Getting Shit Done (GSD) is a pen-and-paper productivity system that replaces complex apps with a simple daily workflow of capturing tasks, prioritizing with dots, and rewriting undone items by hand.
The pen-and-paper method that gets you moving
You’ve watched YouTube videos about Notion templates and spent entire weekends setting up the “perfect” task management system. And yet, your to-do list keeps growing while your actual output stays flat.
This is the efficiency trap. The more systems we build to organize our work, the less time we spend doing the work itself. “Productivity” has become a hobby, not a result.
Bill Westerman, a UX researcher who has shaped interfaces at Adobe, Apple and Facebook, noticed this pattern in his own life. His solution? A brutally simple analog system he named Getting Shit Done (GSD). The name is deliberate. It cuts through the corporate language of “task management” and signals a shift from organizing to doing.
GSD is designed to dismantle the task of organizing so that the tasks on your list can actually get done.
What is Getting Shit Done? (GSD)
GSD is a pen-and-paper system built on three principles:
Unlike complex methodologies like David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD), GSD rejects categories, contexts and elaborate filing systems. It uses a notebook, a pen, and a handful of symbols.
The system emerged from Westerman’s frustration with digital tools. Digital lists have no physical edge. You can add 500 tasks, and they take up the same screen space as five. This creates what Westerman calls “cognitive bloat,” where your backlog becomes a graveyard of good intentions.
Paper forces limits. A page has a bottom. You can fit maybe 25 lines. This physical constraint forces you to prioritize before you even start writing.
The tools you need to get started
GSD works with any notebook and pen, but Westerman has specific preferences that reveal his philosophy.
The notebook
Westerman originally recommended the Miquelrius 6×8 inch, 300-page, grid-ruled notebook. The grid provides structure for checkboxes without rigid lines. The high page count keeps months of history in one book. The book must be bound. Loose pages allow tasks to “disappear.” A bound notebook forces you to confront undone tasks every time you flip back.
Other popular options include Field Notes for pocket portability, the Studio Neat Panobook for landscape project planning, and the standard Moleskine.
The Pen
Westerman prefers the Uni-ball Vision Elite Micro. The pen must be reliable and permanent. Writing in ink creates an immutable record. Unlike digital text you can backspace, ink requires a deliberate strikethrough. This leaves a visible history of your decisions.
The symbols that run the system
GSD uses a visual language that your brain processes faster than text. Here’s what each mark means:
The daily workflow
GSD runs on a cycle of renewal. Your list isn’t static. It flows from page to page.
Step 1: The morning dump
Start with a blank page. Write the date at the top. Then dump everything in your head onto paper. Urgent deadlines, domestic chores, random anxieties. Get it all out.
One rule: tasks must be actionable. Don’t write “Dishwasher” (a noun) or “Get healthy” (vague). Write “Call repairman for dishwasher” (a verb) or “Buy 5 healthy vegetables” (specific). This lowers the mental effort required to start.
Step 2: The review
This step separates GSD from every other system. You must flip back to yesterday’s page and scan for any box without an x or slash.
For each open item, make a choice:
Once every item is accounted for, place a large checkmark at the top of the old page. Case closed.
Why rewrite by hand? Digital systems automate this “carrying forward.” GSD forbids automation. The pain of rewriting “Call Dentist” for four days straight creates punitive friction. By day five, you’ll either make the call just to stop the pain, or cross it out because you never intended to do it anyway. This mechanism filters out low-value tasks naturally.
Step 3: The priorization
Your new list might have 20 items. That’s too many to focus on.
Scan the list and select three or four absolute must-dos. Place a heavy dot in these boxes. Now ignore everything else. You’re blind to the undotted tasks. Focus only on the dots.
As you finish dotted tasks, mark them with a check. Once all dots are done, scan again and dot 2-3 more items.
Step 4: The master list
Daily lists handle execution. The master list handles storage.
Keep a section in your notebook for long-term projects (“Learn Spanish,” “Renovate Kitchen”). Westerman suggests marking the edges of notebook pages with black marker tabs that correspond to major projects listed on your inside cover. This creates a physical search function. You can fan the notebook and instantly find all pages related to a specific project.
Why this works (The science)
GSD isn’t just intuitive. It aligns with well-documented psychological principles.
The Zeigarnik Effect: Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik found that people remember uncompleted tasks better than completed ones. Unfinished tasks create cognitive tension, a psychic itch that consumes working memory. This is why you wake at 3 AM thinking about an unsent email. Writing a task in a trusted system gives your brain permission to let go, releasing that tension.
Cognitive Offloading: A 2024 study by Van der Weel and Van der Meer using EEG data showed that handwriting activates sensorimotor networks in the brain that typing does not. Tasks written by hand are remembered better and processed more deeply than those tapped into a phone.
Decision Fatigue: A digital list of 100 items forces 100 micro-decisions (“Should I do this now?”) every time you look at it. This drains willpower. GSD’s Dot system separates planning from doing. You make the hard prioritization decisions once, in the morning, when your mental energy is highest. The rest of the day, you just follow the dots.
Implementation Intentions: Research by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer shows that vague goals (“Get healthy”) correlate poorly with success, while specific plans (“If it is Tuesday, I will buy apples”) correlate highly. GSD’s rule that each item must be actionable forces you to convert goals into concrete next steps.
How GSD compares to other systems
vs. Getting Things Done (GTD): David Allen’s GTD uses context-based lists (@calls, @computer) and requires weekly reviews. It often fails because users spend more time organizing their contexts than doing work. GSD eliminates contexts entirely. In a world where you can do almost anything from your phone, location-based lists are obsolete. GSD focuses only on temporal priority: what must happen today?
vs. The Bullet Journal: Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal shares DNA with GSD. Both use rapid logging, migration, and symbols. But Bullet Journaling has evolved into an artistic practice. Users create elaborate spreads, habit trackers, and decorative layouts. Making the list look beautiful becomes its own form of procrastination. GSD stays ugly. The notebook is a tool to be used up, not a canvas to admire.
vs. Digital Apps: Apps like Todoist and Asana allow infinite task entry. There’s no physical limit, which leads to backlogs of thousands of items that cause paralysis. Apps also automate task rollover. If you skip a task today, it quietly moves to tomorrow with no friction. GSD’s manual rewriting inflicts the necessary pain to force a real decision.
Practical tips for getting started
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There’s an old story about two woodcutters. One chops for eight hours straight. The other chops for six hours and spends two hours sharpening the axe. The second woodcutter always cuts more wood.
The morning dump and review session might feel like wasted time. But this is the sharpening. It ensures the next eight hours of work are directed at the right trees.
The painful truth is that you will never get everything done. Your big list will always be longer than your done list. Most productivity systems try to hide this behind optimization and automation. GSD forces you to stare at it.
When you cross out a task you’ve migrated for three days, realizing you’ll never do it, you’re not failing. You’re succeeding. You’re accepting that you’re a finite human with finite energy.
And in that acceptance, you find the freedom to place a dot on the one thing that matters, and simply, quietly, get it done.
Quick-Reference Card
| Step | Action | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Setup | Open notebook, date the page | Use pen, no erasing |
| 2. Capture | Brain dump today’s tasks | Be specific (verbs, not nouns) |
| 3. Review | Check yesterday’s page | Rewrite, Slash, or Kill every open box |
| 4. Prioritize | Select top 3 tasks | Dot the boxes, ignore undotted tasks |
| 5. Execute | Do Dotted tasks first | Mark with X when done |
| 6. Repeat | When Dots are done, Dot 2 more | Never do undotted tasks unless crisis |
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