digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Periodically audit your GTD® capture tools so you keep as many as you need and as few as you can get away with, since too many blur the edges of your system and too few limit flexibility. The speaker walks through her own capture points (email, text messages, the Brain Toss app, a wallet note-taker, notebooks, and index cards) and suggests checking which ones are still in use and where they are.
Key Points
- Capture is the first GTD step: capture what has your attention, and review your capture tools on a regular basis.
- Email is the speaker's primary capture tool, because it is one place she knows she will clarify and organize daily.
- Text messages are tricky: actionable texts should be captured immediately, and the speaker sometimes photographs a text and emails it so it does not get lost in the thread.
- Brain Toss, a voice-capture app recommended to her by David Allen, is her go-to tool when out and about, and the GTD Note Taker Wallet covers moments when pulling out a phone feels awkward.
- Paper capture (spiral notebook, index cards) remains useful, while Post-its are avoided because they can unstick and get lost.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Periodically check your capture buckets: know where each one is, how many you have, and whether clarifying and organizing them is seamless.
- Stop using any capture point you no longer really use, and check for old email addresses that still receive mail.
- For text messages with actionable information, capture immediately, or photograph the text and send it to your email.
- Ask people to email you when a request takes longer than about two minutes.
- Use one or two legal pads instead of scattering several around.
- Use index cards rather than Post-its for quick notes, since they are more reliable.
- The instructor's class posts appear in a private Facebook group, and the speaker set up an email notification so she does not have to check it as a separate inbox.
- Brain Toss workflow: open the app, tap the microphone, speak the item (e.g., buying a niece's birthday card), tap send, and it lands in your inbox for later clarifying.
- Clients often have legal pads scattered everywhere, which the speaker sees as a sign of fraying capture habits.
- Forgotten old email accounts can keep receiving items, so ensure all capture points are clear.
Bottom Line
A capture audit is a periodic check that keeps your inboxes and capture points few, known, and easy to process daily.
