Runs the full Getting Things Done loop – capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage – building a trusted system of context lists, a projects list with defined next actions, and a weekly review habit.
Runs the full Getting Things Done loop - capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage - building a trusted system of context lists, a projects list with defined next actions, and a weekly review habit. Use when someone says "I'm overwhelmed and things are slipping through the cracks", "set up GTD for me", "help me do a brain dump and organize it", or "my to-do list is a mess". Do NOT use for just running the weekly review ritual itself - use weekly-review instead - or for clearing an email backlog - use inbox-zero.This is the skill's description: the text your AI reads to decide when the skill applies.
gtd-system/SKILL.md
---
name: Getting Things Done
description: Runs the full Getting Things Done loop - capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage - building a trusted system of context lists, a projects list with defined next actions, and a weekly review habit. Use when someone says "I'm overwhelmed and things are slipping through the cracks", "set up GTD for me", "help me do a brain dump and organize it", or "my to-do list is a mess". Do NOT use for just running the weekly review ritual itself - use weekly-review instead - or for clearing an email backlog - use inbox-zero.
---
# Getting Things Done
The goal is a clear head: every commitment captured in a system more trustworthy than memory, so the mind stops rehearsing open loops at 2 a.m. The costly failure this skill prevents is the half-adopted system - lists that exist but aren't trusted, so the user runs both the lists and the mental inventory, and gets the overhead of both with the relief of neither. Trust comes from one thing: the weekly review. A GTD setup without it decays into another abandoned app within 3 weeks.
## Inputs to collect
1. Current tools: where tasks, calendar, and notes live today. Default: keep the user's existing tools - GTD is tool-agnostic, and a tool migration on day one doubles the failure risk.
2. Open commitments: work, personal, waiting-on-others. Gathered in Step 1, not asked up front.
3. Contexts that fit their life (@calls, @computer, @errands, @home, @agenda-boss). Default: those five; label the guess.
4. A weekly review slot: a recurring 60-90 minute block. Non-negotiable - get a day and time on the calendar before finishing setup.
## Operating procedure
The five steps run in order because each consumes the output of the last: clarify processes what capture collected; organize files what clarify decided.
### Step 1: Capture
Collect everything with the user's attention on it into one inbox - no judging, no organizing yet. Sweep with a trigger list: projects promised to others, projects others owe you, emails needing replies, calls to make, errands, home maintenance, health appointments, finances, people to reconnect with, ideas parked in your head. Keep prompting "what else is taking up space? Keep going" until two prompts in a row return nothing. A first full capture typically yields 50-150 items; a list of 15 means the sweep stopped early.
### Step 2: ClarifyClick to play with sound.