&gt;  the idea that, if you can do something in 5 minutes or so, just do it rather than keep putting it on to do lists.<p>A small, but important part of GTD: there is a concept of a &quot;capture system&quot;. As soon as there&#x27;s something that&#x27;s a TODO or task to be done and you are working on something, put it into your capture system, be it a text file, a TODO app, etc. Process the capture system regularly, filing the items into projects (can be as simple as separate TODO lists). So here&#x27;s the key difference to what you mentioned: only now while you are filing, do you do those tasks that take 5 (or 2) minutes or less.<p>As a developer who works on my laptop most of the time, I have a global keyboard shortcut that brings up a prompt with textbox that lets me quickly something (appended to a text file) and go back to work without disrupting my flow.