A simple to-do system: capture, prioritise, review

A to-do list only works if you trust it. This lesson gives you a simple system: get everything out of your head, decide what matters, and check it often.

Capture: one place for everything

• GTD's first step is 'Capture': collect everything that has your attention into one place, rather than trying to hold it in your head.
• Choose one capture tool you always have with you, usually a notes or to-do app on your phone, or a small notebook.
• Capture the moment something comes up: 'reply to landlord', 'buy printer ink', 'ask tutor about reading list'. It takes seconds.
• Do a 'brain dump' now: spend 10 minutes writing down every unfinished task, worry and errand you can think of. Most people find 20 to 50 items.

Clarify and organise

• GTD's next steps are 'Clarify' (decide what each item means and whether it needs action) and 'Organise' (put it where it belongs).
• For each item ask: does it need action? If not, delete it, file it as reference, or move it to a 'maybe later' list.
• If it does need action, write the very next physical step. 'Sort out bank' is vague. 'Call bank to ask about student account fees' is a next action.
• Southampton's guide recommends breaking large priorities into small steps when using a to-do list.
• If an item has a date, put it in your calendar (lesson la-02). Your list holds tasks; your calendar holds times.

Prioritise with the urgent and important matrix

• MindTools explains Eisenhower's principle: sort tasks by whether they are important (they move you towards your goals) and urgent (they demand attention now).
• Important and urgent: do it now. Example: your visa document upload closes tomorrow.
• Important but not urgent: schedule it. Example: start your scholarship application due next month. MindTools says doing these early stops them becoming emergencies.
• Urgent but not important: delegate, batch or politely decline. Example: a group chat asking you to vote on a poster colour right now.
• Neither urgent nor important: drop it. Example: reorganising your app icons for the third time.
• Southampton's guide also recommends using the matrix and scheduling important but non-urgent work so it is not neglected.

Review and engage

• GTD calls the last steps 'Reflect' (review frequently) and 'Engage' (choose what to do and do it).
• Each morning, choose your top three tasks for the day from the list. Three is achievable on a busy university day.
• Each week, during your admin hour (lesson la-01), clear finished items, delete ones that no longer matter and pick next week's priorities.
• If a task keeps getting moved, ask why: it may be too big (break it down), unclear (rewrite it) or not actually important (delete it).