The 3-Layer System — Capture, Decide, Do

The entire system, on a napkin:

• Capture — when a task, idea, or commitment enters your life, write it down. Anywhere;
• Decide — once a day, go through what you captured. Sort or drop;
• Do — work through 3-5 items in your peak attention windows.

Why Three Separate Layers

Because they're three different jobs that don't mix well.

Capture is fast and judgment-free. You write everything down. No filtering, no second-guessing. The whole point is to get it out of your head before you forget. Tool: anything that's always with you. Apple Notes, Todoist inbox, a paper card, a voice memo. Anything you can write to in 5 seconds.

Decide is slow and judgment-heavy. Once a day, ideally morning, you go through what you captured. For each item — what is this, does it matter, when will it happen, or should I drop it? Each item gets sorted into one of three buckets:

• Do today — 3-5 items maximum;
• Calendar for later — specific date, or "this week";
• Delete — most captured items belong here. You captured fast; now decide ruthlessly.

Do is execution. You don't decide again — you work through your 3-5 items. You use your peak attention windows (Chapter 4 of Section 1) for the hard ones.

The Failure Mode

People try to decide while capturing — they hesitate, they lose ideas, they tell themselves "this isn't worth writing down" and then forget the one that was.

People try to capture while doing — a thought arrives during deep work, they break focus to "just quickly handle it", and 40 minutes are gone.

Separation is the whole trick. Capture fast. Decide once. Execute focused.

This works on paper. It works in Notion. It works in your head once it becomes habit. Don't overthink the tool — pick whatever's already on your phone.