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Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

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51–60 of 62 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#52

Here are a few tips that have worked for me to achieve the desired kind of big picture awareness and mental state suitable both for flow and for strategic thinking: - keep a simple per-project todo list (I use a text file that I edit with emacs in text mode, one item per line. Delete when finished). - realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your brain disagrees with a decision you have mad…

"realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your brain disagrees with a decision you have made." Now THAT sounds like wisdom

Seconded. What an insightful way to look at it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#53

Here are a few tips that have worked for me to achieve the desired kind of big picture awareness and mental state suitable both for flow and for strategic thinking: - keep a simple per-project todo list (I use a text file that I edit with emacs in text mode, one item per line. Delete when finished). - realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your brain disagrees with a decision you have mad…

"realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your brain disagrees with a decision you have made." Now THAT sounds like wisdom

This is a great example for those skeptics who claim there is never a magic recipe for anything. Looking back at all the times that I remember procrastinating, knowing this would have moved things forward a lot faster.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#54

I started tracking my daily routine (the ones that can be quantified) and built a project around that. It's now available to everyone. The code will be open sourced in a couple of months. https://numbers.today

Awesome, I have been looking for a service like this for a few weeks. I want to use it to track code coverage and complexity metrics.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#55
I think an important rule for living and working more efficiently is not tracking everything. Tracking the unimportant things is a waste of time unless you make it super easy.

For work: it depends on the company and the team. For personal life: Google Calendar is still the best. I like creating events for things I've done. So the calendar is not only about future any more. For both: RescueTime helps me make sure I don't waste time when I'm on my computer.

Thoughts: a to-do list is not enough. Priority and the time we actually have matters more when we want to get things done.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#57
post #42

Trello + Google Calendar is a big improvement over my previous, ad-hoc system. For years, I used: - Google Calendar for timed events - Starred Messages in Gmail for things I'd need to reference - Drafts in Gmail for things that needed replies - a flat text file for misc things / things that didn't involve interation with others so didn't have emails. The main problem with that system is that it doesn't really help wi…

second that. Trello+ Google calendar brought some order the chaos my life is

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#58
post #33

I use a plain text editor of my own design. The back end is written in C#, compiles with Mono, and I have front ends written in GtkSharp and WinForms. It treats files in a directory as pages in a notebook, and it automatically tracks history of edits and autosaves every few seconds. Its primary distinguishing characteristic is that it auto-saves to two files: a plain .txt file, and a .log file containing deltas. Repl…

That sounds fantastic, you should consider releasing that in some form.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your brain disagrees with a decision you have made." Now THAT sounds like wisdom

This is a great example for those skeptics who claim there is never a magic recipe for anything. Looking back at all the times that I remember procrastinating, knowing this would have moved things forward a lot faster.

You can take this a step further and track these instances for retroactive pattern recognition and naming. Sometimes your unconscious reasons can only be named after years of subsequent life experience. Both reasons and names may be unique to you or your cohorts, which is why the all-encompassing term 'procrastination' is less than helpful.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?

#60
Instead of a new tool, most people need a new system. I can't understand why GTD is not anymore in fashion (at least in HN) once it is the most efficient system I ever used. Since I implemented GTD, my life changed and I not even thought of going back.

If you ever try GTD I recommend you this simple implementation: https://github.com/we-build-dreams/hamster-gtd

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