Now that you have your workspace set up and the time set aside, dive in with the first step: capturing.
There are a few benefits to getting everything in one place in front of you before you begin the next step, clarifying:
Capturing is more all-encompassing than simply jotting down a list off the top of your head. For your initial capturing, go through physical holders of notes and reminders, including:
If you can’t get to every spot right now, make a placeholder note (e.g. “Clean out hall closet”) and put it in your in-tray to remind you to do it later.
Gather anything that doesn’t belong where it is the way it is, and put it all into your in-tray. This includes:
By the nature of this process, you’ll end up with a lot of things that aren’t that important—that’s why you probably put them off in the first place. But you need to capture them nonetheless so that you have no open loops.
Follow these guidelines for capturing:
Capturing is a big job, and it’s easy to get tripped up along the way. There are several common capturing issues that you can avoid.
First, if an item is too big to physically fit in your in-tray, simply write a note on a piece of paper to represent it (it’s good practice to date it, too) and put that in your in-tray. If your pile of papers is too big to fit in your in-tray, make stacks around the in-tray and just be careful that it’s clear that they’re “in” and they don’t get mixed up with other documents.
Second, when you come across things that you immediately know you won’t need, trash it on the spot. However, if you have any doubt, just put it in your in-tray and rest assured that you’ll have time to assess it during the clarifying stage; clarifying requires a different mindset, and you don’t want to let yourself get caught up in that right now. For now, just focus on capturing everything as quickly as possible.
Similarly, don’t fall into a rabbit hole of purging and organizing as you go through your house, office, and other physical spaces. If you have the time to do it, then go for it, but capturing is your priority. To keep things moving, add papers to your in-tray that remind you to “purge kitchen cabinet” or “organize desk” later.
Third, if you already have certain items on lists or in organizers, simply treat them as items to be processed. You want everything in a single, uniform system, so unless your current organization fits the GTD model, you need to reorganize it.
Fourth, if you come across something that you forgot about but is fairly urgent, you can:
After sweeping through your office, home, and anywhere else you’ve stored tasks and reminders, wrack your brain for anything else that’s still pulling at your attention. Just like with the physical capturing process, capture everything—big and small, urgent and aspirational—that’s taking up any space in your brain.
Write each thought, idea, project, and reminder on a separate sheet of paper. This might seem inefficient, and you’ll probably end up with a lot of papers, but this makes the clarifying stage much easier.
Random thoughts may remind you of certain tasks, so review these lists of “Incompletion Triggers” to see if it reminds you of something you need to capture. (Shortform note: The book includes more exhaustive lists. We encourage reading the original book for a complete guide to setting up your GTD system.)
Professional Incompletion Triggers
Personal Incompletion Triggers
Most digital items should be converted to some kind of paper version and added to the in-tray: Jot down voicemails on a piece of paper and print out digital to-do lists. The exception is emails, which should stay where they are because there are probably many and you can organize them within your email server.