GTD Workflow in Mindwtr

This guide shows how to implement the GTD methodology using Mindwtr's features.

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Overview

Mindwtr maps directly to GTD concepts:

GTD Concept	Mindwtr Feature
Inbox	Inbox view
Clarify	Processing wizard
Next Actions	Focus view for available actions; Contexts/Projects/Search for full inventory
Projects	Projects view
Waiting For	Waiting For view (status: waiting)
Someday/Maybe	Someday/Maybe view (status: someday)
Calendar	Calendar view (tasks with due dates)
Weekly Review	Review wizard

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Patterns

Use these patterns to keep the system light:

• Write next actions as visible physical steps: "Call insurance" beats "Handle insurance."
• Keep project support material in project notes. Do not flood Focus with future actions that cannot be done yet.
• Break large tasks into chunks or time boxes, such as "Spend 30 minutes sorting photos."
• Use contexts for tools, places, energy, and people: @phone, @errands, #focused, @Alex.
• Put delegated work in Waiting For with a follow-up date or person context.
• Keep the calendar for hard landscape: appointments, deadlines, and time-specific commitments.
• During Weekly Review, promote future project notes into real next actions when they become available.
• Choose one next action per project for a lean system, or multiple only when they are truly parallel.

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1. Capture (Inbox)

Quick Capture

• Desktop: Type in the bottom input field or use the app-focused a shortcut. o also opens add task.
• Mobile: Tap the input field on the Inbox tab
• Mind Sweep: Use guided prompts when you need to collect open loops across work, home, people, errands, and someday ideas.

Quick-Add Syntax

Capture with context immediately:

Call plumber @phone @home
Buy groceries @errands /due:saturday
Research topic #focused +WorkProject
Sort receipts /energy:low

The Rule

Capture everything. Don't filter, judge, or organize. Get it out of your head.

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2. Clarify (Processing Wizard)

Starting the Process

• Desktop: Click "Process Inbox" button
• Mobile: Tap "Process Inbox" button

The Workflow

flowchart TD
    A[Item from Inbox] --> B{Is it actionable?}
    B -->|No| C{What is it?}
    C -->|Trash| D[Delete]
    C -->|Future idea| E[Someday/Maybe]
    C -->|Reference| F[Add to notes]
    B -->|Yes| G{Less than 2 min?}
    G -->|Yes| H[Do it now → Done]
    G -->|No| I{Who should do it?}
    I -->|I'll do it| J[Add contexts → Next Actions]
    I -->|Delegate| K[Add note → Waiting For]

Decision Points

Is it actionable?

• No → Delete, move to Someday/Maybe, or add as reference
• Yes → Continue

More than one step?

• Yes → Turn the capture into a project: name it and define its next action. Add as many further actions as you need. They land back in the Inbox with the project already attached, so each gets its own clarify pass
• No → Continue as a single action

Will it take less than 2 minutes?

• Yes → Do it immediately, mark Done
• No → Continue

Who should do it?

• I'll do it → Select contexts, move to Next Actions
• Delegate → Add waiting note, move to Waiting For

Assign a project? (Optional)

• Link related tasks to a project

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3. Organize

Task Statuses

Status	Meaning	View
inbox	Not yet processed	Inbox
next	Ready to do next	Focus
waiting	Delegated/blocked	Waiting For
someday	Future/maybe	Someday/Maybe
done	Recently completed	Done
archived	Completed and filed away	Archived

Done and Archived are both closed states, but they serve different jobs:

• Done is the recent completion log. Use it for tasks you may want to see during daily or weekly review.
• Archived is filed history. Archived tasks are hidden from normal task lists, but stay available in the Archived view for search, restore, or permanent deletion. The Archived view also lists archived projects behind a Tasks | Projects switch, where they can be restored or deleted.
• Auto-Archive can move Done tasks to Archived after a set number of days. Set it to Never if you want Done to keep all completed tasks indefinitely.

Contexts and Tags

Add contexts to filter by where you can do tasks:

Location contexts (@):

• @home, @work, @errands, @anywhere
• @computer, @phone, @agendas

Tags (#):

• #focused: Deep work
• #lowenergy: Simple tasks
• #creative: Brainstorming
• #routine: Repetitive tasks

People

Use People for delegated or person-centered work. A task's assignee powers Waiting For lists, suggestions, and assigned: search; the People manager lets you keep reusable names, notes, and reference links without turning every person into a context tag. Deleting a person keeps their tasks and clears the assignee instead of deleting the work.

Create People from the Assigned to field or in Settings -> Manage -> People. Create Areas from the Area picker or Settings -> Manage -> Areas. See Areas and People for the exact paths.

Projects

Create projects for multi-step outcomes:

1. Go to Projects view
2. Add a new project with a name, and optionally pick its Area right in the create form (it defaults to the Area you are filtering by)
3. Add tasks to the project
4. (Optional) Create Sections to group tasks by phase or sub‑outcome
5. Toggle Sequential/Parallel mode:
   • Sequential: Only first task shows in Focus view
   • Parallel: All tasks show in Focus view

Deleting a project or area keeps its tasks. Mindwtr detaches that work to unassigned instead of cascading deletion.

Project Sections

Project Sections are subdivisions inside a single project. Use them when a project has natural phases, milestones, or workstreams and a flat task list would be hard to scan.

Example: Launch website can have sections such as Design, Development, and Content. These are not separate projects and not subtasks. They are organizational headings inside one project outcome.

The Project Section field on a task assigns that task to one of its project's sections. It is useful only after the task belongs to a project that has sections. For unassigned tasks, or projects without sections, leave the field blank.

Sequential projects can use a project-wide scope or a section scope. Use section scope when a project has independent phases or workstreams: Mindwtr shows the first available task in each section instead of blocking the whole project behind one task. With section scope, completing a section's last next action asks "What's the next action?" for that section, just as finishing a project's last action does for the whole project.

Due Dates and Reminders

• Set due date for deadlines
• Set start date for when to begin
• Set review date (tickler) for periodic check-ins

For tasks with a due time, set Repeat reminder to 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. For tasks with a timed start or due date, Skip reminders disables start and due reminders without removing the task from Focus or other lists.

Dates vs. Status

Mindwtr keeps task status and task dates separate. Status is the GTD state you choose, such as inbox, next, waiting, or someday. Dates control when and why a task appears; a date arriving never changes a task's status on its own.

There is one deliberate shortcut at edit time: giving an Inbox item a start date counts as clarifying it — you have decided when you can act on it — so Mindwtr moves it to next the moment you set the date, the same way starring an Inbox item does. If you pick a status in the same edit, your choice wins, and someday or waiting tasks always keep their status when you date them: a dated someday is a tickler, a dated waiting-for is a follow-up reminder.

• Start date is a defer/availability gate. A future start hides the task from Focus by default. When the date arrives, the task appears again with whatever status it already has. If the start has a specific time, Focus and Next actions keep the task hidden until that time of day too, so a task startable at 5:00 PM does not clutter the morning's list.
• Review date is a tickler. When the date arrives, Mindwtr surfaces the task where that view supports review-due items so you can reconsider it; nothing changes until you decide.
• Due date is a deadline. As it approaches or passes, Mindwtr gives the task deadline emphasis through display, reminders, and sorting pressure; status stays unchanged.

Some processing actions set status and dates together — choosing Later while processing the Inbox moves the item to next and sets a start date, and setting a start date on an Inbox item directly does the same. After that, dates only control visibility; they never change status again.

Relative Start Lead Time

Use Start lead time when the start date should stay tied to the due date. For example, a task due Friday can start two days before due, or a task due at 5:00 PM can start three hours before due. A lead time of 0 means the task starts on the due date itself, which suits recurring chores that shouldn't appear until the day they're due.

When a task has a due date and a start lead time, Mindwtr treats the offset as the source of truth. Moving the due date recalculates the start date from the same offset, and recurring tasks keep the same lead time when the next instance is generated.

Use a fixed start date instead when the work should begin on a specific calendar date regardless of when the deadline moves.

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4. Reflect (Weekly Review)

Starting the Review

• Desktop: Go to Weekly Review in sidebar
• Mobile: Tap the Review tab in the bottom bar

The Steps

1. Process Inbox

   • Clear all inbox items
   • Goal: Inbox Zero
   • Use the review's Process Inbox action to run the normal clarify workflow from inside Weekly Review

2. Review Calendar

   • Look back 2 weeks for missed follow-ups
   • Look ahead 2 weeks for preparation needs

3. Waiting For

   • Review delegated items
   • Send reminders if needed

4. Review Projects

   • Ensure each project has a next action
   • Mark completed projects as done

5. Someday/Maybe

   • Review incubated ideas
   • Activate or delete items

Best Practice

Schedule 30-90 minutes weekly, same time, same place.

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Engage

Choosing What to Work On

Use the Focus view to see:

• Today's focused tasks (starred items)
• Next Actions (context-filtered or general)
• Overdue items
• Due today

Focus is not a full inventory view. It hides future-start tasks and later tasks in sequential projects so the list reflects actions that are available now. Use Contexts, Projects, or Search when you need to inspect all next actions, including deferred or blocked items.

How Focus sorts available actions

Focus first decides whether a task is available, then sorts the visible actions:

1. Today's Focus shows tasks you explicitly focused for today. You can arrange them by hand into the order you plan to work them — drag the grip handle on desktop, or use the reorder toggle on the section header on mobile. The manual order applies while the Focus sort is at its default, syncs across devices, and a task keeps its place until it leaves Focus.
2. Today / Schedule shows available next tasks that are overdue, due today, or start today. These are ordered by the earliest due/start time, then priority when priorities are enabled, then oldest creation date.
3. Next Actions shows the remaining available next tasks. The default order is:
   • due soon first, earliest due date first (currently due within the next 30 days)
   • undated actions next
   • far-future due actions last, earliest due date first
   • within the same bucket: priority when enabled, then start time, oldest creation date, title, and id
4. Review Due shows tasks whose review date is due. After looking an item over, you can clear its review date (Mark reviewed) or push it out with Review in 1 week, on desktop from the task's quick-action menu, on mobile by long-pressing the row.

Start date is Mindwtr's defer/planned-date field. Focus and the Next actions list always hide future-start tasks until their start day; use Projects or Search when you want to peek ahead. Sequential projects also limit Focus to the first available action for that project or section, so later actions stay out of Focus until the previous step is no longer blocking them.

Time estimate and energy are Focus filters and grouping options, not default sort keys. Grouping by context, project, area, energy, or priority changes the visual groups; tasks inside those groups keep the same availability and next-action ordering.

Context Filtering

1. Go to Focus or Contexts view
2. Select a context chip (e.g., @home)
3. See only tasks for that context

Today's Focus

Star tasks as today's priorities up to your configured Focus limit:

• Desktop: Click the star icon
• Mobile: Tap the star badge

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Daily Workflow

Morning

1. Open Focus view to see today's priorities
2. Set focus tasks for the day up to your configured Focus limit
3. Start working on the first one (mark as Focus)

Throughout the Day

1. Capture new items to Inbox
2. Check context-filtered lists when switching locations
3. Mark completed tasks as Done

End of Day

1. Quick scan of Inbox (process if time)
2. Review tomorrow's calendar
3. Update any in-progress tasks

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Recurring Tasks

Set up recurring tasks from the task editor's Recurrence field. Choose daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly recurrence, then choose whether the task stays on a fixed schedule or repeats after completion.

Mindwtr keeps one active instance of a recurring task. Future occurrences are not pre-populated as real tasks; the next task appears when you complete the current one. You can turn on Show future occurrences in Calendar when you want a planning preview.

Example recurring tasks:

• Weekly: "Review project status"
• Daily: "Check email @computer"
• Monthly: "Review subscriptions"

For setup steps and option details, see Recurring Tasks.

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Tips for Success

Trust Your System

• Capture everything immediately
• Process regularly
• Don't skip weekly reviews

Keep It Simple

• Don't over-organize
• Use contexts sparingly at first
• Add complexity only when needed

Build Habits

• Same time for weekly review
• Regular inbox processing
• Consistent capture method

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See Also

• GTD Overview
• Contexts and Tags
• Weekly Review