Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#11

Post by wjnc » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:11 PM UTC

AlwaysNewb23 wrote: post #4

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Paper notes. Either a spiral bound notebooks or spoiled prints that come out of making things like https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111275639588948846 Nothing electronic because of problems with object constancy: I am already looking at a screen and don't want to lose what I am looking at, have to navigate through lots of tabs and icons to find my note taking application, then navigate through lots of tabs and icons to g…

This is what I like to do, but I lose things in my notes sometimes.

Colored pencils might help? Plus a practice of manually copying last days open To Do’s to start fresh. I’ve done that for a while and if you finish most but not all of your daily tasks it can help get you into a groove. Getting things done made me proud, with a booklet of activities to look back on. Can’t mix notes in the same book though.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#12

Post by k310 » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:17 PM UTC

A block of post-its. Done most of the top page? Rip it off and start another.

I glued some cardboard on the back of the block. More durable.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#13

Post by mywacaday » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:30 PM UTC

For small tasks or things that pop into my head I like braintoss, it sends a mail to my inbox with the txt/pic/voicenote. I like it because I do5get sucked into my inbox. I have it setup to open on my phone with a double tap of the power button.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#14

Post by AlwaysNewb23 » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:33 PM UTC

wjnc wrote: post #11

AlwaysNewb23 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I like to do, but I lose things in my notes sometimes.

Colored pencils might help? Plus a practice of manually copying last days open To Do’s to start fresh. I’ve done that for a while and if you finish most but not all of your daily tasks it can help get you into a groove. Getting things done made me proud, with a booklet of activities to look back on. Can’t mix notes in the same book though.

"manually copying last days open To Do’s to start fresh" That's a great idea. I could see that helping a lot with consistency.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#15

Post by rendall » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:36 PM UTC

Put it in my phone as a reminder with a notification set to a more convenient time. The intrusiveness of the notification is proportional to its urgency. Usually just a silent badge. I also only use it for things that I cannot forget. If I can forget it without consequence, I do not set a reminder. Otherwise the system becomes useless.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#16

Post by a_e_k » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:37 PM UTC

For work, I keep a file called todo.org in a company-provided synced directory.

For personal stuff, I use a similar local file for longer term things and Google Keep for short term, transient things (i.e., grocery lists, packing lists and prep for travel).

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#17

Post by foxandmouse » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:39 PM UTC

I find apple reminders to be the least frictional to input tasks, it took a lot of tinkering with smart lists to get the app to work with the GTD methodology though

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#18

Post by francisofascii » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:40 PM UTC

A todo.txt file, with a line for each item. As items get turned into DevOps tasks, emails, etc., they are removed. For meeting notes I sometimes create a txt file with the filename YYYYMMDD_meeting_name.txt.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#19

Post by amphitoky » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:42 PM UTC

Not entirely related to little tasks from meetings, but when I need to remember something eg. the next morning but I'm already in bed and dont want to get up to write it down etc, I find that a quick way to remind myself is to take something nearby, for example the book on my nightstand or just a crumpled tissue or two, and throw it on the ground where I'll see/stumble over it the next morning and think "why is this here" and then remember.

Re: Ask HN: What are your 'mental hacks' to remember small tasks?

#20

Post by AlwaysNewb23 » Wed, Oct 25, 2023, 8:50 PM UTC

foxandmouse wrote: post #17

I find apple reminders to be the least frictional to input tasks, it took a lot of tinkering with smart lists to get the app to work with the GTD methodology though

I've gotten really good at ignoring notifications from the reminders app and then forgetting about them entirely until it's too late.