Just use fucking paper, man

I grew up taking copious handwritten notes and making pencil-to-pen sketches so I get it but sometimes markdown's just as fast for list making and edits are no-mess. The closest I've found to the two is the Boogie Board but IMHO as far as being its best self -- some temp/limited storage, levels of undo, maaaaaybe cut-n-paste? -- it's still about a microcontroller hack or addition away from awesomeness. At any rate, perhaps the headline could be dialed back to "Just use f-ing paper (for now), man"?

> I will lose it several times a day

This is me.

Skill issue notwithstanding.

I once worked for a founder who used paper lists. The guy was a billionaire in a very advanced field, but his office workflow was based on a small sheet of note paper with crossed-out tasks.

At the time, I used Wunderlist (later To-Do) for work and home lists. I also had a simple scratch pad in a text editor as well as PDAs prior to that.

I came back to paper. In the 90s, before I got a PDA, it was a small black notebook I kept in my pocket. These days I use printer paper. I start with a blank sheet on Monday, copy over the stuff from the previous week that I didn't complete, and then add new items for the week. On the right margin, I make notes of longer-term projects and invoices to send out, as well as some "home" to-dos usually relating to kids.

I find it's easier to add new items without opening up an app and navigating to the right file. I can also jot down quick notes or facts or phone numbers without having to go through clicks and keyboard shortcuts and arrow keys.

If I'm on the road, I'll use a text file on my laptop. I also still use To Do for a few personal lists (like recipes) but it's no longer part of my daily work routine.

The problem that I have with paper is refactoring.

Creating my todo list, investor update lists, company admin info, idea explorations, and everything else always involves me evolving the idea continuously and shifting things about as the structure changes.

With paper this means using an eraser until I end up with a crumpled mess, or laboriously rewriting it all over and over.

I like the tactile nature of paper, if only I could select chunks by dragging and erase (fully) without wrecking it.

This is unrealistic. If I didn't accept TODO items older than a year, or even five years, I never would have built my fence, fixed my stairs, set up my home lab, learned iOS development, digitized my family's old photos/videos, or innumerable other things, because for each of those things, I had 10 to 100 more mundane but more time-sensitive/higher-priority things to do.

You can manage long-term lists without losing items to the abyss by using prioritization techniques.