“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” ~ David Allen
What is the Mind Sweep and why is it important?
Although the Mind Sweep is a tool that David Allen recommends that you use to get things out of your head and into your GTD system, the truth is that it is useful whatever personal management system you use. Even if you don’t use any in particular.
The Mind Sweep is the process of capturing all the things in your life that have your attention. This way, these things go from your head to the inbox of your system, so that they can be clarified and conveniently organized later. Your head is freed and your management system improves because it contains everything that matters to you.
The Mind Sweep is something you must do when starting to implement a new organizational system. Then you should do it with some regularity, and also in certain specific situations; especially after a period in which, for whatever reason, your system has not been properly updated and you have lost some control. And, of course, when you have completely fallen off the wagon.
I am not going to fool you, it is an exercise that requires some effort and some time, but in the end you will feel that everything is under control again. To facilitate the process, David Allen suggests reviewing a list of incompletion triggers that will help you explore all aspects of your personal and professional life in a guided way.
Doing a Mind Sweep with FacileThings
At FacileThings we have built a tool that will help you perform the Mind Sweep in a guided way whenever you need it, with two important advantages:
- You can customize the list of incompletion triggers and adapt it to your reality.
- The captures made with each trigger are memorized so that you can carry out the mind sweep in several sessions and on different days (for example, throughout a week).
You can find it in the Reflect menu:
The process is very simple. Select any trigger in the list on the left, read its contents, and write down everything that comes to mind. Clicking on “Capture X items” will send the list of captures to your Inbox.
If you do not have anything pending in relation to a certain trigger, click on “Nothing to capture here”. This leaves the trigger marked with zero captured items.
Continue selecting triggers and capturing things until you can’t think of anything else to capture. If you have a lot of things pending and the process becomes burdensome, you can spread the mental sweep over several days. When you return to this option you will see the triggers you have already used marked (as long as they have not been more than 7 days).
The trigger list
We’ve preloaded the recommended incompletion trigger list in the GTD® methodology, but you can customize it your way.
You can add new triggers that are interesting to you using the “Add Trigger” button (1) and edit any triggers already created with the “Edit” button (2).
Update the description of any trigger with more meaningful words or questions that are more suggestive to you, and remove triggers that don’t make sense to you (3).
14 comments
An interesting new development - thanks Francisco and the team. I look forward to giving it a go.
An interesting new development - thanks Francisco and the team. I look forward to giving it a go.
This is MUCH BETTER than referring to my PDF (or printed) copies of the "Incompletion Trigger Lists" from GTD.
This is MUCH BETTER than referring to my PDF (or printed) copies of the "Incompletion Trigger Lists" from GTD.
I'll definitely will try it out as soon as possible, thanks a lot for this new feature!!
I'll definitely will try it out as soon as possible, thanks a lot for this new feature!!
Thank you guys! :)
Thank you guys! :)
This is dooooope! I also hate having to refer back to a printed list or second window. And because this is INTEGRAL to David Allen's system, it's a natural fit. YAY! Excited to try it!
This is dooooope! I also hate having to refer back to a printed list or second window. And because this is INTEGRAL to David Allen's system, it's a natural fit. YAY! Excited to try it!
Glad you like it, Brendan. Thanks!
Glad you like it, Brendan. Thanks!
This is very cool! A great tool that will help me capture things that get missed from time to time. Looking forward to trying it and using it in my review process.
This is very cool! A great tool that will help me capture things that get missed from time to time. Looking forward to trying it and using it in my review process.
Excellent. A very useful tool, indeed!
Is there a plan to include the Mindsweep in the "Ideas" (step 9) portion of the Weekly Review?
Is there a way for me to clear the "Total Items" count?
Excellent. A very useful tool, indeed!
Is there a plan to include the Mindsweep in the "Ideas" (step 9) portion of the Weekly Review?
Is there a way for me to clear the "Total Items" count?
Thanks Joe and Cyrus!
We don't plan to include the Mind Sweep within the Weekly Review. In principle, they are different processes that are usually done with different frequencies. Of course, you can always add that step with the Weekly Review customization options if you want to do it every week.
The counters show captures in the last 7 days, so you can remember what you've already done if you spread the Mind Sweep over multiple days. They self-clean after 7 days.
Thanks Joe and Cyrus!
We don't plan to include the Mind Sweep within the Weekly Review. In principle, they are different processes that are usually done with different frequencies. Of course, you can always add that step with the Weekly Review customization options if you want to do it every week.
The counters show captures in the last 7 days, so you can remember what you've already done if you spread the Mind Sweep over multiple days. They self-clean after 7 days.
Cool features I really like it
Cool features I really like it
Can’t wait to give this a go! New user (long time GTD practitioner) here about a week in to using facilethings. I’m really loving it, and love seeing improvements come out regularly.
Side note… what Mac XML software do you recommend using to get a summary of a project out of an export quickly and cleanly? I imagine there is a method that makes it easy but I’m not sure where to start. I ask because it would be nice to be able to do that to send updates to my clients.
Can’t wait to give this a go! New user (long time GTD practitioner) here about a week in to using facilethings. I’m really loving it, and love seeing improvements come out regularly.
Side note… what Mac XML software do you recommend using to get a summary of a project out of an export quickly and cleanly? I imagine there is a method that makes it easy but I’m not sure where to start. I ask because it would be nice to be able to do that to send updates to my clients.
Hi Josh,
Downloading data in XML format may be useful for moving data in bulk to another system in the future, but it is not a good system for extracting specific information on a regular basis.
We are working on a new feature that will allow you to generate beautiful PDF reports of projects, both summary and detailed. It will be available in a couple of months, I guess.
Thanks for your words!
Hi Josh,
Downloading data in XML format may be useful for moving data in bulk to another system in the future, but it is not a good system for extracting specific information on a regular basis.
We are working on a new feature that will allow you to generate beautiful PDF reports of projects, both summary and detailed. It will be available in a couple of months, I guess.
Thanks for your words!
exelent, high value there
exelent, high value there
Thanks David! Thanks Shady! :)
Thanks David! Thanks Shady! :)