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I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

al3rez.com

501–510 of 831 posts

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#501

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What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of the unholy crimes above, is that people want their system, however esoteric, to come naturally to them. I think reading docs, understanding a new system which someone else has designed, and fitting one's brain into _their_ organisational structure is the hard part. Harder than designing one's own system. It's the reason many don't stick with an off-the-shelf…

> What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of the unholy crimes above, is that people want their system, however esoteric, to come naturally to them I think this is a vocal minority. Outside of internet comment sections, most everyone I know doesn’t care that much about their todo list software. The most productive people I ever worked with all had really minimal productivity software. For one person…

So much of it is empty productivity, all prepping for the work but never actually doing it.

Like the old joke about the programmers spouse who died a virgin because every night all the programmer did was sit at the edge of the bed talking about how awesome it was going to be when they finally did it.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#502

Why do these types of blog posts always blow up on hacker news? "I tried every new zany method but our tried and true classic is what I selected!"

Because it tickles our brains with validation that others have come to the same conclusion as us. To the front page!

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#503

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Alerts are most important, that's why paper doesn't work for me. I just write everything in my calender app in my phone.

But if it's AR you can have a cute hamster run up to you and holding an urgent note. Or the hare from Alice in Wonderland. And it can just sit on your desk (virtually) and do cute things while you continue to finish what you were working on. Better than a boring annoying beeping alarm. We have not even started combining digital an real world, and the last few idea, e.g. from Meta, were devoid of anything useful, show…

this sounds like an apocalyptic amount of work to set up

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#504

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Ironically the Reminders app sucks at reminding. I use the Clock app for my todo list; it makes a pretty loud noise pretty reliably, which makes it pretty good for reminders.

Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job of a calendar app. For a todo there is no now, it is pick the best thing todo next. I need to be interupted for my dentist appointment. However I don't need to be interupted to buy milk, I need a remineer when I'm at the store anyway to also get milk. If the reminder was 'i see you are going in the direction of a store: we need milk if you have time to stop' that…

god I dunno what I'm doing wrong but Apple Calendar never tells me about shit in a timely fashion.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job of a calendar app. For a todo there is no now, it is pick the best thing todo next. I need to be interupted for my dentist appointment. However I don't need to be interupted to buy milk, I need a remineer when I'm at the store anyway to also get milk. If the reminder was 'i see you are going in the direction of a store: we need milk if you have time to stop' that…

Certain tasks have deadlines - can you really have one of those without some concept of time? Creating a calendar entry for those doesn’t make any sense to me - they are not events happening at a point in time with a given duration, but things that need to be done BEFORE said point in time.

A reminder makes no sense because while there is a deadline there isn't a must do now time. What they need is a regular review so as you go about your day it is still fresh, and maybe in a plan. Often those are things that can be done when you have a free moment as well.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#508
post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job of a calendar app. For a todo there is no now, it is pick the best thing todo next. I need to be interupted for my dentist appointment. However I don't need to be interupted to buy milk, I need a remineer when I'm at the store anyway to also get milk. If the reminder was 'i see you are going in the direction of a store: we need milk if you have time to stop' that…

> Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job of a calendar app. Ehh. The thing with a calendar "reminder" is that calendar apps assume that any such reminder is irrelevant once the time you set for the reminder goes by. They exist to remind you that some time-sensitive real-world event is starting, in time to be ready for it; but once that event has ended, you must have either done it or missed it — so eit…

A proper todo handels that by making you review everhthing - if you don't clean that water filter today you have to look at it tommorow.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#509
post #308
post #284

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You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you personally like. As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something that works well for you. But I hope that some day you internalize the fact that other people aren'…

I think the OP is far from saying what you are implying. He is not advocating for changing text editor or installing any plugins. Just recommends trying out org mode. I think is very valid. I’ve known many many people (in the order of hundreds) that use vi for editing in general but emacs for other tasks, e.g. org mode, sbcl repl, etc. I think the suggestion ist just to give org mode a try. No need to feel offended o…

To quote the OP:

I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode. It takes some time to get used to the editor and its keybindings...

He's literally recommending that everyone who doesn't use emacs should install and use a different text editor.

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