GTD Method

After reading the book Getting Things Done by David Allen, I discovered the GTD (Getting Things Done) method. Even though I realized I was already applying some concepts without knowing it, it was after reading this book that I started to better organize my tasks and projects, bringing more clarity about where to invest my time and energy.

In this article I’ll share what I learned about the GTD method, the practical changes I implemented, and how this helped me turn the idea of this blog into reality.

What is the GTD method

GTD is a productivity system created by David Allen based on a simple premise: your mind is terrible at storing tasks, but excellent at processing information.

The core idea is to get everything out of your head and into a reliable system. When you stop using mental energy trying to remember what you need to do, you free up space to focus on what really matters: DOING.

The method is structured in five stages:

Capture — collect everything that catches your attention (ideas, tasks, commitments) into specific inboxes, without filtering or judging.

Clarify — process each captured item and decide what it means. Is it an action? Is it reference? Is it trash?

Organize — put each item in the right place in the system. Actions go into context lists, projects get their own list, references go into files.

Reflect — regularly review your system to keep everything updated and aligned with your priorities. The weekly review is the heart of this stage.

Engage — confidently choose which action to take now, based on context, available time, and energy.

What caught my attention about GTD was something very simple: knowing exactly what to do next. Before, I had huge lists of vague tasks with no clear priority, so I’d choose based on what I felt like doing. With GTD, I learned to transform “make the blog” into “register domain”, “choose the stack”, “write first post” — concrete actions I could execute. That’s how it was born.

Capture

The first stage of GTD is getting everything out of your head. Sounds simple, but the real challenge is having a system so fast and accessible that you don’t hesitate to use it.

Today I capture all tasks, whether personal or work-related, in a single list in Microsoft To Do. The choice of this tool was purely practical: I can quickly add items from my phone or computer, and that’s crucial. If the system isn’t fast, you’ll go back to keeping things in your head.

My structure is simple: I use tags in the format #[project name] to categorize. For example:

• #personal buy batteries for remote control
• #projectX refine task related to tax calculation
• #blog write section about GTD capture

Everything goes into the same inbox initially. Organization by project comes later, in the clarify and organize stages. What matters here is capturing without friction.

The biggest learning from this stage was understanding that the inbox doesn’t need to be empty all the time. It’s a buffer, a temporary place. What matters is that each captured item doesn’t keep wandering in your mind taking up mental space.

Clarify

After capturing, comes the part that requires the most discipline: processing each item and deciding what it really is.

GTD proposes a series of simple but powerful questions:

• Is this actionable?
• If yes, what’s the next concrete physical action?
• Is this part of a bigger project?
• Can I do it in less than 2 minutes? Then do it now.

I process my inbox first thing in the morning when I sit at the computer, before work hours start. Since most of my tasks I can execute on the computer or phone, I tackle the quick ones right away. In my head, the measure isn’t exactly 2 minutes, but rather what’s quick or what’s already clear in my head what needs to be done.

A real example: I capture #personal fix internet problem. In the clarify stage, I transform this into #personal call provider and request technical visit. The difference seems subtle, but it’s huge. The first is vague and makes me think “what do I need to do?”. The second is clear and actionable.

Often, when clarifying a task, I realize it needs to be broken down into multiple actions. What comes in as #blog publish GTD article unfolds into #blog review final text, #blog generate cover image, #blog commit to repository. Each becomes a separate, actionable item.

Items that aren’t actionable go into other categories:

• Reference: information that might be useful later (I use Google Keep for this, but sparingly)
• Someday/maybe: ideas that aren’t priorities now but I want to revisit
• Trash: things that lose relevance and can be discarded

The mistake I made before was leaving everything mixed in the same list, with no distinction between what was action, reference, or just noise.

Organize

With items already clarified and actions defined, it’s time to organize everything in the system in a way that makes sense for execution.

This is where I set completion dates for each task. This definition isn’t random, it’s based on what’s most important and urgent at the moment. GTD isn’t about doing everything, but about doing what really matters at the right time.

A practice I adopted that makes a big difference: I group tasks by context. For example, tasks I need to solve by leaving home I schedule to be done in a single trip. No leaving three times to solve things that could be resolved in one go. This saves time and mental energy.

In Microsoft To Do, my organization looks like this:

• Tasks with a defined date appear in “My Day” or in the date view
• Tasks organized by project #tags are grouped and easy to filter
• Tasks with the same context (like those requiring leaving home) get joint priority

The secret of this stage is creating a system you can navigate quickly. If you need to think too much to find a task or understand what to do next, the system is too complicated.

Reflect

GTD proposes the weekly review as the system’s most important ritual. It’s the moment to look at everything in progress, update what changed, clean up what no longer makes sense, and ensure you’re focusing on what really matters.

In practice, I do this in a more distributed way. During the morning inbox processing, I take the opportunity to give a general look at the next few days’ tasks. If something lost relevance or needs to be rescheduled, I adjust it right there.

On Sunday nights I do a more complete review, but usually change very little. The main goal is to make sure I didn’t miss anything in the inbox and that next week is well mapped out.

This constant reflection process helps me:

• Identify tasks that have been stalled for a long time
• Adjust priorities as context changes
• Keep the system lean, eliminating items that became noise

An important point: for me, bigger projects are those without execution clarity. They can even be quick tasks, but the lack of clarity paralyzes me a bit. To solve this, I try to fit these tasks into a block of the day when I know I’ll have more time and focus to think about them calmly.

My “someday/maybe” list isn’t very large because during reviews I end up discarding what I already see doesn’t make sense anymore. But the blog, for example, stayed on that list for a while before becoming an active project.

Trust in the system is exactly this: knowing that if something is there, it matters. And if it matters, it will appear at the right moment to be executed.

Engage

With everything captured, clarified, organized, and reviewed, it’s time to choose what to do now and execute.

Dates help me identify a productive day. If I end the day with planned tasks completed, I get that sense of accomplishment. But I work with flexibility, mainly because my day can be interrupted with more urgent tasks that require immediate attention, and that initial plan changes completely.

In some situations I reschedule tasks between days according to my energy. What matters is that the task isn’t deleted, it will be done at another time, as long as it doesn’t generate negative impact for not having been completed on the initially planned date.

The biggest gain from GTD for me is exactly here: I can focus on a task without that anxiety or thought that I’m leaving aside others that are more important or have tight deadlines. They’re already planned and will appear at the right moment. I can focus on the current task calmly and, at the right time, focus on the others.

Before GTD, I constantly doubted my choices. Was I doing the right thing now? Was there something more urgent? Was I forgetting some deadline? This constant mental friction consumed energy and hindered execution. With the system working, this anxiety practically disappeared.

Adapting to your context

GTD isn’t a perfect system that turned me into a productive robot. There are times of the day when I still procrastinate, or I’m having a bad day and simply don’t perform. The difference is that now I know exactly which task I should be doing and I’m not. And that’s okay, it’s part of being human.

The method became natural to me. I execute it often unconsciously, it’s not something I stop and think “now I’m going to apply the GTD method”. Actually, this simply became the way I organize myself.

I believe I don’t follow the method strictly as suggested by David Allen in the book, but it’s what works for me. And that’s the main point: adapt GTD to your reality.

Take from this article the points you find important to apply. Choose your preferred tools - they can be Microsoft tools, Google, Notion, or even just good old paper and pen. What matters is creating a reliable system that works for you.

If this article helped you in any way, I’m glad. And if you also have projects in the drawer waiting for the right moment, maybe it’s worth giving GTD a chance.