Getting Things Done (GTD) is a work-life management system created by the leading productivity expert and author David Allen. According to Allen, there are five stages we go through when we deal with our work; “We (1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do”.

1. Collect

To clear your mind, you need to gather all your tasks, projects and commitments and store them somewhere outside of your head – in a physical or digital ”inbox”.

2. Process

The next step is to process all your items in the “inbox”. Go through the items and clarify what they are and decide what needs to be done about them.

3. Organize

Organize all your tasks, projects and commitments into non-actionable or actionable items. If no action is needed at the moment, decide if it’s something you might look at later, store as a reference or get rid off. If an action is needed and takes less than 2 minutes, do it right away. If an action is needed, but takes longer than 2 minutes, you either delegate it or defer it. If it’s a multi step project, put it in a “Current Projects”-list. Put items you delegate in a “Waiting for”-list and items you defer in a “Next actions”-list.

4. Review

Review all your tasks and projects weekly, so that you see the big picture and what you should be prioritizing. Add new items to your “Inbox” and update your lists.

5. Do

Now that you have collected, processed, organized and reviewed all your commitments, it’s time to decide what to start working on