When people start out with GTD I think they get overwhelmed because they’re expected to go from no, or unproductive organization to writing  everything down, categorizing and dealing with stuff. A method I read about on Stuff for Getting Things Done is very much like what I first did when GTD hit me.

The point of doing a mind sweep is to let everything transfer itself from your head, down onto paper, or on to the screen. On one hand, this will let you organize the most data you have, so you can create your GTD system fully, but on the other hand it also gives you clarity of thought and a warm fuzzy feeling that you’re not going to forget anything, since it’s down on paper.

I would actually recommend doing a mind sweep every now and again, say monthly, it would be the equivalent of reaching into the corners of the room when cleaning. You do take down your thoughts regularly, just as you also clean, but now and again it may prove effective to reach into the corners of your mind to get at those hidden thoughts.

In many cases in my own life I find that I am either productive or comfortable. By this I don’t mean that I have to sleep on the floor after a productive day, what I mean is that many times you need to trade your personal freedom to work productively according to GTD and other task management theories.

The reason is mostly scheduling. I have three projects and I could schedule each subtask for a day next week but I won’t. The reason for this is that if I don’t complete my schedule on a given day I’ll feel bad, and the whole project will suffer overall.

If you have projects which do not have a very strict deadline I would advise against scheduling them daily because it will cause you discomfort. Writing a to-do list for the week is fine, or doing 4 day to do list is perhaps even better, this way if you don’t complete a task you can bump it to next time.

The advantage of scheduling flexibly like this is that you can make use of your personal highs and lows. When you feel you don’t want to work just don’t, take the time to relax, and when you do feel like it, you will be able to complete twice as much.

The obvious drawback is that this method is not for those who can not discipline themselves. If you are looking for a cheap way to bump your tasks and not do anything then this is not for you, you will only get set back more.