+1 on this... My serial distraction until I finally switched to paper was writing TODO apps for myself, then abandoning them. The only one that worked well for an extended period of time would literally show you one task to do. You could do it, or choose one of the options like "cannot do for X hours" (e.g. I need to vacuum and someone else in the house is asleep, or whatever), "not enough mental energy" (it would postpone and filter out the tasks you assigned the same level of mental energy, I was going to add a feature where that is deduced automatically), etc., in which case it would show you another single task to do. You could never see more than one task.

Wow, that sounds amazing. Do you have it somewhere?

See my `td` variant for console here:

https://github.com/vlisivka/bash-modules/blob/master/bash-mo...

They are easy to make.

Can't find it :( It was a self-hosted web app though, so it's probably not that useful anymore. I'm pretty sure 3 generations of web stacks were created, over-hyped and deprecated since I wrote it ;)

In GTD that is fixed through "contexts". E.g. you have a context "phone calls to make", and then next time you have time and are near a phone, you can start working on those tasks. Many todo apps have some sort of mechanism for that, or is this not what you mean since you seem to be familiar with GTD?

GTD has a lot of solutions for various types of todo list problems, but then again, you have to be a quite conscientious person to follow through on all of the details of it. At which point you probably have no problem with plain scribbles on some loose paper. My wife makes todo lists all the time (like, she's taking to someone and while she's talking she'll pull out some paper and write things down completely unrelated to the conversation, without skipping a beat) but she's very conscientious about actually doing those tasks, so she doesn't have a need for more complicated systems than small piles of papers with things that need to be done.

Whereas I make lists with breakdowns and several dimensions of categories and preferably according to a clearly defined, all-encompassing system, and it needs to work on all devices and include everything from what I need to buy for dinner tonight to my life goals, and then those notes become a job in themselves and I say fuck this and throw them all out and try the same thing again 6 months later. I'd much rather be like my wife.

Yeah I'm aware of contexts, but I was thinking more of things like deferring until certain dates and also having task sequencing (so for example if I defer the first task in a sequence, it won't show me the next tasks, since they're not available).

> GTD has a lot of solutions for various types of todo list problems, but then again, you have to be a quite conscientious person to follow through on all of the details of it. At which point you probably have no problem with plain scribbles on some loose paper.

I kinda disagree with that. Like I agree that you need to be studious, but not to the level of not needing the organization. "Being able to orgainze a list of tasks" and "being able to hold a list of tasks in your head" or "being able to work off the list of tasks without it being organized" are different things on different axes.

I would also much rather be like you wife, but absent that I'll at least do a thing that I know is better than nothing. Sometimes the results get thrown out but nothing is zero effort.

I was thinking recently that it’s such a terrible idea to put todos in a list. A todo tends to be something that gives you a tiny bit of worry: guilt that you should have finished it already, stress that you might not be able to, etc.

By putting a dozen todos together in a list, your level of worry about that list as a whole is going to rise to the most worrisome todo. It’s poisoning the well. Now you don’t want to look at the todo list at all, because it becomes a source of anxiety, even if most of the items on the list are trivial or even enjoyable.

It can work both ways. You can make the list something you don't mind, even enjoy, looking at, because there's probably going to be something that you can accomplish on it. And you can avoid stressing about the worst issue because it's on the list and you'll get to it eventually.

(I put off suing my old landlord for about a year this way. On the one hand, I probably should've done it sooner; on the other hand, I might well have spent months just stressing about that, whereas instead I channelled that avoidance into dealing with a bunch of other tasks)

The way I see it, putting the todo in a list gets it out of my head - I don't have a need to keep remembering it, so I don't worry about it as much - I have confidence I won't forget to to it, because it's on the list.

That is the essence of GTD - your head is for doing, not for storing, so get it out of yer head and into a "trusted system".

The problem isn't with the app, it's with us. We keep adding things we "should get to at some point". Well, I've got news for you, you're not going to magically be a person that reads Russian literature in the future, you're going to be you, and you hate Russian literature even though it's "good".

TODO lists are aspirational, not pragmatic. We make them for someone else, the person we want to be. Unfortunately, we'll never be that person.

I had an idea of a TODO list app where things "expired" into a permanent section of the app, to remind you of all the aspirational tasks you never got around to. Unfortunately I never got around to making it.

Speak for yourself. I actually do need to schedule a dentist appointment once a year, and having software deal with that for me is nice.

Some people actually organize their day-to-day "stuff that they need to do" through these lists.

Yeah I think what you describe basically leads to the "long list" issue of the blog post. For that reason I really wanted something that uses a calendar layout, but still gives you the reward of checking tasks.

I didn't find anything so made it myself and have been using it for 2 years. As it worked for me I recently worked on making it available to others.. Not sure it is ready for prime time yet (will implement localization for week day names after my vacation), but it works and can be used: https://thisweek.rocks.

(Feel free to drop me some feedback here or https://twitter.com/thisweekrocks).

There's a difference between aspirational to-do lists and an evergreen punch list. Things only get onto my to-do list in one of two ways: Me promising someone I'd do them, or me realising there was some nasty consequence to not doing them.

I like the use-by date on to-do items though. You should make a note of that somewhere. ;)

> We keep adding things we "should get to at some point"

Brilliant. Like the article says, I stopped using the TODO app when I had dozens of tasks in my list and I used to see that backlog every day, made me even more depressed.

I’d argue it’s not that easy.

Task accomplishable doesn’t say nothing about our energy levels which is somewhat of a buzzword but relevant in the context of task lists.

For example I could have “Call mechanic to set up service” but the person answering the call can be an ass through the phone so it’s never pleasant chat. Or you might be introvert and that would require mental gymnastics or there might be a lunch break at specific time or you could get rerouted to some other time.

Hundreds of little factors comes in and sometime inputting all of them into system (I tried!) requires more effort than just getting stuff out.

Most apps do get this wrong. I use Taskwarrior and its ability to tag tasks, combined with the ability to schedule them for a future date and not show them until that date, is essential. I used to use Orgmode for the same reason. I use the tags mostly like GTD contexts: if something can wait until a routine meeting with a particular person, I tag it “discuss” and with the person’s name, and more importantly I routinely check these lists when meeting with people.

This can be done with no app at all though, which is what 43 folders is all about. David Allen says often in his book that the exact app or notebook you use doesn’t matter as long as it works for you.

We all have different needs due to having different personalities. I need to be careful that I don’t get into a “checking things off my list” mode, as sometimes I’m feverishly doing trivial things on that list to keep myself feeling busy and distracted from what are one or two important but difficult things to work on.

So one heuristic I do is is try to start my day setting my “intentions” — identifying a handful of things on the list I would be pleased to have finished by days end even if absolutely nothing else on the list is touched.

> People drag on GTD but David Allen

I’ve not yet found a decent alternative. I think a better book could be written on it though. I think the system could be explained in fewer words making it accessible to more people. David’s book is a good read but you probably have to be very serious about fixing this part of your life to put in the effort required to understand and implement it.

My take on the book was it could’ve been ~20 pages, but had to be padded out to full book length. A lot of that in the self help category.

I don’t remember that book having many fluffy parables. A lot of it was the kind of implementation detail he would talk through in person with a coaching client. I would think most people looking for that kind of help would rather just use the time it takes to read a full book to help them think through their personal situation.

I would strongly disagree. The Book teaches you not only a system of organisation but also how to think about tasks and organisation in general. The system can be broken down into 20 pages. The general thinking around it cannot easily be condensed as much. It has helped me a lot beyond GTD because the same principles can be applied in other contexts such as agile dev work or organising a company.

I’m feeling pretty relaxed and focused with https://timestripe.com Don’t think that this is the perfect app. I guess it’s different for everybody but I like time horizons feature which I didn’t see anywhere else.