GTD is more than a to-do list. The Horizons of Focus give your daily actions meaning by connecting them to what actually matters in your life. In this tutorial, you will build out all six horizons in Capture GTD, starting from the top and working down.

By the end, you will have a purpose statement, guiding principles, long-term visions, concrete goals, and areas of focus — a complete strategic layer that turns your projects and actions into purposeful work.

The six horizons at a glance

Before you start creating anything, here is the model you are building:

Horizon	Name	Time frame	Example
H5	Purpose & Principles	Lifetime	”Empower people through technology”
H4	Visions	3-5 years	”Become a recognized engineering leader”
H3	Goals	1-2 years	”Get promoted to senior engineer”
H2	Areas of Focus	Ongoing	Health, Career, Finances
H1	Projects	Weeks to months	”Launch team knowledge base”
Ground	Actions	Now	”Draft outline for knowledge base”

Each horizon informs the ones below it. Purpose shapes visions. Visions drive goals. Goals generate projects. Projects produce actions. When everything connects, you can look at any action on your list and trace it up to a reason that matters.

For a deeper look at the theory, see the Horizons of Focus explanation.

Prerequisites

You need a Capture GTD account. If you have not set one up yet, complete the Getting Started tutorial first.

Step 1: Open the Horizons screen

Navigate to the Horizons screen from the main navigation. You will see four sections stacked vertically:

• Purpose — your life mission statement
• Principles — core values that guide decisions
• Visions — 3-5 year aspirations
• Goals — 1-2 year outcomes

All four sections support inline editing, so you can work through them without leaving the screen.

Step 2: Define your purpose (H5)

Your purpose statement captures the fundamental contribution you want to make during your lifetime. It rarely changes. Keep it under 500 characters and make it specific enough to be useful as a decision filter.

1. In the Purpose section, click the edit area.
2. Type your purpose statement. Here are examples to spark your thinking:
   • “To help others achieve their full potential through education and mentorship”
   • “To build technology that makes complex things simple”
   • “To create a healthy, secure life for my family while contributing to my community”
3. Save the statement.

Do not overthink this. A good-enough purpose statement you can refine later is better than a perfect one you never write. The goal is to have something written down that you can test decisions against: “Does this commitment align with my purpose?”

Step 3: Add your guiding principles (H5)

Principles are the non-negotiable values and standards that guide your behavior regardless of circumstances. When two commitments conflict, principles provide the tiebreaker.

1. In the Principles section, click the add button.
2. Enter a principle. Be specific — a principle should be clear enough to act on. For example:
   • “Integrity - Always do what is right, even when no one is watching”
   • “Health first - Physical and mental health are prerequisites for everything else”
   • “Continuous learning - Dedicate time every week to growing my skills”
   • “Family presence - Be fully present during family time, no screens”
3. Repeat for each principle. Most people have 5-10.

You can update or delete principles at any time by editing them inline. Each principle must be unique and cannot be blank.

Step 4: Create your visions (H4)

Visions describe what success looks like 3-5 years from now. They are qualitative pictures of the future, not measurable targets (that is what goals are for).

1. In the Visions section, click the button to create a new vision.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description. Walk through the major dimensions of your life:

   Career: “Become a recognized expert in my field”

   • Description: “Be known for deep expertise, speak at industry conferences, mentor the next generation of engineers”

   Financial: “Achieve financial independence”

   • Description: “Have enough passive income to cover all living expenses”

   Health: “Peak physical fitness”

   • Description: “Maintain the energy and strength to keep up with my kids and pursue outdoor adventures”

   Personal growth: “Travel the world”

   • Description: “Visit all 7 continents before age 50”

3. Create 3-5 visions. More than that and you dilute your focus.

As you achieve visions over time, you can mark them as completed. This gives you a record of long-term accomplishments, and you can always reopen a vision if circumstances change.

Step 5: Set your goals (H3)

Goals are concrete, achievable outcomes within a 1-2 year timeframe. Unlike visions, goals have a clear finish line — you either achieve them or you do not.

1. In the Goals section, click the button to create a new goal.

2. For each vision, ask: “What do I need to accomplish in the next year to move toward this vision?” Create goals accordingly:

   Vision: “Become a recognized expert” might produce:

   • “Speak at 2 industry conferences” — Description: “Submit CFPs and deliver talks on distributed systems”
   • “Complete AWS Solutions Architect certification”

   Vision: “Achieve financial independence” might produce:

   • “Max out retirement contributions”
   • “Build 3-month emergency fund”

   Vision: “Peak physical fitness” might produce:

   • “Run a marathon” — Description: “Complete a full 26.2 mile marathon”
   • “Establish consistent gym routine”

3. Aim for 2-3 goals per vision. If a goal does not clearly connect to a vision, ask whether it belongs.

When you complete a goal, mark it as completed. You can reopen it later if needed.

Step 6: Define your areas of focus (H2)

Areas of focus are the key domains of your life that require ongoing attention. Unlike goals, they never complete — they are spheres of responsibility you maintain indefinitely.

1. From the main navigation, go to the area where you manage areas of focus.

2. Create areas that represent the major domains of your life:

   • Health — physical fitness, nutrition, sleep, mental health
   • Career — professional development, job performance, industry presence
   • Finances — budgeting, investing, debt reduction
   • Family — spouse, children, parents, extended family
   • Personal Development — learning, hobbies, creativity
   • Home — maintenance, organization, living environment
   • Social — friendships, community, networking

3. Keep the list to 7-10 areas. If you have too many, you will not use them. If you have too few, important domains get neglected.

Once your areas of focus exist, you can tag any task with one or more areas during clarification. This lets you check balance during reviews: are you spending all your time on Career while Health gets nothing?

Step 7: Connect everything downward

With your higher horizons in place, the strategic layer is complete. Here is how it connects to your daily work:

Goals link to Projects. When you clarify a task as a project, you can link it to one of your goals. For example, the project “Complete leadership training” can be linked to the goal “Get promoted to senior engineer.” On the Horizons screen, you will see linked projects listed beneath each goal.

Projects produce Actions. Each project contains the next actions needed to move it forward. The project “Complete leadership training” might have actions like “Register for Q2 leadership workshop” and “Read Radical Candor.”

Actions inherit context from Areas of Focus. When you tag actions with areas of focus, your weekly and monthly reviews reveal whether your time allocation matches your stated priorities.

The result: every action on your list can be traced up through a project, to a goal, to a vision, to your purpose. When you sit down to work, you are not just checking off tasks — you are making progress on what matters most.

What to do next

Your horizons are not static. Build a review cadence to keep them current:

• Monthly: Review goals and areas of focus. Are your active projects moving you toward your goals? Are any areas being neglected?
• Quarterly: Review visions. Are your goals still the right stepping stones? Create new goals as you complete old ones.
• Annually: Review purpose and principles. Do they still resonate? Refine if needed.

Now that your strategic layer is in place, go to your inbox and start clarifying items. When you assign areas of focus and link projects to goals, you will feel the difference — every task has a reason behind it.

Ready to build a review habit? Continue to Your First Weekly Review.