Method
GTD made simple, for people who gave up on GTD
Getting Things Done boils down to one idea: get every open task out of your head into a trusted system, decide the next step, and look at it once a week. For home life, keep three parts: capture everything, give tasks a day instead of many lists, and do a short weekly review. Skip the rest until you miss it.
About the name
Getting Things Done and GTD are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company. SortYourMind is inspired by the method and is not affiliated with the company.
GTD in one paragraph
David Allen described Getting Things Done in his 2001 book of the same name. The method has five steps: capture everything that has your attention, clarify what each item means and what the next action is, organise the results into lists, reflect on them regularly in a weekly review, and engage by choosing what to do now. Its central insight is that your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.
Why many people give up
Full GTD was designed with knowledge workers in mind, and it shows. People who try it at home often stall on the same things:
- Too many lists. Contexts like @home, @phone, @errands and @computer made sense when phones could not do everything. Today most tasks can be done anywhere.
- Too much processing. Clarifying every item into a perfect next action takes time a busy evening does not have.
- No dates. Classic GTD keeps the calendar for hard appointments only. At home, without a day attached, a task easily slides for weeks.
- The weekly review gets skipped. It is described as an hour or more. After a full week, that hour rarely happens.
What to keep, what to skip
| GTD element | Keep or skip | Simple version |
|---|---|---|
| Capture everything | Keep | One place for every task and worry; a brain dump to start |
| Two-minute rule | Keep | If it takes under two minutes, do it now |
| Next actions | Keep, lightly | "Call the plumber" instead of "bathroom", no more |
| Contexts (@home, @phone) | Skip | Use areas of life instead: home, paperwork, people |
| Projects list | Simplify | Only for things with several steps, like a renovation |
| Waiting for list | Keep | One list of what others owe you; see the waiting-for list |
| Someday/maybe | Keep | A park list, so ideas are safe without nagging |
| Tickler file | Replace | Give tasks a day instead |
| Weekly review | Keep, shorter | Fifteen minutes, same moment every week |
The 15-minute weekly review
- Collect (3 min)Notes, screenshots, letters, things you said you would do. Put them all in one place.
- Empty your head (3 min)Write down anything new that is on your mind.
- Look back (3 min)What got done? What did not happen? Give that a new day or let it go.
- Check waiting for (2 min)Is anyone overdue? Plan a nudge.
- Look ahead (4 min)Appointments for next week, routines on their day, three priorities.
A simple GTD set-up for home
You need fewer parts than the book suggests. A set-up that holds up for most households:
| List | What goes in | How often you look |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox | Everything new, unsorted | Daily, a few minutes |
| This week | Tasks with a day | Every day |
| Routines | Chores and admin on a rhythm | They come back by themselves |
| Waiting for | What others owe you | Weekly |
| Someday | Ideas, not now | Monthly |
When full GTD is worth it
If you run a team, juggle many projects at work or simply enjoy systems, the full method in the book is worth reading. For a household, the simple version above covers most of what GTD gives you: a clear head and the confidence that nothing is lost.
How SortYourMind does it
Inspired by GTD, without the overhead
SortYourMind takes the parts of GTD that work at home and drops the rest. You capture by saying or typing to SyMon, the app picks the theme, you give a day and a priority, and SortYourMind plans it in your free time. Waiting for reply has its own place, and a weekly MindSweep is the short review.
- Capture by voice or text, sorted into themes by itself
- A day and priority 1 to 5 instead of contexts
- Waiting for reply and a park list for later
- MindSweep once a week as the weekly review (#SortYourSunday)
Everything included, no card needed. Then you decide. Works in the browser on any device.
Questions
What are the five steps of GTD?
Capture, clarify, organise, reflect and engage. In plain words: write it down, decide what it is, put it in the right list, look at your lists every week, and choose what to do now.
Is GTD good for home life?
The core ideas are: capture everything and review weekly. The full system with contexts and many lists is often too heavy for a household. A simple version with days and a short weekly review tends to hold up better.
What is a GTD weekly review?
A fixed moment each week to collect loose ends, update your lists and look ahead. The book describes a thorough version; fifteen minutes is enough to keep a home system working.