I'm curiuous on how you structure your to-do lists. For the past months I've been keeping two lists - high priority and low priority - but I'm still struggling since some tasks are larger and take more time vs. others that are completed quickly.
Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#2I keep two lists but organized slightly different:
- a global todo with things ordered by topic (no particular order of importance) which I go over regularly
- a daily Todo which consists of items I've 'checked out' for the day, which is the things I want to get done today - I try to keep the daily Todo doable by factoring in the time things will take. I also try to keep this daily todo achievable and not overly optimistic
Every morning I'll define my daily todo and merge back to the global one at the end of the day - I can always adjust on the fly the daily todo (even if I try to avoid that, barring emergencies) or can also always add stuff for later to the global one of course as things pop up
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#3I keep two lists but organized slightly different: - a global todo with things ordered by topic (no particular order of importance) which I go over regularly - a daily Todo which consists of items I've 'checked out' for the day, which is the things I want to get done today - I try to keep the daily Todo doable by factoring in the time things will take. I also try to keep this daily todo achievable and not overly opti…
That's neat! Do you use a specific tool/app? Or is it just plaintext is even read paper?
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#4A bullet journal style thing. I have a list of goals for the year that I rewrite on the top of ever page (page a day).
Then I have a break down of tasks that will bring those goals to life.
From there I make my daily todo-list. It's paper based, and I've been doing it for about 10 years.
I built a habit to do it while I have my morning coffee, and I review the list a few times a day.
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#5- things to do (some with a by-date, some without)
- things to do today
- things to maybe do someday
- inbox for ideas and thoughts (some of these get sorted into todos)
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#6I work across a couple of things, I found using one list or simpler approaches ultimately didn't suit me, so I built up an approach that works well for for me.
I have 4 main systems:
1. Personal Todos
- - I use a Omnifocus[0] like webapp I built for myself
- - Every item has a date (even if I have to push it back when time comes)
- - Certain ongoing items will have a link to a Roam[1] page with more details (which is great as can collapse blocks of text, embed files, etc)
- - I have a "Backlog"/"Some Day" list of items I want/need to do, but don't have a clear date yet, I review this once a week
- - This system provides my day plan
2. Recurring Daily & Weekly Habits
- - I use Conjure[2] (disclaimer I've built this)
- - This includes habits such as daily planning, weekly planning with 'Backlog' review on Mondays, or weekend planning on Wednesdays
3. Per Project Task System
- - Each project has it's own Linear or Trello project/board
- - I keep a separation between Personal and Work/Project tasks, but sometimes will reference Work items in my Personal tasks if important
4. Comms List
- - I keep a checklist of various comms channels (email, slack, whatsapp, twitter, etc) that I periodically work through 2 - 4 times a day, to ensure I didn't miss anything, or can close that 'loop' for a few hours
I generally triage and balance time across items based on expectations I've set with others and my own goals. I use time tracking (in Conjure) and blocking to understand if I'll deliver on time, and reprioritize accordingly.
Lot of the above is influenced by the book "Getting Things Done".
[0] https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/ [1] https://roamresearch.com/ [2] https://conjure.so
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#7- My to do list lives in a single text file.
- There is a dashed line below the items that have been completed.
-----------------------------------------------
- Below that line are the remaining tasks
- in the order I want to tackle them.
- I spend a lot of time looking at these items.
- I keep reordering the items while trying to think of ways to solve them.
- When a task is finished, it moves up above the line.
- Over time, the line is slowly bubbling down.
- Yet, the list below keeps growing.
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#8I use Todoist for lists in general, but for my daily todo list I increasingly use Notability, a paper note app for the iPad.
This lets me break from a programmed structure and add scribbles, colours and diagrams.
Every night, I write the next day's todo list. I just amend the bottom of the page, and see what's left over from today. Some tasks get moved to the next day and others get ignored.
This follows the paper system I kept at my old job: one page per day, on line per task. Every day, I decide what to do with the previous day's tasks. It forces you to acknowledge delays and blockers.
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#9I use Apple Reminders. I have a few lists:
- To do: Tasks I’ve decided to do some day. They are specific and actionable. They may or may not have a due date. These are things like filing taxes or forms, selling an appliance I don’t need anymore, etc.
- Maybe: This is where I dump anything I may or may not want to do, so I don’t forget. They could be tasks, ideas, desires, anything.
- Goals: This list contains 2-3 goals I’m working towards. Like learning a language, or growing my business. These are not tasks, but high level reminders.
- Habits: This list contains 5-10 things I want to do every day. Such as workout, swim, eat less oil, etc. these are not tasks, but high level reminders.
- Project-specific lists: These are multi-step projects I’m working on. Projects have a specific due date and deliverable, but usually multiple reminders or tasks I want to write down.
Each morning I review my lists to commit to 1-2 tasks I will accomplish for the day. Each week I review the lists and make adjustments, such as removing things from “Maybe” I don’t want to do, etc.
Re: Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
#10A bullet journal style thing. I have a list of goals for the year that I rewrite on the top of ever page (page a day). Then I have a break down of tasks that will bring those goals to life. From there I make my daily todo-list. It's paper based, and I've been doing it for about 10 years. I built a habit to do it while I have my morning coffee, and I review the list a few times a day.
This is interesting. Can I ask approx how many yearly goals you rewrite each day?
For me personally what I found is having too much to write or set up at the start of the day leads to my abandoning of that attempted plan (ie, why I gave up on my bullet journal attempt last year).