How I Manage My Task List in Notion

Daily to-do lists with tightly time-blocked schedules break down the moment something unexpected lands—so the practical fix is to stop trying to “hold everything in your head” and instead run a trusted master task list built around the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. The core shift is replacing rigid day-by-day planning with a system that captures tasks as they appear, processes them into clear next actions, and then surfaces only the right work for the moment. That reduces end-of-day frustration, lowers procrastination driven by uncertainty, and frees mental space for actual focus and creativity.

Ciara Feely describes how daily lists used to create a loop of demotivation: new tasks would always appear, leaving her to move items to the next day, while the backlog served as a constant reminder of unfinished work. Procrastination also fed the cycle—when a task felt “icky,” it was often because the next step wasn’t defined. GTD’s principle that “your head is for having ideas not holding them” leads to regular brain dumps (a daily mini dump and a weekly update), which she says can quickly clear overwhelm. She recounts doing a large brain dump during a peak period of running a business while managing YouTube and a PhD; after walking, her mind felt clearer than it had in months.

The system she uses in Notion starts with capturing unprocessed items, then processing them into actionable work. Each inbox item gets a “next action,” and tasks that require multiple steps are treated as projects. When uncertainty drives avoidance, the remedy is usually to identify the next physical step that moves the item forward. She also applies the GTD 3Ds—Do, Delegate, or Delete—so items that don’t matter or can be reassigned don’t keep clogging the workflow.

Organization happens through multiple lenses. Context is the first: tasks are grouped by the type of work and where it can be done (email, phone, app/desk work, errands, home vs. office). This avoids context switching—jumping between writing and email, for example, costs time because the brain needs to reset. She also notes that multitasking tends to be inefficient, favoring batches of one context at a time.

Beyond context, she organizes by priority (high/medium/low) and by time required. “Quick tasks” under five minutes get a special view so they can be handled in a focused batch; she even uses a small time-estimation convention (e.g., two-minute tasks labeled as five minutes) to reduce underplanning. In practice, she spends about an hour (or 30 minutes on lighter days) on quick tasks, then moves to high-priority work earlier in the week, and finally works through the remaining lower-priority items when time and energy allow.

The Notion workflow is updated weekly via a structured review: she brain-dumps new top-of-mind tasks, processes unprocessed items by adding context, time, and status, checks “waiting for” items, and updates project states (paused, backlog, in progress). She also maintains a project list tied to near-term goals—especially work that must be completed before a holiday period—then uses Notion views to track what’s left, what’s done, and what needs tasks added. The result is a task list she trusts enough that her brain stops repeatedly pinging her with reminders, and she reports being on track to achieve her 12-week goals for the first time using this approach.