Use a calendar instead of a todo-list because that's what the most successful people do.
There. I saved you a bit of time so now you too can go be more "most successful".
To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
51–60 of 79 posts
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#52I don't know about most people, but this works terribly for me. Motivation is huge for my happiness, so I want to do something when I'm in the mood for it. This means I do keep a list of the things I need to get done, so whenever I've got free time, I take a look at the list and see what I'm most in the mood to do. Of course, this is the real world -- sometimes something has a firm deadline so you have no choice (so…
"Master, what is the way to be disciplined in the Tao?"
"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep!"
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#53I create todo lists because I forget what I wanted to do within minutes, or even seconds. Having a todo list at hand to write these things down means I don't lose them, even if I don't look at them again for weeks or months. Not sure where you'd put this on a Calendar.
Are you overworked or super stressed? You should not forget things this easily - I was the same in the first half of the year, and it was due to almost unbearable stress.
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#54> SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DON’T MAKE TO-DO LISTS. Request for disproof: Any successful people here make to-do lists?
My method is this:
- make a todo list
- give each item a cost to get it done or level of effort 0.5 - 4 hours
- find out how much actual time I have
- budget out that time to each item in 0.5 hour increments
- optionally make a schedule
Got me through college x 3.
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#55"When you schedule things, you are forced to deal with the fact that there are only so many hours in a week. You’re forced to make choices rather than add something to a never ending to-do list that only becomes a source of anxiety." Great observation. I get the feeling scheduling is something that MBAs are taught, where "time is the restriction" . What about JIT scheduling? In my view, adding dates to every task is…
Oh, wow, JITing TODO lists, this is why I love Hacker News
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#56The greatest insight I had when it comes to time management came from a surprising source. I had played around a bit with Pomodoro for my typical intellectual tasks (research, programming etc.) with no real success.
Then on a summer weekend my sister asked me to help her renovate her apartment, specifically I was tasked with the removal of all the wallpapers. I said sure, give me the key and I'll get going over the weekend and actually dropped by Friday after work...by chance I had my Pomodoro timer in my work backpack. I looked around and came to the conclusion that I had absolutely no idea how long it would take me to tear everything down. So I guessed how much I could do in 25 minutes, set the timer (25 minutes) and went to work. I got less done than expected and I suppose you could say I started a Bayesian process of sorts updating my priors but most importantly I realized that knowing how much time something roughly takes is extremely valuable in scheduling work.
I went on to calculate roughly how many tomatoes it would take to get each room done and since there wasn't much time left on the Friday figured I could get one of the tiny ones done. It worked, the estimation was fairly accurate and I actually caught myself trying to beat my estimates. On Saturday I had a great plan and a firm goal (get the living room and one extra room done). I eventually settled in on 2 tomatoes followed by a 15 minute break. Worked great.
tl;dr: Ever since that I get more done whenever I know how long it'll roughly take. That means exploring is very valuable. For new tasks I estimate in tomatoes, draw a circle for each and get going. When it takes longer I add squares and once the task is done I update my mental image of how long it'll take in the future.
Whenever I don't know how long something might take I tend to procrastinate a lot until I force myself to timebox it. I think most interesting tasks tend to fall in this category.
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#57My personal experience is 100% in line with this, and it's beyond me why none of the major todo list apps feature drag & drop calendar integration.
I'm reluctantly using Things, and the closest thing it has is due dates and "hide this task until that date". Surely, it wouldn't be that hard to implement a daily planner view that brings up your day's calendar in the right pane, a list of upcoming tasks in the left one, and lets you drag them across ?
I feel orphaned ever since Google acqui-hired then shut down the only app that really nailed this workflow : Timeful. Its AI-based autoscheduling was only a bonus, the UI was marvelous. See https://gmail.googleblog.com/2015/05/time-is-on-your-sidewel... or for some background info: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/08...
Parts of Timeful have been added to the Google Calendar app but it's lacking, and nowhere near as close to a complete, magical and satisfying system as Timeful was.
More than a year later, I'm still desperately looking for good alternatives. "Plan" (https://getplan.co/) looks promising but not quite polished enough, and "Skedpal" seems overkill.
Anyone else in this situation ?
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#58"I’ve helped thousands of people — from NFL Coaches and Four Star Generals to best-selling authors and hedge fund managers — feel less busy and get more done. I get asked for advice on improving productivity so much so that I’ve packaged most of it into an online seminar that I call Insanely More Productive." Why is an advertisement for a $59 online seminar on the front page of HN? Nice title aside, I'm flagging this…
If you look past the ad, the author's main point is a great piece of advice. A task takes time, so if you're going to do it you should schedule it. It's easy to put something on a todo list because you're not committing to doing it; you're just putting it on a list which causes anxiety.
When you look past the ad, there's yet another pitch at the bottom and it's not along piece.
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#59My personal experience is 100% in line with this, and it's beyond me why none of the major todo list apps feature drag & drop calendar integration. I'm reluctantly using Things, and the closest thing it has is due dates and "hide this task until that date". Surely, it wouldn't be that hard to implement a daily planner view that brings up your day's calendar in the right pane, a list of upcoming tasks in the left one,…
IQTELL.com has 'virtual calendars'. Anything with a due date appears on the calendar automatically. Unfortunately you can't sync these calendars with any other app. Alternatively you can also add an action to an actual calendar manually.
Yes, I have been looking for a split pane drag and drop solution too. No dice. Regardless, IQTELL is so powerful though that no matter when I find an elegant solution, it falls short in other areas anyway.
Re: To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done
#60My personal experience is 100% in line with this, and it's beyond me why none of the major todo list apps feature drag & drop calendar integration. I'm reluctantly using Things, and the closest thing it has is due dates and "hide this task until that date". Surely, it wouldn't be that hard to implement a daily planner view that brings up your day's calendar in the right pane, a list of upcoming tasks in the left one,…
Agreed! I've looked for alternatives but they all miss the mark. I was considering building my own but haven't found the time.