If you’re looking to learn how to implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology in Notion, then you’re in the right place.

GETTING THINGS DONE is a personal productivity methodology that redefines how you approach your life and work

THE FUNDAMENTALS: Five clear steps that apply order to chaos.

Getting Things Done is a 5-step method to capture, triage and organize the various tasks activities in your life. GTD is a system (as opposed to a tool) that can be implemented via analog (pen and paper), dedicated apps (Omnifocus, Things 3 or Todoist) and no-code apps (Notion, Coda and Airtable). The five steps are as follows:

• Capture
• Clarify
• Organize
• Review
• Engage

While Allen is very specific about the actions and data that accompany each step, in my 19+ years of using GTD, I’ve come to believe that the two most critical parts steps are: Capture and Reflect.

Our Notion GTD template consists of the following components:

• One Master Task Table (called GTD_Tasks)
• A series of tasks (each a Page within GTD_Tasks)
• Each page having a series of Attributes (complete, flag, tags, due date, etc)
• A series of Views (to emulate perspectives)

Watch a full demonstration on the pillars and implementation of GTD in Notion:

Step 1: Capture

Now hardcore GTD fanatics will obsess about a phrase called Quick Capture. They’re referring to the amount of time it takes an idea to travel from their heads to their digital screens. And if that time exceeds 1 second, for this group of productivity fanatics (and I’m one of them) it becomes too slow.