Most productivity advice tells you to be selective about what goes on your todo list. "Only add important tasks," they say, "or you'll get overwhelmed."
We think that's completely backward.
The Cognitive Cost of Filtering
Every time you debate whether something is "important enough" for your todo list, you're spending mental energy you don't need to spend. That small decision—should I add this or not?—is creating unnecessary cognitive load throughout your day.
What if you just added everything instead?
The "Dump Everything" Philosophy
Here's our approach: when we notice something needs to be done—no matter how small—we capture it immediately:
- Walking through the house and notice a lightbulb needs changing? "Hey Siri, remind me to change the guest room lightbulb."
- Suddenly remember you need to follow up on that email? Add it right away.
- Think of a small home improvement while in the shower? Capture it as soon as you're out.
I use the action button on both my Apple Watch and iPhone to call a shortcut called "Capture to Benji" which starts dictation and I just dictate the task that I need to do.
An alternative, and even faster way is to do "Hey Siri remind me to do X" and then run an Siri Shortcut automation a few times per day which takes all of the reminders from your inbox and transfers them to Benji.
On my Mac, I use the 
Raycast integration of Benji. My "create a todo" command is mapped to Capslock + Space to be able to quickly capture a new todo.
How Benji Makes This Possible
The key is that Benji's prioritization system prevents your list from becoming overwhelming:
- Points-based prioritization: Tasks are automatically sorted by importance, so low-priority items sink to the bottom
- Minimum point thresholds: Filter out tasks below a certain priority level so they don't clutter your view
- Project and list hiding: Hide entire projects or lists from your overview when you don't need to see them
- Tag pausing: Temporarily pause tags (like "Garage") when you're not focusing on those areas
Benji's Smart Prioritization System
Project Filter
Projects
- 💻New Landing Page
- 🛏️Renovate Bedroom
- 📱Mobile App
- 🌱Garden Redesign
Lists
- 📢Marketing
- 📝Content
- 💡Article Ideas
Tags
- 🔥Urgent
- 📊Admin
- 📞Calls
Freedom Through Complete Capture
The paradox is that by capturing everything, you actually feel less overwhelmed. Why? Because:
- Your brain stops trying to remember all those small tasks
- You trust your system to show you what's important when you need to see it
- Nothing falls through the cracks
- You can batch-process similar tasks when the time is right
Getting Started with "Dump Everything"
Ready to free your mind from the constant "should I add this?" debate?
Here's how to get started:
- Make capturing ridiculously easy (voice assistants, quick capture widgets, etc.)
- Create an automatic system for funneling captures to your task manager
- Trust the prioritization system to show you what matters now
- Regularly review and adjust priorities (but don't stress about perfect organization)
With Benji, you can finally have the peace of mind that comes from knowing everything is captured, without the stress of an overwhelming todo list.
Learn more about Todos in Benji
Organize and manage your tasks efficiently.