Ask HN: How many tasks are on your daily todo list?

I list 1 main task, 3 important others, and 5 cherry ones Since my days are very impredictable (thanks to being in support and having attention issues), that allows me to adapt to the workload and avoid straying too far from what I need to do.

Less then 5.

To be honest, few times happen so successful days, when I done 9 tasks, but this is extremely rare.

So I'm not limit my schedule, I just have 1-3 tasks strictly scheduled, and 5-10 things to do if have spare time, if something go wrong and strictly scheduled task cancelled, or if I have inspiration to do more.

Examples, what to do if something happen, I have usual todo list, what to buy in supermarket, to have store of food and consumables, like paper for 2-3 weeks. Other good things - I have large todo list of interest papers, and books to read and to try.

For my personal todo list, about 50, but a lot of them are small (send an email to X) or non-urgent (return a package, pay a bill) so I don't lose track. I don't add routine tasks like laundry/cooking/etc. In a given day i get 5-15 done. I find having more tasks really helpful because I can take a quick glance and realize i can stack chores (ie: easy to return a package if I'm grocery shopping nearby).

For my work todo-list, maybe 10, but i get 0-2 done every day. Unlike my personal tasks, I only put important (my internal definition of p0s and p1s) or aspirational tasks (learn X) and actively cut anything i realistically won't get to.

Do you think those days where you got 9 tasks done were because you were extra productive, or did you just do a better job at labeling/chunking your tasks when writing that todo list?

I think this was just very lucky day.

Sorry, I forget about details.

Sure, when I work on pure programming/engineering tasks, I have very predictable output.

But in real life, I usually have to speak with people, gather additional information; sometimes under task I mean - to meet some person and sign some agreement, or to transport some paper to some office.

And for these tasks, where involved other people and which under influence of environment, like transport congestion, very usual when you for example planning to meet somebody from 13:00 to 14:00, but in reality you are late, or others late.

Sometimes I could do optimizations, for example, try to meet somebody earlier than planned, as example, I planned 13:00..14:00, but finished early, and next meet start not on 14:00 but on 13:40, and etc.

And these days with 9 tasks, was so wonderful, most meetings finished early and other people was so pleasant to meet me without preliminary call on previous day, and all offices work when I was near, and all documents pass without delay.