Capture Syndrome

Capture syndrome describes over-reliance on "capturing everything" (notes, ideas, tasks) until inboxes swell and capture becomes avoidance. It occurs when we rely too much on capturing everything, rather than reviewing and deleting what is not needed.

This can lead to a lack of focus and a lack of progress.
To prevent capture syndrome, it's important to narrow what qualifies for capture, add lightweight metadata (verb, project, when), schedule short daily and weekly triage and delete aggressively.