Todo apps are meant for robots

I used to try and set up the perfect system for my notes. I got caught in endless cycles of coming up with some structure, finding new tools, etc. — only to then barely ever write down anything because it never quite fit into any of the boxes I'd prepared.

I used to try out a new todo app every other month, enthusiastic that this time I'd find the system that would finally enable me to never let anything fall through the cracks.

I'd plan out the perfect pipeline of bookmark - triage - read/watch/listen so that I could stay on top of every great talk, article, interview or book anyone had ever created and shared with the world. You can probably guess what happened.

Then, for some reason, I just got more... relaxed? at some point. Have a thought? Just make a note, doesn't matter if I'll ever look at it again or it will still make sense in a week. Sometimes I go back and expand on things. Sometimes I event write something out of it. Most times I don't and that's fine. Find something cool? Just bookmark. Maybe I'll look through them in a moment of boredom one day soon, maybe the never-ending influx of hot new content means I'll never get around to it. Whatever. Want to or think I should do something? Make a task, don't set a date, maybe I'll get back to it, maybe it turns out I don't want or need to do it ever. Got something you keep putting off? Maybe just delete it after the tenth time, it'll come back to you if it's worth it.

An iteration in a positive direction for me was switching to NotePlan.

Every day I get a fresh sheet of paper and I write my todo list as needed. If I want to bring in tasks from previous days, I can go find them and move them to today. My todos are intermingled with my notes for the day, saved links, and my journal.

This way, my list doesn't grow and grow if I don't tend to it, yet I also never lose todo items.

I can also make ad hoc todo lists on project pages, for instances.

I suppose it's quite similar to just using a notebook, except there's a view where you can see all of your todos.

If you have 100 things to do, certainly a list helps you at least not forget most of them, before you even start work.

I don't know what David Allen recommends, but if everyone is left with the impression he recommends TODO lists and he doesn't, it might be because the alternative is hazy and vaporous and poorly defined.

I scanned your answer for that alternative and it wasn't there, either.

Consider grocery shopping. You have 20 products to buy. Does a shopping list help? Uhm, heck yes. Otherwise you'd need to go to the store 10 times and not one time.

Well shopping lists, are just a TODO list in the context of a grocery store.

Issue reports on GitHub and other bugtracking systems are TODO lists in the context of software development.

Medical checklists enumerate all required steps in carrying out procedures. That's a TODO list in the context of medical practice.

I can go on forever. So, clearly, the statement "TODO lists don't work" is false. It contradicts reality. And the supposed alternative is apparently unmentionable. Odd.

Maybe we should clarify what is meant by "it works" or "doesn't work", because in general it only means "it's effective for certain uses" and it is effective for certain uses. No, a TODO list won't necessarily motivate you, unless your lack of motivation is specifically due to confusion what you're supposed to do. But I'm very suspicious that any similar "mechanical" alternative would work either.

Gamification works because it draws you into its own world. Posting comments, like mine and most of them, is low effort. Playing a game with colorful characters doing cute things is low effort. Checking for new tweets is low effort. All those are low effort things. This is why it's easy to be motivated by a system that gamifies those low effort actions.

I really doubt any game would motivate you to do an actual 9 to 5 job for years.

Check: https://habinator.com

So I've kept it minimal and just use a text editor in the cloud, which is Google Docs. I can use the app on my phone while doing errands or can open it in a web browser on my laptop. The history is occasionally useful too.

But I strictly only maintain 3 documents to keep the scope limited:

- Todo Current /// items to work on this week, ordered based on priority

- Todo Future /// waiting on aspects before items can work on, reason listed

- Todo Art /// personal projects

Been using this system for years and it's been great for keeping streamlined and focused.