarify
Take the items out of the inbox one at a time, top to bottom, and decide what each one is. The first question is whether it is actionable. If not, it is either trash, reference material to file, or a someday/maybe idea to incubate. If it is actionable, ask what the desired outcome is and what the very next physical action would be. "Sort out the car insurance" is not an action; "call the insurer and ask for a renewal quote" is. If the next action takes less than two minutes, do it now (the two-minute rule). Otherwise either delegate it and note that you are waiting for someone, or defer it to a list. Anything that needs more than one action is a project.
3. Organize
Put the results where you will see them at the right moment. Next actions go on lists grouped by context, projects on a projects list, things you have handed off on a waiting-for list, dated commitments on the calendar, and ideas you are not committing to on someday/maybe. Reference material gets filed where you can find it again. The lists are the whole system; the section below describes each one.
4. Reflect
Look at the system often enough to trust it. Day to day that means a glance at the calendar and the next-actions lists. Once a week it means the weekly review, where you empty the inbox again, bring every list up to date and make sure every project still has a next action. Reflection is what turns a pile of lists into a system you can rely on, and it is the step most people drop first.
5. Engage
Do the work, choosing from the lists rather than from memory or from whatever is loudest. Allen suggests four filters, in order: the context you are in, the time you have, the energy you have, and then priority. In practice this means opening the list for where you are (at your desk, on the phone, out running errands) and picking something you can do now.
The lists
A working GTD system is a small number of lists with clear boundaries between them. The names vary between tools; the boundaries matter more than the names.
Inbox
Raw captures that have not been clarified yet. It is a holding area, not a to-do list; the goal is to empty it regularly, and an inbox that has held the same item for two weeks has stopped being an inbox.
Next Actions
Concrete, single-step actions you could do the next time you have the right context. Phrased so that there is nothing left to decide: a verb, an object, enough detail to start. They are grouped by context rather than by project.
Projects
Any outcome that needs more than one action, from planning a holiday to fixing a leaking tap that first needs a part ordered. The list holds the outcomes; the actions live on the action lists. Every active project should have at least one next action somewhere.
Waiting For
Things you have delegated or are waiting on someone else for, with who and since when. Reviewing it weekly is how the things you handed off get chased instead of forgotten.
Someday/Maybe
Ideas and possible projects you are not committing to right now. Parking them here is what lets you keep the active lists honest without losing the idea.
Calendar
Only things that must happen on a specific day or at a specific time. Allen is strict about this: a calendar full of things you merely hope to do that day stops being trustworthy. Day-specific information (a colleague is away) also goes here.
Reference
Non-actionable material you may want again: documents, notes, project support material. It sits outside the action system so the action lists stay short.
Contexts
A context is what a next action needs before you can do it: a tool, a place or a person. The classic set is @calls, @computer, @errands, @home, @office and @agendas, the last one for things to raise the next time you talk to a particular person. Next actions are grouped by context rather than by project so that the list you open matches your situation: standing in a queue with only a phone, you open @calls and see nothing else.
The set that made sense in 2001, when a computer was a place you went to, is looser now. Many people run three or four contexts (something like @desk, @calls, @errands and @home) and that is fine. What matters is that every next action has one, and that the set is small enough that assigning one takes no thought.
The two-minute rule
While clarifying, if the next action on an item would take less than two minutes, do it right then instead of filing it. Writing it down, finding it later and picking it up again costs more than the action itself. Two minutes is a guideline: the point is that small actions never reach a list. The rule only applies during clarifying. Used all day long it turns into doing whatever is quickest, which is the opposite of choosing from the lists.
The weekly review
The weekly review is an hour, roughly, in which you bring the system back to a state you trust. Allen structures it in three phases. The checklist below follows them; the official version, which is longer, is on gettingthingsdone.com.
Get clear
Collect and process everything that has piled up.
- Gather loose papers, receipts, notes and anything else lying around into the inbox.
- Do a mind sweep: write down everything on your mind that is not yet captured.
- Process the inbox to zero, clarifying each item into an action, a project, waiting-for, someday/maybe, reference or trash.
Get current
Bring every list back to reality.
- Go through the next-actions lists: cross off what is done, add what is missing.
- Look at the past week's calendar for loose ends, and the coming weeks for things to prepare.
- Go through waiting-for: chase what is overdue, record what has come back.
- Go through every project and make sure each one has a next action on an action list.
- Review any checklists you keep (roles, routines, areas of responsibility).
Get creative
Decide what to take on and what to let go.
- Read the someday/maybe list and move anything whose time has come onto the projects list.
- Drop items that no longer interest you.
- Capture any new ideas the review shook loose.
Pick a fixed slot (Friday afternoon is the traditional one) and protect it. The most common version of a failing GTD system is one whose owner stopped doing this.
The natural planning model
For projects that feel stuck, Allen offers a five-phase way of thinking he calls the natural planning model, on the grounds that it is what you already do when you plan dinner with friends. Define the purpose and the principles (why are we doing this, what would make it a failure); picture the outcome (what does done look like); brainstorm without judging; organize the ideas into components, sequences and priorities; and identify the next actions. Most projects only need the last step. A project that keeps stalling usually needs the first two.
Where GTD usually falls apart
When GTD stops working, the cause is nearly always one of the following.
Capturing without clarifying
The inbox fills with vague notes, and reading it feels like being nagged. Capture is the easy step; the system only works if the inbox gets emptied. If it has been full for a fortnight, the problem is the clarify habit, not the tool.
Next actions that are not actions
"Taxes", "Mum's birthday", "website". Each of those is a project in disguise, and each one gets skipped on the list because doing it would first require deciding what it means. The fix is to keep clarifying until the entry starts with a verb and could be done in one sitting.
Projects with no next action
A project on the list with nothing on any action list is stalled, and you will only notice when it is late. Checking for these is the single most useful minute of the weekly review.
Skipping the weekly review
Everyone does it, and the effect is the same every time: within two or three weeks the lists no longer match reality, you stop trusting them, and your head starts keeping the real list again. The review is the maintenance the whole method depends on.
Too much structure
Priorities, energy levels, due dates on everything, a dozen contexts, tags for areas of life. Each field is a decision at capture time, and decisions at capture time are exactly what the method removes. Start with the plain lists and a handful of contexts; add a field only when you feel its absence.
Using the calendar as a wish list
Putting "write report" on Tuesday because you would like to do it then. When Tuesday goes differently, the calendar becomes a record of failures, and you stop believing the things on it that really are fixed.
Changing tools instead of habits
A new app resets the habit without changing it. If capture, clarify and the review are not happening, they will not start happening in a different app. Pick a tool that can hold the lists above and stay in it long enough for the review to become routine.
Where an assistant can take over
Two of the five steps are the ones people abandon, clarify and reflect, and both are a conversation with yourself: what is this, what is the next action, is this project still alive. That conversation is what a language model is good at having. GTD Brain is a board with the lists above built in, plus an agent that reads a raw capture and proposes the next action and context, and that walks you through the weekly review card by card. The same board can be run from an assistant you already use, such as ChatGPT or Claude; the connection guides cover the setup, and GTD with AI: the AI GTD app explains what changes when an agent does the clarifying. Capture and engage stay yours, and no software does the deciding for you.
Run GTD in a tool you already use
The method does not need any particular app. These guides set it up, list by list, in common tools, and are honest about where each one runs out.
- How I run my whole life on GTD, with ChatGPT and Claude Code on the board
- How to set up GTD in Apple Reminders (and where it runs out)
- How to set up GTD in Microsoft To Do (and what it will not do)
- How to set up GTD in Obsidian (with a board that syncs to your phone and your AI)
- How to do GTD in Notion (with a free template, and what Notion still will not do)
- How to do GTD with ChatGPT (and why the lists keep disappearing)
- How to do GTD in Gemini CLI (Markdown lists, slash commands, and where it breaks)
- How to do GTD in Telegram (and why Saved Messages stops working after a week)
Common questions
What is GTD?
GTD, short for Getting Things Done, is a personal productivity method from David Allen's 2001 book of the same name. You capture everything that has your attention into an inbox, clarify each item into a next action or a project, organize those by context, review the whole system weekly, and act from the lists instead of from memory. The aim is a head with no open loops in it.
What are the five steps of GTD?
Capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage. Capture is writing down everything that has your attention. Clarify is deciding what each item means and what its next action is. Organize is putting the result on the right list. Reflect is reviewing those lists, weekly at least. Engage is choosing what to do from the lists, by context, time available, energy and priority.
What is the two-minute rule?
If the next action on something would take less than two minutes, do it right away instead of filing it. The rule belongs to the clarify step: filing a tiny task and finding it again later costs more than doing it on the spot. Two minutes is a guideline rather than a law. The point is that small actions never pile up on a list.
What is a context in GTD?
A context is what a next action needs before you can do it: a tool, a place or a person. Typical contexts are @calls, @computer, @errands, @home, @office and @agendas, the last one for things to raise with one particular person. Next actions are grouped by context so that wherever you are, you see only what you can do there rather than the whole list.
What is a GTD weekly review, and what is on the checklist?
An hour a week in which you bring the system back to a state you trust. Get clear: gather loose notes, do a mind sweep, process the inbox to zero. Get current: go through next actions, the past and coming calendar, waiting-for and every project, making sure each project has a next action. Get creative: read someday/maybe and decide what to activate or drop.
What is the difference between a project and a next action?
A next action is the single physical step you would take next, such as calling Sam about the quote. A project is any outcome that needs more than one action to reach, such as getting the kitchen quote agreed. GTD keeps them on separate lists and checks in the weekly review that every project has a next action sitting on an action list.
Do you need an app to do GTD?
No. The method does not depend on a tool. David Allen's book describes it with paper, folders and lists, and plenty of people run it in a notebook or in the task app they already own. What matters is one inbox, next actions by context, a projects list and a weekly review. An app such as GTD Brain mainly takes over the tedious steps, clarifying and the review.
Sources
David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001; revised edition 2015), and the David Allen Company's site, gettingthingsdone.com, which publishes the official weekly review checklist and workflow map. This page summarises the method in our own words and is not a substitute for either.
Getting Things Done® and GTD® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company. GTD Brain is an independent app made by Minosin AB and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the David Allen Company.