A trigger list for a mind sweep Sixty prompts, and where each answer goes.

A trigger list asks the questions your memory skips. Here is how it works in a mind sweep, a list of my own to run through, and what to do with everything that comes up.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 23 October 2026

I build Driftto, an iPhone app for getting a thought into the right app fast. A sweep is only as good as the prompts you give your head, so a trigger list is worth having on your first day of Getting Things Done. The lists I found online are Allen's own or copies of them, so I wrote mine from scratch. For the wider habit, see how to brain dump.

Getting Things Done, or GTD, is David Allen's method and a registered trademark of the David Allen Company. The method is his. The prompts below are not his list and do not follow its wording. His own trigger list is on the Getting Things Done site, and I have not copied it.

The short answer

A GTD trigger list is a set of short prompts you read during a mind sweep to jog loose what is still on your mind: open projects, people you owe a reply, bills, errands. You go prompt by prompt, write down each thing that fires, then sort the items. The list below is my own.

What a trigger list is

In GTD, the first step is to collect everything that has your attention, so your head can stop holding it. A mind sweep is the act of doing that in one sitting. The trouble is that you can't list what you've forgotten you're carrying. A blank page gets you the five loudest items and then silence.

A trigger list fixes that. Each prompt names a category of loose end: a promise, a bill, a repair, a call. Most prompts get a shrug. A few make you say "oh, that." Those are the ones that were sitting in your head the whole time. A prompt is not a task. It is a question that may produce one.

How to run a sweep with one

1. 01

   Clear a block of time

   Pick a time when nobody needs you. Silence the phone. Have somewhere to write the answers: a notes app, a sheet of paper, or a capture app.

2. 02

   Read one prompt at a time

   Pause on each for a few seconds. If something comes up, write it down in a few words and move on. Don't decide anything yet.

3. 03

   Write every item as it fires

   One line per item, however small or vague. "Call about the boiler" is enough. Don't polish and don't rank.

4. 04

   Skip prompts that give you nothing

   A prompt that doesn't fire is a prompt that doesn't apply to you today. Cross out the ones you never need and the list gets shorter each time.

5. 05

   Finish the list, then stop

   When you reach the end, ask once more what is still nagging you. Then close it. Sorting is a separate step, covered below.

My trigger list: work

Read these with your job in mind, including a business of your own. Each line is a heading with the prompts under it.

• Projects

  A launch or deadline you are carrying. Something you promised to finish and haven't started. A project waiting on someone else. A project that has stalled. An idea you meant to pitch.

• People

  Someone you owe a reply. Someone you owe an intro or a favor. A conversation you keep putting off. Feedback you need to give. A person you are waiting to hear from.

• Meetings

  Notes you never wrote up. A follow-up from last week. A meeting coming up that you haven't prepared for. A question for your next one-to-one. A recurring meeting that may not need to exist.

• Admin

  Expenses to file. Hours to submit. A tool or licence to renew. Access or passwords to sort out. An email you keep rereading. Reading or training you meant to do.

My trigger list: home

Most weekly lists run out of steam here, because home loose ends have no one to chase them. Take your time with this part.

• House

  Something broken. Something to buy for a room. A repair to book. Cleaning you've dodged. A garden or balcony job. Something to throw out or give away.

• Money

  A bill to pay or question. A subscription to cancel. Tax papers. Insurance to compare. A refund or claim still open. A money question you keep circling.

• Health appointments

  A dentist visit due. A check-up or screening due. A prescription to renew. An appointment to move. A vaccination or eye test coming up.

• Family and friends

  A birthday coming. A gift to buy. A call you owe. A plan to make with a friend. Something your partner or child asked for. A school form or club to sign up for.

• Errands

  Things to buy. A parcel to send or collect. Something to return. A car service or inspection. A passport or document to renew.

My trigger list: someday and loose ends

• Someday

  A trip you'd like to take. A course you'd like to do. A project for a spare weekend. A habit you'd like to try. Something you'd like to own. A place or event you want to see.

• Loose ends

  A promise you made in passing. Something you told yourself you'd remember. Browser tabs you keep open. Screenshots, photos or saved links you meant to deal with. A yes you gave and now regret.

That is sixty prompts. Change them. Add the ones that fit your life, such as a pet, a side business, a band or a flat you rent out, and delete the ones that never fire.

How long a sweep takes

Plan on 30 to 60 minutes for a first full sweep. It runs long because the first pass pulls out months of backlog. After that, a sweep takes 10 to 15 minutes, because most of the list is already out of your head.

Do the full list when you start, then a short sweep once a week as part of your weekly review. If a sweep drags past an hour, stop, save what you have, and finish the rest tomorrow. A tired sweep produces vague items that are hard to sort.

What to do with what comes up

A sweep gives you a pile, not a plan. Sorting is the next step in GTD, and it is short per item. For the full method, see the GTD summary. For each item, ask these in order.

1. 01

   Is it something you can act on?

   If not, it goes in one of three places: the bin, a reference folder, or a someday list. Most "someday" items from the trigger list land in the last one.

2. 02

   Is it one small step?

   If it takes about two minutes, do it now. Allen calls this the two-minute rule. A parcel label, a quick reply, a cancelled subscription.

3. 03

   Is it one step but bigger?

   Put it where you will do it. A call goes in your calls list. A work task goes in your task app. A purchase goes on the shopping list. A fixed date goes in the calendar.

4. 04

   Is it more than one step?

   Make it a project: a name for the result, and the first physical step written as its own item. "Sort out insurance" becomes a project with "get three quotes" as step one.

5. 05

   Are you waiting on someone?

   Note who and since when, and look at it again in a week. That's the whole job.

The point of sorting is that each item ends up where you will meet it at the moment you can act, not in a big inbox. That is also why people who sweep once and never sort go back to a full head within a week. For apps that suit this routine, see the best GTD apps for iPhone.

Where Driftto fits

The list works on paper, and paper is fine. If you do your sweep on an iPhone, Driftto is a good place to put the answers as they fire, and it takes a second of your attention per item.

Keep Driftto open next to the list. Each prompt that fires becomes a capture: type it or say it, then tap the app where it belongs. A work item can go to Todoist or Notion, and a home item to Apple Reminders. The sorting step is partly done by the time the sweep ends, because every item was sent where it will be done. With Send to several at once, one capture can go to more than one place.

What Driftto does not do: it holds no list of prompts, it does not sort for you, and it only writes new items. It never reads, edits or completes anything in your apps. It does not write to Things 3 or OmniFocus. It runs on iPhone only.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now. The yearly plan starts with a free week.