I've found that the single highest leverage modification I've made to my daily schedule is decreasing the number of tasks on my todo list (which I write out each night for the proceeding day). Wondering what other people's experiences with daily todo lists have looked like.
Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
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Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#2Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#3One, today.
Never more than 4, by choice.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#4I focus on 4 or fewer categories of tasks, rather than a set number of tasks. Any more categories and I feel like I’m not focused enough.
Examples of an ideal day’s categories would be: hiring, 1:1s/meetings, leadership, and perhaps 1 significant project or problem I’m working on.
I’ve been doing a daily to do list since September 2021 and it’s funny to look back on how chaotic and disorganized those early lists were. I’ve definitely put work into simplifying my work since then. It’s something that’s so effective, I’m surprised more people don’t do it.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory
Posting just a link is lazy. Give us some context if you want to convey real meaning.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#6Last week:
mon: 6, tue: 3, wed: 4, thu: 4, fri: 4 (only did 3).
I also have a weekly TODO list with more general tasks. It contained 4.
In my experience I often cannot do more than 5 tasks a day. So I try to limit it to 5 tasks if possible.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#7Zero. I just have this list in my mind of things I want and have to do sometime.
I realize that won't work for anyone. But I have much less stress if I don't have a strict plan at all.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#8I have a running list of things to do that I may or may not get around to, but I don't want to forget. Everyday I have 2 objectives for the day to accomplish and there may be several todos associated with that. I can get max 3 done in a day, but leave space for chaos.
I can pick my objectives based on my long running list of todos or on my backlog of objectives. Really depends on what the priority is that day. That's how I set my day. It doesn't make me the most productive, but it does make me consistently productive without threat of burnout, so I settled on this.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#9Three
For 2023 I limited myself to 3 tasks per day.
There were days when I didn't get all 3 things (or any of the things) done. There were days when I achieved more. But crucially, I never committed myself to more than 3.
I never felt stressed by my todo list as it was very manageable.
Re: Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?
#10Zero. I just have this list in my mind of things I want and have to do sometime. I realize that won't work for anyone. But I have much less stress if I don't have a strict plan at all.
This is how I go about it, too. I've tried to get on the "todo list" bandwagon, but it just doesn't work for me. All it does is add more work and stress without giving any compensating benefits.