Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Todo apps are meant for robots

blog.frantic.im

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 205 posts

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#181

Post by bodge5000 »

bschne wrote: post #102

My single biggest improvement in getting somewhat organized and productive so far has probably come from getting comfortable with some amount of chaos. 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 t…

I know this probably won't make much sense, but as much as I want to do this, I don't really know how.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#182

Post by madrox »

This reads like a blog post I would have written ~15 years ago after giving up on Remember The Milk. It frustrated me that I still had to organize my own mind and the todo app didn't actually take responsibility for telling me what to do (when I wanted to do it). I then discovered I had ADHD.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#183

Post by nl »

codemac wrote: post #178
nl wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From that link you shared: > But while the early ego-depletion concepts appear to be flawed, experts say that self-control can wax or wane for a number of predictable reasons. and > Inzlicht says that no matter what a person does, willpower is going to be a fickle commodity. It’s heavily influenced by many variables, and so it really cannot be trusted. “There are easier, less-muscular ways to engage in goal-directed…

No, not close enough at all! They show that willpower comes and goes for many reasons, but it is not a limited resource. You can't "use it up" in the morning, and thinking that way will lead you to actually having less willpower in the evenings even though you could have plenty!

> You can't "use it up" in the morning

No, but some things you do can deplete it.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#184

Post by lmm »

yourenotsmart wrote: post #106
bachmeier wrote: post #42

> Up until the last week I thought the problem was in myself (you probably think so too). After all, David Allen seems to have figured this shit out. It's worth pointing out that David Allen is very outspoken on his position that you should NOT use a todo list. He writes it out clearly in his book. This is probably the most common misconception about GTD. I've even heard people say they gave up on GTD because todo li…

> To get things done, you have to decide on the one or few things you should be working on at a point in time. A todo list doesn't help with that. 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 alt…

> 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.

He actually defines a specific framework in detail. But most people can't be bothered to read the book.

> 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.

A shopping list works because it very much isn't a TODO list - it's a well-scoped list of things that you are going to do in a particular place at a particular time. If you started dumping random non-shopping tasks on your shopping list, it would be a lot less effective.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#185

Post by zs234465234165 »

I recently started using spreadsheets for my todo list and it's been great. I put date in column A, which is far superior to Calendars or todo apps for visualizing dates in the future, and recurring goals e.g. do x for 30 days. I can re-order, and hide columns or future rows and I have an ever continuous history of past events. I use the column headers to specify goals categories or other aspects of my life such as “Strength and flexibility”, “Write / Do”, “Read / Listen” or “Social”. I try my best to limit 1 item per category and this helps me prioritize and balance across a spectrum of goals. I’ve used almost every todo app or system and they always end up being a wasteland of things I’ll never get around to. For work I like to use a Kanban type board and email.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#186

Post by PikachuEXE »

qu4z-2 wrote: post #75
PikachuEXE wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Todoist - https://todoist.com

I use Todoist as well and like it, but I'm not sure I'd say it "works really well with recurring tasks". If you schedule a task as "every Wednesday" then a few weeks later reschedule the task to Friday it doesn't ask "this instance or all of them?" or something. That entire task series is now scheduled for that particular Friday, and once you've ticked it off you won't get any more reminders ever. If I'm doing someth…

Oh ya the rescheduling for recurring tasks is one of the places that hurts.

Would you mind sending a report via https://todoist.com/help?

I will do the same now (I didn't as I don't reschedule recurring tasks often)

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#187

Post by PikachuEXE »

PikachuEXE wrote: post #186
qu4z-2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Todoist as well and like it, but I'm not sure I'd say it "works really well with recurring tasks". If you schedule a task as "every Wednesday" then a few weeks later reschedule the task to Friday it doesn't ask "this instance or all of them?" or something. That entire task series is now scheduled for that particular Friday, and once you've ticked it off you won't get any more reminders ever. If I'm doing someth…

Oh ya the rescheduling for recurring tasks is one of the places that hurts. Would you mind sending a report via https://todoist.com/help ? I will do the same now (I didn't as I don't reschedule recurring tasks often)

I just created a tasks for "every Tue", reschedule to tomorrow (Wed) After marking it as finished the next one is still on next Tue

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#188

Post by lmm »

spec-obs wrote: post #94

I've taken to relying on just my memory and then use a calendar to sketch out into blocks what I will work on for the day (just mark them as free so if someone has something important they can see those slots as available). I do this at the end of each day, ready for the next day. These then go alongside scheduled events (meetings / appointments etc). I settled on this after messing around with todo apps, todo.txt, s…

> If you just trust in your own mind, it will manage priority for you and get better the more you trust it. You rarely forget important things (they have an immediate need and make it known). Small stuff just mentally shuffles themselves to the back of the mind, if a few fall off the table, it's not going to cause any significant impact.

I find the small stuff a constant drag on my attention, like a headache, and if I have some hugely important thing then that's even worse - I can't think about anything else. Putting stuff in a list and trusting myself to handle the list lets me focus on what I'm currently doing without worrying about forgetting something that I can't currently do anything about. Using technology to make our lives easier is also a very human experience :).

But I don't feel guilt from my lists - I separate the stuff I need to do from the stuff I might want to do one day, and I recognise that most of the latter will never get done and prune things off it pretty aggressively.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#189

Post by PikachuEXE »

corobo wrote: post #158
PikachuEXE wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Todoist - https://todoist.com

I really wish the CEO would get off his own koolaid and add start dates. I get it, you don't use them. I would find them useful. I spend a good few hours a week trying to work around the lack of start dates in Todoist haha. One day I'll pay someone to set up Omnifocus for me and switch to that. It would be super convenient and would stop my checking out every god damn todo app that comes across my radar too I know, b…

I think you need a calendar app for that for now.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#190

Post by codemac »

nl wrote: post #183
codemac wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not close enough at all! They show that willpower comes and goes for many reasons, but it is not a limited resource. You can't "use it up" in the morning, and thinking that way will lead you to actually having less willpower in the evenings even though you could have plenty!

> You can't "use it up" in the morning No, but some things you do can deplete it.

They literally say in the quote your reference that's not the case though, that it's fickle - not a resource you can "deplete".
Post reply on HN