[HN Gopher] I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
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I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
Author : al3rez
Score : 1274 points
Date : 2025-08-11 13:59 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.al3rez.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.al3rez.com)
| moi2388 wrote:
| I am not a fan of Emacs whatsoever (I find it a buggy mess where
| everything works only 80%), but org mode is absolutely fantastic
| for this.
| trey-jones wrote:
| Calling one of the most mature software projects on the planet
| a buggy mess is something, but yes, I would opt for TODO.org
| instead of .txt
| e40 wrote:
| One of the most absurd comments I've seen here in a long time.
| moi2388 wrote:
| Please tell me how to accomplish my use cases in emacs then
| :)
| e40 wrote:
| Do you expect us to read your mind?
|
| I've been using GNU emacs since the beginning, when I
| switched from Gosling emacs. The first few years had
| crashes, but since it's been one of the most stable pieces
| of software I've ever used.
|
| Your claims are just preposterous, especially without any
| substantiation.
| xz18r wrote:
| >I find it a buggy mess where everything works only 80%
|
| I don't want to be mean but calling Emacs a buggy mess sounds
| like a skill issue.
| moi2388 wrote:
| Probably. Cant get a good IDE with debugging for c#, can't
| get emails with events etc to sync two way with all my
| providers, same with calendars, etc.
| solarengineer wrote:
| I use Microsoft TODO as a reminder and to not lose thoughts, but
| I primarly use text files to organise work backlog.
| mesotron_dev wrote:
| Spreadsheet programs such as LibreOffice are the next level.
| These are the most advanced and easily customized text files yet.
| Think of these as multidimensional text files that are all
| connected in an endless grid. Text files may seem ok, but
| managing tens of thousands of pages across sheets and books seems
| more straightforward with the spreadsheet format. But Vim is a
| great fallback when sheets are overkill.
| xrayarx wrote:
| tl;dr
|
| Ready to ditch the productivity app hamster wheel? Do this:
| Create a file called todo.txt Write down what you need to
| do tomorrow Do those things Add notes as you work
| Start a new date section when needed
| skydhash wrote:
| My advice to anyone, is to start tracking stuff on paper, and
| once you've got some workflow nailed down, search for digital
| tools to augment it (or be fine with the current workflow). I
| prefer digital and have settled on org mode. It has the
| structure that I would need to implement if I was starting with
| .txt files.
|
| Another tool I like is Things.app. But it's Apple only and I'm
| moving away from that ecosystem.
| the_af wrote:
| And it works really, really well.
|
| We tend to overcomplicate things when it's not needed.
| Sometimes I think we like playing with tools more than doing
| actual work.
| oniony wrote:
| I've used a TODO.md for years. I prefer it to a .txt as I can get
| some syntax highlighting in Vim.
|
| About a year ago I merged my TODO with my work journal. So now,
| instead of two files I just have LOG.md with the TODO stuff at
| the top, a horizonal line and the journal of what I've been doing
| each day below.
|
| I also copy the file (e.g. LOG-2024.md) each year and clear out
| the journal to keep the number of lines down.
| RankingMember wrote:
| For short-term (next few days), TODO.txt on my desktop is
| superior to every fancy solution I've tried.
|
| For longer term stuff/backburner items, I use Google tasks.
| dexterlagan wrote:
| I made my own. I needed to have a calendar that showed every todo
| item per day, and a text editor to edit the tasks just like in a
| todo.txt. Used it all day every day for over 15 years. I still
| have it installed on nearly all my Win systems, just because it
| opens instantly, has priority and colors. I also used it to
| produce reports for work, so I eventually added export options
| for HTML to paste directly into an email.
|
| https://github.com/DexterLagan/todo-master
| sfc32 wrote:
| No source code?
| dexterlagan wrote:
| This is a Xojo project, you can load the source code and all
| the UI objects by opening the binary project in Xojo (free).
| cantor_S_drug wrote:
| I just use Google Keep Note as my todo app. You don't need
| anything complex than that. I call my notes as DeathNotes where
| tasks go to die i.e. finish.
| mulhoon wrote:
| I've always liked https://www.taskpaper.com/
|
| It's one step up from a single txt file. You only need to use one
| text file with it. It's like a nice UI for a single todo text
| file.
| no_wizard wrote:
| The real shame is it has no iOS app
| al3rez wrote:
| it has and it's called taskmator, used it for years, but now
| run linux.
| msephton wrote:
| Taskmator is a third party app and it's a bit shaky with
| buggy selection, but it does the job in a pinch. If choose,
| given that they're text files you can edit them manually in
| any editor.
| refreeze654 wrote:
| I use Todoist in a very light weight fashion. I add tasks and
| they sit on my screen until they're done, basically identical to
| a text file. I've never used the points, projects, labels, etc.
|
| It does one thing a text file struggles at: scheduling recurring
| tasks and adding notes to a recurring task. I have annual
| reminders for infrequent, but important stuff. For example, I
| have a recurring annual task to review my insurance. Each year, I
| add context and details that are easily forgotten. Then, when the
| reminder comes up next year, I can refresh my memory and complete
| the task quickly.
| jerieljan wrote:
| I have a similar setup in Todoist, it's just a reminder for
| scheduled recurring tasks like bills.
|
| Funnily enough, I was quite savvy with the features several
| years ago but as my work changed and things aren't as easy to
| list down like a routine or in neatly defined projects and
| such.
|
| And when regular tasks becomes freeform, it's no surprise that
| a plaintext file is sufficient.
| bootlooped wrote:
| Recurring tasks or tasks far into the future is what has me
| locked into Todoist. I love how comprehensive the plain-English
| scheduling is, such as "Do task every third Friday of the
| month". It's clearly got a lot more power than I use too.
| cypherpunks01 wrote:
| Totally agree, Todoist rocks. Recurring tasks are necessary for
| any kind of regular maintenance tasks, and Todoist supports all
| natural language scheduling "every month on the 15th" or "every
| 8 weeks starting Thursday". Textfile certainly isn't going to
| do this for you. Article author writes:
|
| > Todoist: Great until I realized I was gaming the points
| system instead of doing actual work. Turns out completing
| "drink water" 8 times a day doesn't make you productive.
|
| Why didn't he turn off the points system if it was distracting,
| instead of migrating to the next shiny new TODO workflow? Not
| sure I understand, but I guess that might've left nothing to
| blog about.
| jama211 wrote:
| Well said.
| patrickscoleman wrote:
| Came here to say this, thanks.
|
| Only thing to add is that I like the "inbox" feature in Todoist
| (plus a single catchall project). I get overeager during the
| day and add a bunch of stuff. The inbox makes it easy for me to
| mostly just remove things I won't actually do but then file
| away the stuff I might for later.
|
| I've put weekly chores into a single recurring task and do them
| on Sundays or kick back another day or two (or just skip) if
| I'm busy.
| yard2010 wrote:
| Can you please advise on how to keep it open everyday? Many
| tasks accumulated there so it became an inconvenience to open
| it so I just write everything for today on a daily note. In
| this case using txt is the least resistance path but it's much
| less effective.
| yard2010 wrote:
| I must say todoist is the best kind of app for this. Not
| affiliated. I've been using it since 2010 and it has gone the
| un-enshitification path ever since. I'm grateful for it and
| it's everything I want to create as a maker.
| alnorth wrote:
| I'm a heavy Todoist user and I think it's great. I used to use
| org-mode, but all the Android apps I used for it were clunky
| and had issues with syncing when my file was concurrently
| edited somewhere else.
|
| Todoist's API is pretty good too, so I've ended up building my
| own little webapp that fills some of the gaps in Todoist's
| functionality (e.g. finding a list of the projects that don't
| have a next action defined).
| davsti4 wrote:
| While this may work for others replying in support of, you
| can't use this software without logging in. That's a
| showstopper for me. It leads me to believe it'll begin syncing
| my data outside of my local environment. Can you put details
| about an upcoming employer meeting there without notifying your
| employer you've shared this data with a third party vendor? Can
| you put sensitive customer information in it without a
| governing contract without notifying the customer? ;)
| pphysch wrote:
| I use a TODO.md within Obsidian, synced across devices with
| SyncThing. That's the sweet spot
| throwanem wrote:
| I have a "never-ending .txt file" too. About 4100 pages' worth,
| at the moment, across 25 volumes and counting, over the span of
| now nearly eight years.
|
| I don't intend particularly to advocate the format here, but I
| will say that of all my many bookshelves, in a certain way
| there's none I find more satisfying than the one I work to fill
| myself. Is that worth more than being able to use grep(1) on
| their contents? Or are those contents worth more to me because I
| can't? Who could say, but it's fun to think about, at least. (And
| for those young enough to be easily swayed by vanity, if you
| think performative _reading_ is in fashion right now...)
| alexander2002 wrote:
| I built a simple app a while ago to learn programming and it
| works for me
|
| https://Simpletaskmanager.vercel.app
|
| All the info is locally hosted.
| apprentice7 wrote:
| Amazing. It doesn't surprise me that the most simple workflows
| are the ones that work best. Probably because there is not a lot
| of resistance (keyboard shortcut instead of searching through a
| list of apps / no tutorial on how to use it; it's just a text
| file / it's easily readable and you get to choose the formatting
| and structure of your text).
|
| As a developer, however, I have to scratch the itch of always
| having "wrangleable" data, and yet again text files are the best
| at it. I am already thinking of doing this and just follow a set
| of writing "guidelines" so I can parse the txt if I wanted to do
| some visualization stuff.
| t1234s wrote:
| Use a single .txt file for a todo list and set up a cron job to
| do a git commit on it every 5 min. This way you have some history
| if needed.
| ltbarcly3 wrote:
| Org-mode is life changing, check it out.
| freedomben wrote:
| I went through something similar. I do use Logseq now, but for
| many, many years I found a notes.txt or todo.txt file in my home
| directory to be an excellent solution. I typically just write the
| date at the top of the file and put the notes underneath. A huge
| benefit is that I can trivially keep these under git. I keep them
| in my dotfiles repo so they can be easily synchronized to all my
| devices. A couple of shortcuts makes it quite fluid:
|
| A bash alias so I can run `todo` and have the file open:
| alias todo='nvim "$HOME/.todo.txt"'
|
| Some vim config so I can run `\date` (from either insert mode or
| normal mode) and it will print a date line for me:
| inoremap <Leader>date <C-r>=trim(system('date "+%a %B %e, %Y
| %H:%M:%S %p"'))<CR>
| nnoremap <Leader>date :put=trim(system('date \"+%a %B %e, %Y
| %H:%M:%S %p\"'))<CR><ESC>
| al3rez wrote:
| I have this in tmux opening a flaoting window with neovim and
| <leader>g to search by tags which opens quickfix pane
| omnster wrote:
| You can perhaps use `strftime` instead of `trim(system('date
| ..))`: inoremap <Leader>date
| <C-r>=strftime("%a %B %e, %Y %H:%M:%S %p")<CR> nnoremap
| <Leader>date :put=strftime("%a %B %e, %Y %H:%M:%S %p")<CR>
|
| I am also not sure if an `<esc>` is really necessary at the end
| of your normal mode map.
| t0lo wrote:
| things 3 is fantastic and access to it is an actual factor in
| what devices i buy
| dennisthemenace wrote:
| Things3 has also worked incredibly well for me for the past 4
| years. My only wish is that they would roll out a version for
| Windows. I have been in the Apple ecosystem for quite some time
| so it was never a problem until I built a gaming PC that I also
| started using for work. As a result of this switch, I have to
| rely heavily on my phone to manage tasks. I still think this
| beats a todo.txt file that I would have to put quite a bit of
| effort in to manage every day and set up exactly how I want it,
| but is a big pain point for sure.
| t0lo wrote:
| Yep same here- moved to an android phone and been kicking
| myself over access, now i have to use it on my macbook
| superxpro12 wrote:
| MS Onenote? I have a page called "todo" but it never really took
| off. I suppose if the lesson here is "extreme simplification",
| then MS Onenote--> todo.txt represents an improvement.
| jasode wrote:
| I've had a plain TODO.txt file for over 20 years so I agree with
| all the benefits the author mentioned. However, _I don 't like
| it_ because without an app, there's no _runtime loop_ to notify
| and alert me of what 's coming up.
|
| This means I don't have "ambient awareness" of what's going on
| unless... I open the TODO.txt file ... manually scan it... then
| rescan it again and again multiple times per day. It's really
| tedious and inefficient to manually re-read the same items again.
| _Offloading repetition like that is what computers are good for._
| I just don 't have a good app at the moment to turn my TODO.txt
| into something I don't have to manually eyeball all the time.
|
| So even though I have a tasks in my TODO.txt, a lot of things
| still falls through the cracks because I forget I need to do
| them.
|
| If you have the type of brain that has a built-in "6th sense" of
| tasks that need to get done, a lightweight-no-runtime TODO.TXT
| will work fine for you. But it's definitely inadequate for me and
| I need to fix that.
|
| EDIT replies to "use calendar for reminders" : Yes, that's a
| workaround but I've resisted doing that because I wanted the
| utopia of my TODO.TXT file being the Single-Source-Of-Truth
| instead of manually copying items to Google Calendar. (Yes, I
| know that _" perfection is the enemy of the good"_ and all that.)
| The way other people do it is they make Google Calendar itself
| the SSOT. But that defeats the purpose of the freeform
| flexibility of the TODO.TXT that has all the notes, etc in
| addition to tasks.
|
| I want my TODO.TXT to be a _unified view of everything_ I want to
| do in life and splitting some items off into Google Calendar is
| just more digital housekeeping I wanted to avoid.
|
| The way I'd prefer to use Google Calendar is via the developer
| API to programmatically add entries that's based off of my
| TODO.TXT. E.g. :
| (https://developers.google.com/workspace/calendar/api/guides/...)
|
| ... but that requires an active runtime loop ... like a Python
| script constantly scanning my TODO.TXT and then automatically
| populating the Google Calendar. I just haven't gotten around to
| coding that yet. Yes, the irony is that meta-task to enhance my
| TODO.txt is already in my TODO.txt.
| hiq wrote:
| What do you mean by coming up? Like a deadline?
|
| For event-based things I tend to have a reminder on my
| calendar. If things are relatively important, you'd assign them
| some kind of priority; in a simple .txt file, I'd expect them
| to be at the top for instance.
|
| If the file has too many important tasks (such that I lose
| track of them), it means that at least some of them are not
| actually important and they should be revisited. IIRC that's
| the point of the weekly review mentioned in the GTD book: don't
| assume your workflow keeps working as you use it, there is some
| regular maintenance involving taking a step back and
| revisitings tasks, prioritizations etc.
| eschneider wrote:
| I've been running a text based todo/status doc for about that
| long and my hack for that particular problem is to occasionally
| do a scan and copy anything 'active' to the top (or bottom if
| you append to the end :) of the file. Yeah, there's a bit of
| duplication there (I usually just copy a short description and
| a pointer back to the date of the original so not so bad..),
| but it works for me.
| Kokouane wrote:
| Surely this would be easy to fix with a simple script that runs
| on a VPS to alert you on a platform of your choice, maybe using
| something like Apprise (https://github.com/caronc/apprise). Get
| the notification as an email, on Discord, Signal, etc.
|
| This does complicate the system a bit, but still low overhead
| in my opinion.
| carlosjobim wrote:
| Congratulations you invented a calendar with notifications.
| Which already exists on every digital device, it existed on
| Nokia phones 30 years ago :)
| reactordev wrote:
| All you need is cron.
| pnutjam wrote:
| <to the tune of "all you need is love">
| akkartik wrote:
| I use the Unix way and multiple tools.
|
| If something has a date attached, put it on the calendar.
|
| If something is time sensitive add alarms as needed (calendar
| notifications have not been doing it for me in the last 5+
| years)
|
| 20 years ago it was text file + Unix calendar + crontab +
| something custom.
|
| These days it's text file + calendar + clock app + something
| custom.
| mesotron_dev wrote:
| Another way to solve this is to use Fossil. Fossil has a built-
| in wiki. You can launch Fossil UI and use the built-in wiki
| with Markdown. Have legacy txt files? Just open a new fossil
| project and add them to it. And if you set up the admin and
| user correctly, you can mirror your notes to GitHub. So, it's
| not that text files are not a good option. There are vastly
| superior options with almost no effort.
| AlfredBarnes wrote:
| I use a very basic system similar to this idea of running
| TODO.txt, but they are notecards i write every day. I sit them
| Infront of me and any timed tasks go onto the calendar. Outlook
| Calendar has notifications so those are my prompts for time
| based activities.
| al3rez wrote:
| i realized either it's pen & or paper or .txt this was a 10+
| year experiement and i wasted alot of time finding and building
| workflows and none of them sticks more than .txt file (i also
| had a more automated version of it in macos using .txt file and
| macros that time blocked my calendar but it was too restrict)
|
| nothing falls my mind i can just add #note #<project> #idea or
| whatever consistent tagging or subnotes i can do the todo.txt
| and it'd be easier to even feed it to chatgpt/or what everllm
| to even remind of my most important ones in the future and send
| me notification in telegram or something.
| Barrin92 wrote:
| It's a big upfront investment but it's one of the things that
| Org mode with its built in agenda view is fantastic for. I've
| really never needed anything else for note taking and
| scheduling.
| ffsm8 wrote:
| Fwiw, this is pretty much a slam dunk usecase for current LLMs.
|
| Vibe code a script that parses your existing text file and
| creates events in your chosen calendar app. Then run this
| script on a schedule
|
| Explicitly tell it to add a tag or anything else identifiable
| so it can Auto remove/update the events on changes etc.
|
| You'll have a PoC in minutes and will likely be happy with the
| result within an hour, if you're using Claude Code
| akkartik wrote:
| I want to address the underlying philosophy behind your edit
| (and also your original comment). "Perfect is the enemy of
| good" is not just "all that." It is _the thing_ , the critical
| design constraint. Computers are a hundred years old. If you
| believe all repetition should be offloaded to computers -- it
| sounds like that isn't working for you? I'm in the same boat,
| and I reacted by.. reducing my standards. I have a tool. It
| isn't perfect and there are no signs it's going to get perfect
| in my lifetime. So I don't wait for perfection. I get on with
| my life. Even if computers will be suitable for all repetitive
| tasks in another hundred years.
|
| I do have a single source of truth, and it's my todo list.
| However, I manualate to keep it thus. When I add something to
| the calendar, I copy it over to my todo list as well.
|
| I don't do this for everything, only stuff that improves my
| decision making. So an appointment with a barber can just be on
| my calendar. Long todo lists intimidate me anyway, so it would
| do more harm than good cluttering up my view of _critical
| decisions I need to make._ Stuff like, "what should I make
| next," or "how should this thing be designed?"
|
| So if manualating seems like too much work, I'd suggest that
| maybe you're taking on too much in the critical decision
| category, in which case you might make better decisions by
| focusing on fewer things. But yeah, YMMV. This is how I think
| about it and it works well for me.
| tfe22 wrote:
| Zim is actually exactly what you need. Txt files created with a
| really simple possibility of mark down like style added.
| sharkweek wrote:
| I've never found a productivity tool/to-do list app I use more
| than just sending myself a barely comprehensible email.
| ericcholis wrote:
| This flies a bit in the face of the author's "The sync breaks.
| The company sells out and dies" point and the simple beauty of a
| text file. I find that Obsidian.md is just one step above a text
| file.
|
| Simple daily notes, which are automatically organized into year
| and month folders. (Tip: Set the date format to YYYY/YYYY-
| MM/YYYY-MM-DD)
|
| The Sync feature works great, but no reason you couldn't do this
| with just git on your own.
|
| Plenty of built-in features (Plugins, ToDos, etc...)
|
| Cross platform apps.
|
| Markdown
|
| Free. The sync feature is $4/month. Worth it for me.
|
| They also have a one-time $25 payment to get early access to beta
| versions and a VIP discord channel.
| mulhoon wrote:
| I love Obsidian and the sync is worth it, but I wouldn't say
| it's one step above a text file. It's miles away. Never-ending
| features and customisations. If you want simplicity, a text
| file really can't be beaten.
| LocalPCGuy wrote:
| The point is, you don't need to play with extra features and
| customizations if you don't want to, so you can keep it "a
| step above a text file". That said, having those additional
| features is nice when you want just a little bit more, or you
| want to link a note file with your todo file, etc.
| TranquilMarmot wrote:
| I use Obsidian as basically just a markdown editor that I can
| throw images into. I find that all of the bells and whistles
| stay out of your way if you don't want them.
| superkuh wrote:
| Yep. I lost all my notes to a proprietary format back in 2004.
| I've been 100% a notes.txt person ever since and it's never
| failed me nor been not enough.
|
| I don't know what people are talking about not having
| notification or not being aware. Just make a habit of looking at
| it and put important stuff near the top with attention grabbing
| characters by it.
| yoavm wrote:
| I've built Wren (https://github.com/bjesus/wren) with a pretty
| similar idea of simplicity in mind -- a task is just a file --
| but, it can also be whatever kind of file you want:
|
| 1. Drag an email to ~/Notes and it's a task
|
| 2. touch ~/Notes/get\ milk and it's a task
|
| 3. ln -s ~/Documents/something-i-need-to-finish-writing.doc
| ~/Notes/complete\ writing and it's task
|
| Wren doesn't care about the format.
| xz18r wrote:
| This is pretty cool! Is it still in active development?
| yoavm wrote:
| Yeah - I mean I haven't been adding any new features
| recently, but mostly because the system just works. I'm using
| it daily and definitely fixing stuff if they break.
| jackero wrote:
| I use TickTick.
|
| I saw the author tried it but didn't actually write about it
| under "What Actually Happened With Each App"
|
| I use TickTick over Todoist and other apps because it's basically
| a .txt file dump for me, but with notifications and reoccurring
| tasks /shrug
| SamCritch wrote:
| I gave up on to-do apps as well. I have a text file I started in
| 2017. It's on my desktop and always open in a text editor. I just
| add the following at the top for a new entry:
|
| 20250811 - Core API - deploy to production 20250810 - Customer X
| - call about upgrading to new version
|
| Every day I move items I have not yet done to the top of the
| list. Order in the list is the priority.
|
| Old or done tasks naturally fall down the list.
| bbkane wrote:
| For personal stuff I ended up with https://mytasksapp.com/
|
| It's simple enough for me to understand but has the following
| features I want:
|
| nice simple UI where I can add stuff without too many clicks
|
| syncs between phone and browser (requires $1.49/mo which I'm fine
| with)
|
| Can make multiple lists
|
| Can drag items around in the list
|
| Can add a longer description and reminders
|
| For tech side projects I use GitHub issues as TODO/wish lists
|
| For work I use a Google Doc to plan out the days tasks and
| meetings (similar to todo.txt). Google docs is really nice for
| this because I can collapse headers to shorten yesterdays work
| and use checklists that I check off as the day passes. I can also
| scribble notes in a freeform fashion at the bottom. I dedicate a
| whole browser (Safari) just to this page so I can easily tab to
| it.
|
| For work I use MSFT Todo for stuff I'd like to do "at some point
| when I get time" (it's approved by my company, unlike my personal
| Todo app)
| zavg wrote:
| This. Working with plain notes during the last 10 years and it
| could not be better.
| johanvts wrote:
| Did you try org-mode?
| the_af wrote:
| If the person you're replying to indicated they are very
| happy with their setup ("it could not be better"), why
| suggest they try something else?
|
| There's finite time in life, and productivity tool
| "improvements" have a diminishing ROI, why waste time
| improving what they already said is very good for them?
| xz18r wrote:
| There is a format called todo.txt that works follows very
| readable syntax (like your own example) and has some minimal
| bells and whistles if you want it to: http://todotxt.org/
|
| As an alternative: I started using org-mode 5 years ago and have
| never looked back. This is my workflow
| (https://karelvo.com/blog/orgmode) although I sync it via Git
| now, and have an iPhone where I use Plain Org
| (https://xenodium.com/plain-org-for-ios).
| hiq wrote:
| Can you expand on which org-mode features you like for this use
| case?
|
| On the top of my head, among the useful features I'm familiar
| with, you can:
|
| * nest tasks
|
| * set deadlines
|
| * set priorities
|
| * filter ~arbitrarily
|
| * have as much content as you want per item (in comparison with
| todotxt with is one line per item), including non-text like
| images
|
| * have statuses other than todo and done (like waiting)
|
| What else do you use that makes you particularly like this
| setup?
|
| Org-mode is this thing I've been trying to use for a while, but
| it never sticks because I'm just too used to vim and plain
| text. Once in a while I look for a killer use-case, hoping it'd
| make me stick to it, to no avail so far.
| powersurge360 wrote:
| If you don't feel like you need the extra bells and whistles
| don't worry about it. The great thing about org-mode is it
| _is_ just plain text and all the magic is in the
| interpretation of the plain text. If you have yourself a
| table and one day ya want to do some spreadsheet magic on it
| or pipe it into a script easily, you can just check the
| manual for how to do it and KO it right there in the same
| place the data lives. Remembering how to do it afterwards is
| optional.
|
| Personally, I use lazyvim in neovim and doom emacs in emacs
| and just kinda switch between the two based on what I feel
| like in a given day. NeoVim tends to have better
| treesitter/LSP stuff as well as marginally better
| performance, doom emacs has way better test running and org-
| mode and it is only a little behind neovim in that other
| stuff.
|
| All the above is to suggest I think the question is flawed.
| BUT! To answer the question literally, my favorite thing in
| org mode that I've never seen anywhere else is the ability to
| dump babel blocks in my notes with code samples that are
| actually runnable and the output is able to be piped
| somewhere else.
| uludag wrote:
| I too have used org-mode for a while and here are some
| additional features which may pique your interest:
|
| - agenda views let me create custom pages of tasks with
| certain states or tags - a robust time tracking system. I use
| this for my freelancing work - very nice text tables that are
| programmable - a very customizable capturing system - a huge
| ecosystem of plugins - a programmable API: I'm currently
| working on an importer for the DayOne app as well as a
| fitness tracking package - PDF export with LaTeX. I can use
| this for printing out my weekly plan for example - in
| addition to deadlines, a scheduled property for when you
| intend to start a task - extensive linking system
| (https://orgmode.org/guide/Hyperlinks.html#External-Links-1)
| I often have todos linking to places in code
|
| I think that org-mode could use better learning resources.
| There's pretty much the manual and blog posts by experienced
| users, neither are especially aimed towards new users.
| ghostly_s wrote:
| Lost me at "But it's not easy to open todo.txt, make a change,
| and save it"--huh??
|
| Clicked around a bit and found nothing describing how
| "todo.txt" is better than todo.txt (great branding), and seems
| to offer no solutions for iOS.
| mikestorrent wrote:
| There's a great meme with the classic intelligence bell curve
| setup where the "grug" and the "elite" sides both use a plain
| text file with their own ideas of how to do things, and only
| the "midwit" in the middle is using a huge pile of tooling to
| accomplish roughly the same thing.
|
| I too went through the phase of using Dendron and Obsidian as
| well as more common todo list tools (and tickets)... and here
| I am back at Apple Notes, whose sole advantage over a text
| file is that it has enough capabilities to store a
| screenshot. That's all I really needed. My notes are like the
| classic notebook: a lot of the time it's write-only, a lot of
| the time it only has to be able to be understood for a week
| or two before the information is too old to matter anyway.
|
| Don't overthink it.
| listic wrote:
| Why is capability to store a screenshot useful in a to-do
| _list_?
| spauldo wrote:
| I'm not the person you're replying to, but I have several
| TODO items on my current project for fixing HMI screens.
| Those will be performed by one of my teammates. I could
| easily embed images into the org-mode document I use.
|
| Unfortunately for him, the HMI is air-gapped so getting
| screenshots is cumbersome. He'll have to make do with my
| notes.
| mikestorrent wrote:
| TODO: Fix this <screenshot of thing>
|
| Takes like two or three seconds to add; then I continue
| doing what was more important, and flip back to this with
| a decent context jumpstart later.
| Barrin92 wrote:
| >There's a great meme with the classic intelligence bell
| curve setup
|
| This meme has taken on the character of the "Einstein was
| bad at math and school" urban legend. Yes, you can
| overthink it, but you can also under-think it if you
| picture yourself to be some romantic-era genius sitting in
| a heap of notes. If you want to go meta you might as well
| put the usage of that meme on the middle of the curve.
|
| You don't need 15 note taking apps but it does pay off to
| invest in at least a bit of a system (I'd recommend
| https://johnnydecimal.com/ because it takes about an hour
| to set up), because you're not actually the 150 IQ guy and
| you probably benefit from a bit of structure (as do most
| very intelligent people in real life)
| BrtByte wrote:
| Org-mode is obviously in a whole different league, but I think
| both scratch the same itch for different types of people
| BeetleB wrote:
| A bit hyperbolic. He tried very few Todo applications.
|
| No org mode? No Taskwarrior? Both are apps backed by plain text.
| al3rez wrote:
| I tried both Org and taskwarrior, still for me it takes more
| actions, more frictions and formatless nature of txt file suits
| me otherwise I will end up optmizing my org mode workflow lol
| titusjohnson wrote:
| For work I use Logseq, but I treat it like a .txt file. 90% of my
| use is the daily journal pages, adding NOW and LATER todos,
| notes, whatever. The ability to link nodes to other pages or
| nodes is just good enough to beat out a .txt.
|
| For my personal life I use Things 4. I bought the Mac and iOS
| versions. Despite the steep price for the Mac version, I think
| it's worth it. I appreciate how the app is organized. I like that
| the "Inbox" dumping ground is totally separate from the "Today"
| queue, that it pulls in calendar events to the Today queue, and
| the differentiation of Anytime vs Someday. I would forget to
| check it too, if I hadn't placed a large widget right on my Home
| Screen. It's the first thing I see any time I unlock my phone, it
| helps a lot.
|
| I am also an avid user of post-it notes. I like to keep a stack
| of them on my desk. These are for things I need to complete
| _today_, if not _up next_. This is how I stay focused when I'm in
| deep work. "add test for new sort fn", "better name for
| site/tenant var", "need new fixture for sortables", that kind of
| thing. When I leave my desk I should have no sticky notes on it,
| whatever left ends up in Logseq.
| karmelapple wrote:
| Totally agreed - Things for Mac/iOS/iPad/Watch is a great
| ecosystem and Just Works(tm).
|
| I started by reading the GTD book, and then tried lots of
| different apps, but Things for Mac by Cultured Code requires
| the least work and conforms roughly to the GTD approach. I
| don't use the strict GTD approach, but its approach to quickly
| writing down ideas and thoughts has shaped a lot of how I
| operate at work and even in my personal life.
| swah wrote:
| You got me, I thought I had missed a Things release!
| defraudbah wrote:
| congratulations on the sane side
|
| i use whatever notes app my phone has and sync that on my laptop.
| Sometimes my email apps have that feature.
| snickerer wrote:
| I use todo.txt on steroids. In fact, the file is called todo.org
| and is best used in Emacs' org-mode, which does the best of all
| worlds for decades now. I can have a plain ASCII todo list and
| some algorithmic magic that understands it, if I want that.
| motiw wrote:
| This is a concept I tried to sell many years ago, it is not
| available, but I still use it and believe this is the most
| flexibility in todo list. Will be happy for feedback
|
| https://youtu.be/RBBPbIkgWUU?si=S_JoNr4FLbqPMo5D
| treetalker wrote:
| Kinda like a combination of OmniFocus and Hook (Hookmark)
| itg wrote:
| Similar experience here, except I'm using the built in notes app
| on my phone and keep nothing more than a list. When I used
| various todo apps, I felt as if I was fighting against them.
| cyrialize wrote:
| I'm a fan of Org Mode with Emacs [0] and using the app BeOrg [1]
| on my iPhone.
|
| I have 3 main task files:
|
| - todo.org for things I need to do
|
| - backlog.org for things that I don't have to do now but should
| do in the future
|
| - inbox.org for any random ideas or notes
|
| The concept of an Inbox was taken straight from Getting Things
| Done [2].
|
| I have different searches set up in BeOrg so that it is easy to
| view tasks from each different file.
|
| This is definitely more complicated than a single file, but I
| like it mainly because it keeps my main task file (todo.org)
| organized. I also don't go through organizing my files that much
| either.
|
| inbox.org is just a great place to dump anything, so I usually do
| a quick scan and either delete everything or refine it to the
| backlog.org.
|
| For backlog.org, I'll usually just let things sit there and build
| up. After a while I'll realize that if something has been there
| for a long time, it probably isn't worth doing - or I already did
| it, so I delete it.
|
| [0]: https://orgmode.org/
|
| [1]: https://www.beorgapp.com/
|
| [2]: https://hamberg.no/gtd
| bowsamic wrote:
| I like Org Mode but I feel like custom agenda views are not
| really as flexible as they should be, and as soon as you want
| to do something outside of the bounds of what Org offers with
| its settings for the built-in agenda views you have to go on a
| deep dive into the emacs lisp
|
| For example I wanted the global TODO list view to show next to
| each entry when the TODO was scheduled for, but there's really
| no way to modify the global TODO list much at all
| mesotron_dev wrote:
| Another way to solve this is to use Fossil. Fossil has a built-in
| wiki. You can launch Fossil UI and use the built-in wiki with
| Markdown. Have legacy txt files? Just open a new fossil project
| and add them to it. And if you set up the admin and user
| correctly, you can mirror your notes to GitHub. So, it's not that
| text files are not a good option. There are many vastly superior
| options with almost no effort.
| joshmarinacci wrote:
| I love this article. The magic of todos is that it's really about
| the process, not the apps. An app can facilitate the process, but
| it's not required. I personally use Things and an ongoing Google
| doc. It requires me to copy between them every day, but I find
| that forces me to do the process of prioritizing and paring down,
| which is the magic part. A text file would work as well.
|
| There are a few things I wish I could magically add to the text
| doc, though, like inline alarms and calendar events.
| silveira wrote:
| Obsidian + folders (done, wip, todo, trash) + one file per task
| (and all details and notes inside each file). That's been really
| good for me.
| qwertytyyuu wrote:
| I'd need markdown otherwise I'll just use a small notebook
| f311a wrote:
| After using Evernote for 10 years and seeing what they did to it,
| I'm never switching from plain txt/md files for notes and todos.
| For simple and daily todos, I just use iPhone notes (They don't
| have anything long-term or important, and the sync is nice).
|
| For the rest, I just use plain files that are encrypted locally
| and stored on GitHub and Google Drive.
| billfor wrote:
| The pinnacle of notes and task lists was achieved in 1997 by the
| Palm Pilot. It's been downhill ever since. I realize some people
| need or want something more integrated and elegant, but simple
| really does suffice for the vast majority of cases.
| infinet wrote:
| I used a different model of Palm and miss it. It is simple and
| just works. Ironically, with the current much more powerful
| smartphone, I have yet to find something similar to the Palm.
| The only downside of Palm was its frustrating touchscreen.
|
| I mostly use text(markdown) these days.
| abemiller wrote:
| My journey has been identical, and I have a suspicion that this
| inability to use an app with bells and whistles might have
| something to do with ADHD.
|
| I actually ended up making an app as a side project which is just
| todo.txt with one extra feature: if you start a line with a "!",
| it turns that line to a push notification on your lock screen.
| just keeps the important things in your list just a bit closer to
| awareness without overwhelming
|
| https://www.whatistoday.net/2024/06/scratch-paper-minimal-mo...
| mschaef wrote:
| After trying text files and other apps, I wrote my own about ten
| years ago and have been using it ever since. ( https://famplan.io
| - I'm starting to turn it into something other people might use.)
|
| I tend to agree with the idea that simpler is better, but a
| single text file wasn't quite enough. I like being able to see my
| lists on multiple devices, I tend to like to have multiple lists
| for different purposes, and it's also very useful to have shared
| lists for coordinating with my family and others.
|
| The experience of using this has taught me a few things about how
| to use these lists effectively:
|
| 1. Using a list is like writing a journal - you need to be
| intentional about explicitly working to make it part of your
| routine. (Part of this is committing to record tasks that need to
| be done and then committing in some explicit way to actually
| doing those things.)
|
| 2. It needs to be fast, it needs to be easy, and it needs to be
| present. Anything else gets in the way of point 1.
|
| 3. It's important to track when you need/want to do, but lists of
| things to do can be overwhelming. (It's useful to have at least a
| few ways to ignore items when you can't or don't want to deal
| with them. I handle this by having multiple lists, and also
| having a snooze feature to ignore items for a while.)
|
| 4. You need to have a way to handle items or tasks that go on for
| a while. (You need to make a call, but have to leave a message,
| and are waiting for a callback... etc. These are places where you
| need to take action to push something along, but the action
| doesn't result in a complete task, so you need to revisit it
| later.)
|
| This is going to sound odd coming from someone who wrote a tool
| for the purpose, but the key here is really to pick a system (any
| system) and then actually use it. Spend too much time developing
| the system, then all you've done is give yourself something else
| to do.
| throwawaylaptop wrote:
| I tried '4famplan4' as my password just to try it, and it said
| password insufficiently complex so I backed out. :(
| mschaef wrote:
| Thanks for trying. (It expects mixed-case, which I need to
| actually say in the messaging.)
|
| The codebase started out as something I used entirely myself,
| so the aspects of the workflow that relate to new user
| onboarding (most important for actually getting customers)
| are the ones that are the weakest. So this part of the
| codebase is where I'm working now to clean it up and it's
| probably also the most rough.
| saulpw wrote:
| Why does it require mixed-case? It's for TODOs, not
| healthcare. If I want to use my insecure password to try
| out your service, please let me! It took extra code here
| for you to try to be secure, when it's now generally known
| that password requirements are security theatre at best and
| anti-security at worst.
| mschaef wrote:
| Thank you for the feedback. A month ago, it didn't need
| any text in the password field at all. I may have
| overshot the mark a bit when I added validation.
|
| Longer term, I mainly want it to just use external auth
| (Google, etc.) and not use passwords at all.
| celsoazevedo wrote:
| > Longer term, I mainly want it to just use external auth
| (Google, etc.) and not use passwords at all.
|
| I usually avoid services that do this because I don't
| want any issues to my Google account (or any other
| service) to affect other services I use. Good luck trying
| to talk with someone at Google if some automated system
| flags and blocks your account.
| guluarte wrote:
| I use a self-hosting Baikal CalDAV server with Tasks.org
| (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.tasks/ ). The advantage of
| this is that it works with email clients.
| petepete wrote:
| I do this too, but with a text file per day.
|
| I have my 3 favourite bindings from vimwiki in my config and have
| used this 'system' for years without any problems.
| <leader>ww = go to diary home <leader>w<leader>w
| = go to today <leader>w<leader>d = go to list of days
|
| https://github.com/peteryates/dotfiles/blob/master/nvim/.con...
| AstroBen wrote:
| I strongly believe using just a plain text files or overly basic
| tools makes your life _more_ complicated, not less. I get a tonne
| of value out of OmniFocus
|
| > "But what about mobile?" - The file syncs through Dropbox
|
| Yup now you have to handle conflicts, or keep in mind which
| device you last edited on
|
| > I use my calendar for time-specific stuff
|
| Cool, the app I use just has a due date field that reminds me. I
| don't want the thing spread out over multiple places. I don't
| need to check my calendar every night for due dates and then add
| them to my list because it's already.. in my list.. with due
| dates..
|
| > It's searchable
|
| Kind of? For basic searches I guess.. and only on a computer.
| Searching plain text files on mobile is hell
|
| They seem to be inventing problems and then implementing a
| solution that doesn't actually solve them. Kept forgetting to
| check Things? How does a plain text file solve that?
| Otek wrote:
| > Kept forgetting to check Things? How does a plain text file
| solve that?
|
| This. It just doesn't. My bet is that some people just need to
| change their tools from time to time. And tbh I think it's
| totally fine, no need to explain yourself. Just buy another
| todo list app and don't feel bad about it. Or this expensive
| paper notebook. Or this "dumb phone" that will make you
| productive. Maybe just don't try to find a deeper meaning in it
| or try to convince everyone that you finally solved some big
| mistery
| aaronbaugher wrote:
| Probably. Whatever method I use, physical or digital, it
| tends to fade into the background after a while and I stop
| noticing it. My best bet might be to switch to a new method
| every few weeks, in which case it's probably best to keep
| them simple and cheap. Maybe a whiteboard for a while, then a
| notebook, then a text file, and so on looping through a few
| basic methods.
| lycopodiopsida wrote:
| The best part about a new app is that you have to transfer
| (or update, if you oscillate between apps on regular basis)
| the tasks and projects and will inevitably do a deep
| review.
| surrTurr wrote:
| shameless plug: I also got fed up with todo apps (and note-taking
| apps in general), so I built "Zettel"[1]. It's a simple piece of
| paper, but on your phone. It's amazing what you can get done with
| such a simple tool.
|
| [1]: https://github.com/AlexW00/Zettel
| smiley1437 wrote:
| One useful addition for text file users: on Windows, create
| hotkey\macro timestamps using something like Autohotkey
| (https://autohotkey.com/)
|
| 3 letter hotkeys seem to work well - long enough to be unique
| without overlapping real words.
|
| for instance, when I type ddd it automatically stamps this:
|
| 20250811 10:57 AM
|
| then I type my note and can look back at what time\date it was.
|
| sometimes I just need the date so that is dds (date-date-short)
| which gives
|
| 20250811
|
| occasionally I just want the time so that's ttt
|
| 11:02:02 AM
|
| I have many other 3 letter codes using Autohotkey to bring in
| frequently typed things too, useful in emails and such.
|
| Since I think through typing, autohotkey has been a QoL helper.
| treetalker wrote:
| On MacOS, TextExpander or Keyboard Maestro are great for this.
| proee wrote:
| My favorite todo app is "NotePlan.co" which actually uses .txt
| files for its data storage. The file is synced on icloud and can
| be used on iOS and mac OS apps.
| godshatter wrote:
| I started using a text todo list at work just last February. I'd
| tried various things over the years and this has been the best so
| far. It's a combination of things to do, a record of what has
| been done since I started, in some cases a filling in of
| historical important things that have happened, and as a simple
| way of keeping track of different steps of individual processes,
| or individual items that need the same fix.
|
| The top part is the todo list and the bottom portion is a list of
| days and what was done beneath each.
| fortran77 wrote:
| Everyone thinks I'm crazy for saying this, but I like Microsoft
| ToDo. And I've tried dozens of them. I've been using the
| Microsoft one for the past two years every day.
| roboyoshi wrote:
| I liked that one when it was still called "Wunderlist". I'm
| still mad the owner sold it. He now makes "Superlist" but it's
| simply not the same :/
| fortran77 wrote:
| Microsoft ToDo has native apps for Mac and Windows, and a
| third-party one for Linux (https://itsfoss.com/kuro-to-do-
| app/). It has apps on iOS and Android and you can access it
| via the web.
|
| It works very well. It even _finally_ (in 2023) made me
| switch from paper grocery lists to electronic ones.
| A-b-c-lgtm wrote:
| I had Claude Sonnet make me a text-based notes/todo app.
|
| I write all of my notes in plain text, but I can add things like:
|
| #Note: title
|
| This is a note
|
| --
|
| And the text editor will highlight the note and show it in
| another window that shows all notes.
|
| I can edit this in any standard text editor if I'm on a device
| without my custom app.
|
| I can also convert them into sticky notes that are each "always
| on top" windows that can be dragged/dropped to set their
| position.
|
| The notes also have tags for background color, border color, font
| color, due by, etc... that are all set in the text. When shown as
| sticky notes or in the note list, markdown content can be
| rendered.
|
| Using text for the raw content and having a tool that will parse
| and display the content in a way that works for me has really
| made for a great note taking experience.
| helle253 wrote:
| yeah, this is basically all i use Obsidian for...
|
| A daily note, with a bunch of checkbox items
|
| theres a plugin that automatically rolls every unchecked item
| into the next day's daily note.
|
| these two features fulfill 99% of my 'todo list' needs.
| Igrom wrote:
| Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many
| users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a
| lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more
| structured TODO applications. That includes:
|
| - having your computer alert you to things that come up
|
| - being able to tag notes
|
| - being able to add events to a calendar
|
| - being able to set priority of tasks
|
| - expecting prioritized/currently relevant tasks to be at the top
| of the agenda
|
| - being able to add recurring tasks
|
| - full-text search (grepping)
|
| - formatting features (markdown)
|
| Some of the laborious (or, in my opinion, plain unholy) solutions
| include:
|
| - feeding TODOs to an LLM to filter for the currently relevant
| ones and send Telegram notifications
|
| - hand-copying currently relevant tasks to the top of the TODO
| list
|
| - running a script on a VPS to sync notifications
|
| - set up cron job with git commit
|
| - writing post-it notes by hand
|
| I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode. It
| takes some time to get used to the editor and its keybindings
| (though provisions exist for vim users), but _every_ item on the
| list above is handled out of the box, or is offered through a
| free and maintained plugin.
|
| The author of the OP claims to have tried _every_ todo app, and
| has afterwards moved (regressed?) to writing notes in a plain
| text file, but there is a path extending from this point that the
| author has not walked yet. I strongly suggest that, especially
| for people with a computing or technical background, it is an
| undisputed upgrade. https://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html being the
| bible, of course.
| akkartik wrote:
| Do I need to start living in Emacs to get these benefits? Or
| are you saying I can use Emacs as my todo list app, close it
| after writing a todo, and have it pop up notifications?
| pja wrote:
| https://github.com/doppelc/org-notifications is a thing if
| you want that.
|
| Emacs will happily run in the background.
| tikhonj wrote:
| I've known folks who used Emacs for writing and org-mode, but
| didn't live in it otherwise.
|
| But living in Emacs is more the sort of thing you _get_ to
| do, not the sort of thing you 'd _need_ to do ;)
| pydry wrote:
| No. I hate emacs but orgmode is still a good file format.
|
| I use orgzly revived with it.
|
| Org mode could do with a bigger non emacs ecosystem, though.
| spauldo wrote:
| Yes, with a little setup. But never forget that org-mode is
| the gateway drug of Emacs.
|
| You start using it for the agenda and TODO lists, learn it
| has spreadsheet functionality that ties in with the
| arbitrary-precision calculator, start taking notes and
| exporting them to PDF via LaTeX, writing reports in it with
| your company letterhead, merging your contacts list,
| migrating your email into Emacs, and next thing you know you
| find yourself fifteen pairs of parentheses deep in a custom
| elisp function that tweaks the date format for that one
| manager that insists on yy/dd/mm whenever you send your
| weekly progress report.
|
| Not that I'd know anything about that.
| not_kurt_godel wrote:
| Apple's Reminders app does all of those things and many more
| without having to learn emacs
| koakuma-chan wrote:
| Ironically the Reminders app sucks at reminding. I use the
| Clock app for my todo list; it makes a pretty loud noise
| pretty reliably, which makes it pretty good for reminders.
| haukilup wrote:
| Being pedantic, based on your example, I think the
| Reminders app does a good job at reminding, but a bad job
| at alerting. But that's because a reminder to me is a
| gentle concept.
| YVoyiatzis wrote:
| I believe the Reminders app, when used alongside Notes and
| Calendar, is becoming a strong competitor in the
| productivity space. One feature I'd love to see added is
| persistent nudging reminders that keep alerting you until
| you manually dismiss them.
|
| Things 3 is another excellent third-party option in this
| category. Together, these apps form my essential
| productivity stack. I honestly can't function without them.
| not_kurt_godel wrote:
| I agree it would be nice to have more alarm-like
| notification options. Flagging, setting as high priority,
| and assigning a date/time and getting in the habit of
| checking the Today category regularly all help mitigate; a
| bug-me-until-this-is-done feature would be a welcome
| alternative. (I will note that the GP's emacs stack isn't
| even close to offering native mobile push notifications, to
| state the obvious.)
| svachalek wrote:
| Yeah I think this is a result of the attention economy,
| there are 75 million notifications per day that someone
| somewhere wants to push in your face so we've gotten really
| good at cutting them out. But the counter-swing is also too
| big and now critical things like calendars and reminders
| are buried in a list we never look at.
| saltcod wrote:
| "Reminders" is maybe the most poorly named app of all time.
| The last thing it does is remind you of anything.
| bluGill wrote:
| Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job of a
| calendar app. For a todo there is no now, it is pick the
| best thing todo next. I need to be interupted for my
| dentist appointment. However I don't need to be interupted
| to buy milk, I need a remineer when I'm at the store anyway
| to also get milk. If the reminder was 'i see you are going
| in the direction of a store: we need milk if you have time
| to stop' that would work.
| fknorangesite wrote:
| > If the reminder was 'i see you are going in the
| direction of a store: we need milk if you have time to
| stop' that would work.
|
| Reminders basically _does_ have this: you can set a given
| item to alert when you are arriving /leaving from a
| specific location.
| bluGill wrote:
| I don't know that app, but I don't want a specific
| location - milk can be had at hundreds of different
| stores in my town. While it isn't all the same there are
| only about 4 different suppliers to all those stores.
| themadturk wrote:
| It's not so bad when out of those hundreds of stores, you
| only shop at one or two. Few, if any of us, show at all
| the possible stores in town.
| derefr wrote:
| > Reminders is not the job of a todo app, it is the job
| of a calendar app.
|
| Ehh. The thing with a calendar "reminder" is that
| calendar apps assume that any such reminder is irrelevant
| once the time you set for the reminder goes by. They
| exist to remind you that some time-sensitive real-world
| event is starting, in time to be ready for it; but once
| that event has ended, you must have either done it or
| missed it -- so either way, the calendar forgets about
| it.
|
| Whereas a reminder / "todo with a date" object in a
| reminder/todo app, makes a different assumption: that you
| _still need to do the thing_ , even if you didn't
| interact with the reminder when it first popped up. So
| the reminder is still there, glowing brightly, and often
| _pops back up_ with further notifications, until you
| complete it.
|
| Three examples from my own calendar of the type of
| reminder I'm talking about here, if you can't yet picture
| what I mean:
|
| * It's time to replace the filter in my cat's water
| fountain [and take apart and scrub all the parts of the
| fountain while I'm at it.] (This isn't urgent -- there's
| no particular need to do it exactly when I'm reminded of
| it -- but it grows _more_ urgent the longer it is left
| undone. The persistence of the reminder helps me to
| remember to do it, if I was busy when I first saw it.)
|
| * I've gotta either pick the specific meals going into my
| meal-box subscription service box by midnight Saturday,
| or skip the week (or the service will pick randomly for
| me, giving me things I really don't want to eat, and I'll
| torture myself trying to motivate myself to cook those
| meals anyway, because I don't want to waste money/food.)
| I set this one to go off with two explicit "pre-
| notifications" twice -- once at 7PM on Thursday, and
| again at 9PM on Friday. It then goes off again on its
| own, a little bit before midnight, and that's the final
| warning. (And, of course, if I check it off before then,
| the other notifications associated with that instance of
| the reminder won't fire.) I also usually just leave the
| Friday 9PM one unacknowledged + open as a toast on my
| computer until I've picked it, to ensure I won't get
| distracted and forget about it.
|
| * Pay my credit card bill. (I have _monthly_ autopay set
| up, but my understanding is that they still get to charge
| some minimal amount of interest for any charge that
| remains posted + not paid down for _21_ days. So I set a
| reminder to pay the card down every _14_ days. Again, not
| urgent per se -- the worst that happens is that the
| 30-day autopay kicks in. But I find it a convenient time
| to review the last 14 days of charges for any strange
| activity; and the longer I go without doing that, the
| more of a schlep that starts to feel like -- so biweekly
| is actually good here.
|
| To be clear, I _had_ all three of these set up as
| calendar events before -- and they didn 't work very well
| that way! Repeating reminders have much better semantics
| here.
| bluGill wrote:
| A proper todo handels that by making you review
| everhthing - if you don't clean that water filter today
| you have to look at it tommorow.
| folkrav wrote:
| Certain tasks have deadlines - can you really have one of
| those without some concept of time? Creating a calendar
| entry for those doesn't make any sense to me - they are
| not events happening at a point in time with a given
| duration, but things that need to be done BEFORE said
| point in time.
| bluGill wrote:
| A reminder makes no sense because while there is a
| deadline there isn't a must do now time. What they need
| is a regular review so as you go about your day it is
| still fresh, and maybe in a plan. Often those are things
| that can be done when you have a free moment as well.
| komali2 wrote:
| Hence scheduling, which leads to agendas, the midway
| point between a calendar and Todo list.
|
| I used to use an org agenda view for this, now I just use
| a caldav calendar and trillium. In the morning, I check
| my to-do list, which has been being created for this day
| over the last couple weeks or months, I look at my agenda
| to see what meetings or appointments I have, and I slot
| todos in between them. I might even be doing so for the
| whole week or month, moving tasks around as needed. I
| take a look at my week and month todos and see that
| something is due in two days so slot it in for today.
| Similar to how a project manager might do with sprints
| and tickets I guess.
|
| I think the critical aspect of any functional Todo system
| is active review, at least daily if not more so, plus
| regular weekly and monthly cleanups.
| egypturnash wrote:
| god I dunno what I'm doing wrong but Apple Calendar
| _never_ tells me about shit in a timely fashion.
| radley wrote:
| I found Reminders to be unreliable and foolishly designed. It
| only works for must-do tasks. It uses repeating-period
| instead of time-since, so it can't handle repeating tasks
| that are optional. If you fail to mark off a repeating task,
| the next instances stack up and crash the notification cycle.
| not_kurt_godel wrote:
| I'm familiar with the pain point you're describing. In
| general, I would say a recurring calendar event is a better
| solution for your particular preferences. Personally my
| mental model is that the act of deciding to not do an
| optional task constitutes completion of the reminder for
| that occurrence. And if I forget or deprioritize that
| decision, the reminder still hangs out in my Today list
| until I do as a mitigation.
| radley wrote:
| I still use my calendar for routine time-window
| reminders. But when I tried timeboxing tasks for after
| work, those don't stick because my daily work hours can
| shift by as much as 2 hours, depending on how many pre-
| work-hours meetings I have that day.
|
| I'm a big fan of automation, so half of the fun with that
| project is setting it all up.
| not_kurt_godel wrote:
| If you work at an office, you can set your reminders to
| be location-based with daily recurrence so that you get
| reminded when you leave the office or arrive home. I
| imagine you can also integrate Reminders with IFTT if you
| want a "Done with Work" button on your phone if you WFH.
| treetalker wrote:
| Reminders.app does a great job when I want create lists and
| inventories! I use it for groceries and webpages too. For
| example, I've sent many of the Emacs-related links to my
| Emacs list in Reminders, where I know I'll be able to find
| them the next time I forget Gall's Law and look for a more-
| complex system to replace my current one: writing things
| down; thinking about what I've written; redrafting; and
| repeating.
| the_af wrote:
| I don't do anything that you mentioned.
|
| I truly just use a plain .txt file. Every "add-on" and layer
| beyond the .txt happens to run on a complex wetware device that
| came built-in with my body.
| jasode wrote:
| _> Every "add-on" and layer beyond the .txt happens to run on
| a complex wetware device that came built-in with my body._
|
| He was addressing the comments such as mine that determined a
| txt file without any runtime software layered on was _not
| enough for some people_. The built-in wetware was inadequate.
|
| Apparently, you are one of the lucky ones that can just use a
| txt file. For others, they need a little more support
| apparatus ( _" bicycle for the mind"_) enabled by some type
| of active app that complements the TODO.txt file.
| nosianu wrote:
| > _- having your computer alert you to things that come up_
|
| If my own experience is a valid example, alerts are overrated.
| They don't work for long. I hate getting interrupted by
| something that actually does not need my attention at that
| precise moment. I would disable those alerts in no time.
|
| I prefer leaving physical cues in the real world. I think
| screens are bad UI unless you already spend way too much time
| in front of them.
|
| The god old in- and out- baskets are great, for example. Or
| notes on a physical board.
|
| Sometimes when I think of something I want to do in the
| morning, I just leave an object that does not belong in a place
| I will definitely have to use in the morning. Seeing that
| object will remind me of that thought I had just before going
| to bed. I don't even need to write down what it was.
|
| Physical cues are wonderful! And THAT is what I would want from
| Augmented Reality (in addition to it no longer requiring
| cumbersome hardware to wear). A flexible recreation of former
| physical work places, but using the new flexibility of computer
| augmentation of what I see. To be able to place digital notes
| in the real world. To view and touch documents not fixed in a
| single place in front of me, but anywhere! I put some documents
| on the left, some on the right, some on the wall, and I _move
| my body_ around to view and use them.
|
| A purely screen-based app, when I already hate having to stare
| straight ahead for hours every day just doesn't cut it for me.
| I want my digital world to be in the real world, and use my
| entire body, not just very limited arm and hand movements while
| barely moving the head because the viewport is just one small
| two-dimensional rectangle in my large reality.
|
| Okay, that went slightly OT, but I made that point because it
| is relevant for TODOs and most interactions with computers. I
| think they are _much_ better when tied to our real world, not
| inside a tiny screen where a lot of stuff is already squeezed
| in and waiting for our attention, and everything can only be
| used like a surgeon doing keyhole surgery - indirectly through
| a tiny port and tools, instead of ones hands. Place TODO hints
| in the real world on or near appropriate places.
| brettermeier wrote:
| Alerts are most important, that's why paper doesn't work for
| me. I just write everything in my calender app in my phone.
| skydhash wrote:
| Taks tracking is different from reminders. There's actually
| few things that I want to be reminded of, and they either
| belongs to a calendar (collaborative items) or a reminder
| app. The separation is blurry and they can all fits within
| the agenda concept.
|
| As for tasks tracking, it's all lists. And a
| daily/weekly/monthly review is enough for me.
| pydry wrote:
| They blur into each other enough that it's good to use
| one app/text file that can do all three.
| brettermeier wrote:
| And my calender app is used like a list, i can sort it by
| setting the time for each list item if i really care. I
| kind of set a reminder for every item i put in, but not
| everybody wants that for sure.
| adastra22 wrote:
| Blurring into each other is exactly the problem.. you
| become numb to both.
| viraptor wrote:
| It really depends on a person. For a neurospicy person
| like me, pull is stupidly hard but push works better.
| That's why I'd rather turn my environment and lists into
| intelligent auto reminders. Otherwise they may as well
| just not exist.
| pydry wrote:
| not really. it just means that during the lifetime of a
| note it could transition from "just a note" to "a todo"
| to "a scheduled event" and vice versa.
|
| Hence it makes it easier if theyre all under the same
| roof.
| nosianu wrote:
| But if it's AR you can have a cute hamster run up to you
| and holding an urgent note. Or the hare from Alice in
| Wonderland. And it can just sit on your desk (virtually)
| and do cute things while you continue to finish what you
| were working on. Better than a boring annoying beeping
| alarm.
|
| We have not even started combining digital an real world,
| and the last few idea, e.g. from Meta, were devoid of
| anything useful, showing how little actually useful
| imagination some super-rich have, putting so many resources
| into bad or even destructive ideas when sooo much useful
| stuff needs to happen. We still have this tiny viewport,
| behind which another world - our digital world - awaits,
| and people think it's normal that we use this tiny port and
| awkward indirect devices (mouse) to manipulate things in
| there. We could do soooo much better soon!
|
| Okay, the access device still is missing. Few people want
| to wear the current generation of AR devices. But that just
| shows that neuro-computer interface needs investment on the
| level of AI, it's not magic (actual neurons are just very
| complex to work with, never mind finding the right one's to
| connect to), we could slowly build something there.
|
| Somebody asked what the advantage is of having this
| computerized instead of actual matter, e.g. physical paper
| notes. It's all the general computer advantages of course,
| like sharing stuff. Never mind being able to reorganize
| everything in an instant.
|
| Imagine having a software project not viewed with one tiny
| viewport, but like a physical project, even over several
| rooms. You don't need to click, you go to the place
| representing some module and physically (virtually
| physically) take out the code, edit with your fingers.
| Watch the data flow around you. Have a bunch of flying
| piranhas show up when something goes wrong. Work with all
| your body in a real 3D space instead of sitting in a chair
| all day, all week, all month, all life, watching that vast
| digital world and/or just your project through that tiny
| viewport.
| jama211 wrote:
| Alright mate settle down
| egypturnash wrote:
| this sounds like an apocalyptic amount of work to set up
| nosianu wrote:
| Yes, building something new is a lot of effort. And? We
| have been doing it for a few thousand years, again and
| again and again. Cities were a lot of work. Irrigation
| was a lot of work. Farming was a lot of work. Castles
| were a lot of work. Roads. Aqueducts. International
| trade. And that was before the even more complex problems
| of modernity, after the industrial revolution. I don't
| understand the attitude behind such an argument. I would
| understand complaints if unwilling people were forced to
| contribute funds and/or time, but it's not like me or
| anyone else is forcing you to participate in this idea
| against your will.
| jama211 wrote:
| I think that guy might have had one too many coffees if
| you know what I mean...
| codazoda wrote:
| I geeked out a bit, after reading another blog post, and used
| my thermal printer for this. I've been using it for a few
| weeks now. The little sticky notes it makes are great.
|
| https://joeldare.com/trying-to-stop-procrastination-with-
| my-...
|
| I am starting to collect too many of them though. I kinda
| like the idea of ops text-file because it is renewed from day
| to day. I'm still not quite sure how to deal with the items I
| know I need to get to eventually but that I won't get to
| today. I'm also not sure how to deal with the pile growing
| continually.
|
| I have noticed that thermal notes fade relatively quickly.
| When they do that I have to think about weather I want to
| reprint them or just throw them out.
| noahjk wrote:
| I've seen mention of using the dot matrix printers common
| in restaurant kitchens as an alternative which doesn't
| fade; they have the added benefit of two-color printing
| (most do black and red)
| mockingloris wrote:
| I came across a similar post on YouTube;
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg45b8UXoZI - it's titled
| _" I Fixed My ADHD with a Receipt Printer"_.
|
| I should build one that sends me an SMS message instead. So
| I stumbled on AT+ plus code for programing GSM devices. I
| have a MTN HUAWEI E303 modem from back in 2016 and I wrote
| a server using the npm serialport module.
|
| I just need to write a dmenu script that pipes from every 3
| git commits. ```txt SMS from :mtn-E303-sms-
| server ------------------------- PROJECT:
| ppc-v.1.0 ------------------------- Commits:
| 3 New Features Added! Bugs Squashed
| Code Cleaned Up -------------------------
| Total XP: +150 Keep it up!
| ------------------------- ```
|
| That should keep my monkey brain hooked for a while he he.
|
| +-- Dey well
| codazoda wrote:
| How do you (or do you plan to) use SMS as a todo list? I
| can't even remember to reply to someone who texted me
| when I as busy.
| jodrellblank wrote:
| The recent HN thread on receipt printers for task tracking
| had this comment which I wish got some attention and
| replies:
|
| " _The biggest killer for any task tracker I find is an
| accumulating backlog of items that seem too important to
| quit but too intractable to make progress on._ " -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44270076
|
| (I suspect that's part of too many browser tabs hanging
| around, too)
| Aerbil313 wrote:
| > " _The biggest killer for any task tracker I find is an
| accumulating backlog of items that seem too important to
| quit but too intractable to make progress on._ "
|
| I worked in this space for some time. Solving the backlog
| problem is the holy grail of To-Do systems. I am
| convinced it is a solvable problem.
|
| The reason there are a bajillion To-Do apps and
| strategies right now is because a _working_ UX for a
| digital task-keeping system is still not figured out. To
| simply put it, no To-Do app 'works' right now. Many of
| them work well enough for some people to depend on them
| to some extent.
|
| One of the major reasons for failure is the backlog
| problem. It's surprisingly difficult, it's at the
| crossroads of human psychology and the varying real life
| tasks and responsibilities of real people. Real world is
| messy.
|
| You'll see To-Do apps "work" out-of-the-box for most
| people and be hugely beneficial when:
|
| - You see research papers comparing different strategies
| for To-Do task scheduling, cognitive load of different UI
| views, etc.
|
| - Popular To-Do apps converge. They'll likely look
| nothing like the scheduled-checklist style apps of today.
|
| - People start depending on them in managing most areas
| of their life.
|
| Right now the To-Do app industry is competing on who has
| the shiniest UI. Very few players are even acknowledging
| the backlog problem.
|
| Personally, I tried everything under the sun from using a
| single .txt file to custom-designed software. I have
| ADHD. Right now the thing that works best is a physical
| Bullet Journal. It works because of the friction of paper
| and pen. It mostly solves the accumulating backlog
| problem.
| komali2 wrote:
| Yeah the thermal printer one made the rounds here too, I've
| been curious to see how it's been going the last couple
| months for the people that adopted it.
| jimbokun wrote:
| Digitizing your real world environment sounds similar to
| using a special TODO app instead of a text file.
|
| What benefit does your digital sticky note have over a
| physical one?
| 9dev wrote:
| It's readable. My handwriting is awful.
| spauldo wrote:
| I think the key part is to use alerts for stuff you can't
| ignore. Time to pick up the kids, fifteen minutes to get
| ready for a meeting, your compile just failed, etc.
|
| Unfortunately every piece of software seems to think its
| message about some new feature you don't care about and will
| never use is worth crapping all the main premise of what
| alerts are for.
| jh00ker wrote:
| > Physical cues are wonderful!
|
| You would love this project!
| https://littlesignals.withgoogle.com/
|
| "Little Signals considers new patterns for technology in our
| daily lives. The six objects in the series keep us in the
| loop, but softly, moving from the background to foreground as
| needed.
|
| Each object has its own communication method, like puffs of
| air or ambient sounds. Additionally, their simple movements
| and controls bring them to life and respond to changing
| surroundings and needs."
|
| I've been wanting to build these since the project came out,
| but never found the time. Has anyone else here built them
| with success? I'd love to hear your story about how you used
| them!
| jmull wrote:
| I think the reason people use text file + "snowflake software"
| is that they want just the structure (constraints) they want,
| and no more. BTW, what people want changes over time and by
| circumstance.
|
| org mode has a lot of features, including customizability, but
| imposes some heavy constraints as well. By its nature it's only
| going to satisfy a sliver of the people who have come around to
| text file.
|
| It's good you linked that document, though. At a glance it
| gives a fair idea of what you'd be buying in to.
| atoav wrote:
| As somone who uses text and paper for todos, happily for years
| now after spending equally much time procrastinating in search
| of the perfect task management system I will now do a half-
| ironic take on answering your points:
|
| > having your computer alert you to things that come up
|
| That's what the calendar or the alarm is for
|
| > being able to tag notes
|
| Write #tag and then grep for it. Not that hard
|
| > being able to add events to a calendar
|
| A event isn't a todo, you add it to the calendar instead
|
| > being able to set priority of tasks
|
| Cut it and paste it up to the top or write "IMPORTANT". If you
| have so many tasks that you need something better, you probably
| spend too much time organizing your todos and should start
| working
|
| > expecting prioritized/currently relevant tasks to be at the
| top of the agenda
|
| If your todo lists are so long thst you cant read them in 30
| seconds they are too long. Split them up and mive them to the
| relevant project.
|
| > being able to add recurring tasks
|
| Just leave it in the list and add a questionmark at the end. If
| it is time critical add it to the calendar
|
| > full-text search (grepping)
|
| Yeah, good observation you can grep text pretty fine. If you're
| annoyed by having to type the filename that is a shell oneliner
|
| - formatting features (markdown)
|
| You can use markdown in text, it is just more or less useless
| wothout rendering. But I don't see how formatting leads to more
| productivity
|
| > feeding TODOs to an LLM to filter out the currently relevant
| ones and send Telegram notifications
|
| Yeah ok, that one is bad.
|
| > hand-copying currently relevant tasks to the top of the TODO
| list
|
| Get a decent texteditor where you can press modifiers + arrow
| keys to move lines. Works pretty well. In fact better/faster
| than dragging with your mouse.
|
| > running a script on a VPS to sync notifications
|
| No need to do that, you have a calendar
|
| > set up cron job with git commit
|
| If you need your todos in a git you either work at a nuclear
| facility, a space station or you take yourself too seriously
|
| > writing post-it notes by hand
|
| What else would you use, a typewriter? Just kidding. Paper has
| undeniable strengths for the todo space. It is there and you
| don't have to remember to open it. Rewriting your todos is
| doubling as both checking their state, refreshing your memory
| _and_ cleaning them up. Paper can be read without electricity
| and by other people without any form of setup. People know how
| to use it without onboarding. Hackers cannot use a flaw in the
| the paper has been made to gwin remote code execution (they can
| however potentially use photographs of paper to do so).
|
| I am not kidding, one of _the_ best work-handoffs I ever had
| was entirely organized via emails and post its. It worked
| flawlessly.
|
| And I say that as someone who has spent days on todo systems,
| task warrior and the likes. Everybody has their own needs, but
| very often boring and pragmatic wins.
| jama211 wrote:
| Very well said. People here are interested in poking holes in
| things, instead of actually being productive. Again, we
| should just look at what actually productive people tend to
| do, which in my experience is generally to just use whatever
| works and not spend too much time thinking about optimising
| todo systems.
| komali2 wrote:
| In my experience the most productive people I've met have
| secretaries.
|
| I finally hired one two months ago for 500 bucks a month
| and it was a life changing increase in productivity and
| decrease in stress.
| jama211 wrote:
| That may be putting the chicken before the egg somewhat,
| but sure.
| radley wrote:
| I'm in the process of doing most of this via Claude check-ins,
| using a combination of MCP, Obsidian, and Things. Obsidian is
| the memory system, context info, and archive, while Things
| hosts the active lists and desktop widgets. It doesn't work
| perfectly or even that well, but it's coming along.
| ChromaticPanic wrote:
| Too many programmers think they have a unique use case without
| considering that maybe the existing projects are bloated for a
| reason. Then they end up just recreating the same bloat.
| Lalabadie wrote:
| "Surely I can do it better in a few weeks than all preceding
| civilizational knowledge" is probably the most popular tech
| entrepreneur stereotype.
| dialup_sounds wrote:
| Gall's Law:
|
| A complex system that works is invariably found to have
| evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system
| designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to
| make it work. You have to start over with a working simple
| system.
| treetalker wrote:
| Gall's Law almost always deserves to be repeated and higher
| up in HN threads, and this is another instance where I wish
| I could upvote more than once.
|
| Here, Gall's Law provides an accurate explanation for why
| so many of us have returned to paper, pencil, and brain
| cells. It is also apropos of your comment's sibling comment
| regarding how tech folks frequently and mistakenly believe
| that they can improve on a solution that has worked well
| for thousands of years of human civilization (e.g., paper +
| writing instrument + human thought) in just a few weeks.
| For all the talk of Emacs's being relatively ancient and
| mature software, handwriting is orders of magnitude more
| mature and sanded down.
|
| With software to "solve" the problems of thinking,
| remembering, linking ideas, or deciding what to do ... now
| you have two problems, as we say.
| wpm wrote:
| The existing projects probably have crap docs then. If I
| build it myself at least I'm likely to understand it.
| AiAi wrote:
| I think one thing that is missing from emacs/org-mode is the
| mobile integration. There are apps that handle some features of
| org-mode on mobile, but probably missing features of the
| desktop version. Currently, I manage my notes only on the
| desktop because I haven't found a good companion on mobile.
| j0e1 wrote:
| If you have Android, emacs is now officially supported on
| Android (https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.emacs). Along
| with https://github.com/Julow/Unexpected-Keyboard, it turns
| out to be a pretty usable (assuming you are the type that is
| okay working with emacs in general). I am now in search of a
| simple way to sync notes between my phone and computer
| (without using Big Tech solutions).
| eadmund wrote:
| > I am now in search of a simple way to sync notes between
| my phone and computer (without using Big Tech solutions).
|
| Syncthing?
| pancakemouse wrote:
| What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of the
| unholy crimes above, is that people want their system, however
| esoteric, to come naturally to them.
|
| I think reading docs, understanding a new system which someone
| else has designed, and fitting one's brain into _their_
| organisational structure is the hard part. Harder than
| designing one's own system. It's the reason many don't stick
| with an off-the-shelf app. Including Org mode.
| fmbb wrote:
| Also, if you are a developer by trade a lot of these features
| are quick and easy to implement.
| barbazoo wrote:
| And might even be fun to implement and maintain.
| benreesman wrote:
| I think we have a winner. This sort of personal
| toolsmithing is fun, and you can try out some new
| programming language or whatever.
|
| We all love a good excuse to build something small-to-
| medium sized for our own perfect "tailor fit"
| preferences.
|
| All the excuses about other tools not being adequate are
| just what we need to say to ourselves to justify the time
| ;)
| jama211 wrote:
| This starts to sound like something someone might waste
| time building instead of actually being productive...
| barbazoo wrote:
| In terms of earning money, but surely that's not what's
| it's all about, is it?
| jack_pp wrote:
| in terms of actually building something useful
| mewpmewp2 wrote:
| Does everything you build must be useful? What if it's
| just really fun?
| walt_grata wrote:
| Define useful and who it has to be useful to? If building
| it helps me improve my craft, let's me decompress and
| have so fun. That's useful
| MrGilbert wrote:
| If the tool brings you (you, as in: the one building it)
| joy and gives you a chance to let your mind float, then
| yes, it is useful. Just not for others. And that's fine.
| russellbeattie wrote:
| Exactly. Most people wish they could customize their Todo
| app or system to their specific preference or need, but
| have no way of making it happen. Devs can, so they do.
|
| What's interesting is AI is going to change this. Entering
| a prompt for an app that has all the features you want is
| already pretty trivial, and will only get better.
| skydhash wrote:
| Which is why everyone likes spreadsheets. You learn a few
| formula and styling rules, and you've got a hammer for
| every nail that's been bothering you (if it was actually
| a screw...shrugs).
| potatolicious wrote:
| The term that comes to mind, and one of my favorite concepts,
| is "progressive disclosure", which is a concept we really
| ought to be more mindful of.
|
| One of the perks of just-a-text-file-with-a-bunch-of-addons
| is that it enables progressive disclosure - it takes no
| learning curve to just get in and use the tool on a basic
| level, but additional complexity (and power) can be
| introduced over time.
|
| The problem with a purpose-built app is that there's a
| minimum level of new concepts to learn before the tool is
| even minimally useful, and that's a barrier to adoption.
|
| A good example of this in action is something like Markdown.
| It's just text and will show up fine without you learning
| anything, but as you pick up more syntax it builds on top -
| and if you learn some markup syntax but not others, it
| doesn't prevent you from using the subset you know. There is
| a clear path to adding new knowledge and ability.
| datameta wrote:
| Right, instead of fomo over not using the extra features of
| utilizing the right flow - people tend to experience the
| want/need to incrementally increase complexity when using
| roll-your-own software
| BrtByte wrote:
| Markdown is a perfect analogy
| Aurornis wrote:
| > What this shows to me, as someone who has committed some of
| the unholy crimes above, is that people want their system,
| however esoteric, to come naturally to them
|
| I think this is a vocal minority. Outside of internet comment
| sections, most everyone I know doesn't care that much about
| their todo list software.
|
| The most productive people I ever worked with all had really
| minimal productivity software. For one person it was a Google
| doc with nested lists. I know several people who preferred
| physical sticky notes or 3x5 note cards.
|
| A lot of the people I've worked with who built elaborate
| productivity systems and custom software weren't all that
| productive. They seemingly spent as much time doing
| productivity rituals and rearranging their productivity
| software stack as they did doing actual work. I count the
| really heavy Notion users in this category because I've
| recently been pulling my hair out dealing with a couple PMs
| who think "reorganizing Notion" and adding more rules for
| Notion is a good use of their time each week.
|
| The most extreme example I remember was the eccentric
| coworker who was building an AI-powered productivity tool
| that was supposed to optimize his todo lists and schedule
| them according to his daily rhythms. He spent so much time
| working on it that our manager had to remind him daily to
| stay on track with his real work. He was obsessed with
| "productivity tooling" but the productivity was secondary.
|
| Not everyone is like this, but it happens a lot.
| kilroy123 wrote:
| I strongly agree. I think it's a form of procrastinating.
|
| I read about all these complex systems for notes and second
| brains and whatnot.
|
| All procrastinating imho.
| spaceisballer wrote:
| That's been my personal experience. Spend plenty of time
| looking at all kind of options to optimize my ir my teams
| workflow. Then just fallback on pen and paper or some
| very simple excel spreadsheet. Something thinking about
| being more productive makes you feel productive.
| 9dev wrote:
| Sounds similar to playing video games: the rules are
| simple, so once you understand them, you can feel mighty
| and powerful simply by accomplishing banal tasks. Makes
| for a great dopamine rush.
| empiko wrote:
| I think it's actually a selection bias. Who is more
| likely to spend a lot of time on productivity systems --
| a person who is on top of their obligations or a person
| who is drowning in them. A naturally organized person can
| do with simple txt, they are already doing okay. A
| chaotic person can build whatever complex process they
| wish, they will still fail.
| r14c wrote:
| I spent several years trying to make a custom todo system
| and ended up back where I started using CalDAV and a
| basic todo app and calendar. Turns out I was always
| procrastinating because I didn't want to force myself to
| adapt to something simple.
| dngray wrote:
| I used to use caldav but then stopped because there was
| once a bug on the server side where I couldn't delete
| events. The main thing I also don't like is there's no
| encryption or privacy really from the provider unless you
| go with a more a less proprietary solution like from an
| encrypted email provider. The closest I saw was EteSync
| but it requires special apps, and can include special
| bugs :)
|
| I also don't need my immediate todo list on a calendar. I
| organize my to-do list simply as "Immediate", "Future",
| "Distant future", and then put things under heading.
| Sometimes I add a due date if there is one.
|
| I just had a few markdown documents in a "todo" folder,
| eg <work>.md <project1>.md etc. Recently I changed it to
| org-mode because that's a syntax designed for the
| purpose. https://nvim-orgmode.github.io/ works
| excellently.
|
| Never been an emacs user in my life. I spent about 5
| minutes perusing https://orgmode.org/org.html and was
| able to do the same.
|
| I use syncthing to sync it between my devices.
| https://www.orgzlyrevived.com/ works great on android.
| r14c wrote:
| Most of my daily agenda is also stored in my employer's
| Google Workspace. CalDAV is _the_ common protocol for
| exchanging and storing events. Most of my task entries
| don 't have a due date, I just sort them by priority.
|
| I understand the privacy concerns, I can host a nextcloud
| in a secure location if I need it.
| nothrabannosir wrote:
| Same. I dabbled in the second brain fad for a while,
| until I realized I already have a first brain.
|
| It was helpful to create new mental models, but I now
| much prefer using my actual brain to organize my
| thoughts.
| motorest wrote:
| > Same. I dabbled in the second brain fad for a while,
| until I realized I already have a first brain.
|
| The way you chose to describe keeping engineering notes
| as "second brain fad" is telling. It says you mindlessly
| tried to follow an organization scheme even though you
| felt no need to adopt an organization scheme.
|
| In other words, you somehow hopped onto a solution
| searching for a problem you didn't had.
|
| That's perfectly fine. Fads are defined by those who,
| like you, onboard onto something for all the wrong
| reasons and without spending any time thinking about what
| they are doing and why they are doing it.
|
| Of course, those who end up searching for problems that
| fit a specific solution end up not finding it. That's the
| fad part.
|
| In the meantime, engineering logs are indeed time tested
| and a tried-and-true technique. Those who use it to solve
| problems they have will naturally see their problems
| solved by them. That's why you see blog posts like this,
| and people commenting on how they scratched their itch.
| mastermage wrote:
| My first brain forgets things quite often. My second
| brain which is a terribly organized Obsidian Vault does
| not.
| mosselman wrote:
| Someone on here once called it craftsmanship cosplaying.
| rewgs wrote:
| Eh, I don't know. I wouldn't paint with such a broad
| brush here.
|
| Regarding productivity/to-do systems: on one hand I agree
| -- I know a few people for whom it's clearly a form of
| procrastination and really just need to get on with it.
| On the other hand, I myself was one of those people, but
| in hindsight I just hadn't found the right system yet and
| had real, legitimate issues with the systems I had been
| trying. Turns out, YouTrack is damn-near perfect for me.
| I use it both for work and for my personal life and I
| really, really love it, even for basic to-do lists. The
| things I was missing from standard to-do lists was the
| concept of relationships ("depends on," "blocked by,"
| etc) and the ability to schedule multiple projects
| together on a Gantt Chart. Put those two features
| together and what needs to be done when and in what order
| is pretty much inarguable, which is precisely what helps
| me stay productive, as looking at a huge list and feeling
| overwhelmed about what to do next -- especially if I'm
| trying to be efficient or strategic -- freezes me in my
| tracks.
|
| Regarding second brains: I completely disagree that
| they're not useful. My Obsidian vault is genuinely one of
| the single most useful things I have ever done for
| myself. There's nothing fancy about it, I don't use most
| of the features, but having a massive vault full of notes
| is truly indispensable in knowledge work.
| pessimizer wrote:
| I've got to tell you that I don't think people like
| gwern.net and andymatuschak.org are procrastinating. A
| lot of these people are very productive in public.
| Walking through their zettel-sites is like walking
| through their minds. The best thing zettel-people have
| done has been to assume that everything that you're
| writing that was clearly inspired by something else
| should reference and direct link that thing. I really
| think we should caching and redistributing our references
| too, but the law...
|
| The stuff they, and many smart people like them, are
| putting in their public notes are sometimes becoming the
| authoritative bibliographies of little specialized
| subjects. Their notes get referenced in journal articles.
|
| edit: also, as far as I know, the goal of having a Zettel
| system is to be as lazy as possible. To have all your
| notes extremely networked so you can find them pretty
| quick, you can get surprised about what's in them because
| old stuff gets surfaced, and you can always find a place
| to add the thought you're having or the notes you're
| taking. You save all of that time digging though stuff
| and filing stuff and losing stuff, which you can use to
| take a walk in the park or something. To accidentally
| write a few books just because you had all your notes
| about some goofy subject you're obsessed with in one
| place and one day you're like "that must be about a
| quarter million words."
|
| edit2: also, also, this conversation is very quaint.
| 10-20 years from now we will all have zettelkasten and we
| will never look at them at all because we will use AI to
| interface with them. I'm sure thousands are already in
| that world, I'm certainly working on getting there.
| bluGill wrote:
| The phhsical copy served an important purpose: it forces
| you to admit you will never do something and so give up on
| is. until I die it is safe to assume I will eat 3 meals per
| day. (It won't be 100% because of sickness but close
| enough) thus if I'm out of some food I will need a todo
| list to replace it. However if I never finish the ukuele
| I've started it won't matter and it is reasonable for me to
| give up on it.
| hhmc wrote:
| There's a now quite dated comment from Merlin Mann:
| "Joining a Facebook group about productivity is like buying
| a chair about jogging."
|
| It's fuzzy - but my recollection was Mann was a fairly
| renown productivity influencer (although I guess we
| wouldn't have called it that then), who had an apostasy
| about it all.
| _mu wrote:
| So much of it is empty productivity, all prepping for the
| work but never actually doing it.
|
| Like the old joke about the programmers spouse who died a
| virgin because every night all the programmer did was sit
| at the edge of the bed talking about how awesome it was
| going to be when they finally did it.
| viraptor wrote:
| On managers side the equivalent is making fancy JIRA
| workflows with all the fancy fields so that everyone is
| informed. Makes people annoyed with extra work and that
| time could be spent just talking to people to understand
| what's actually happening.
| docmars wrote:
| Exactly. It takes enormous effort to get product and
| engineering teams to agree on how to use JIRA properly,
| because everyone has their own ideas around how and what
| to organize. It's exhausting.
| bluGill wrote:
| OR to put is differently - everyone has their own needs
| they are trying to get done. Each one need individually
| is simple so it is easy to demand that need is added too.
| Until the whole system for each different need becomes so
| complex it collapses under its own weight and you move to
| a new tool. This cycle seems to repeat every 10-15 years
| at all companies. JIRA is the tool everyone talking about
| today, but there were many others in the past, and there
| will be a different one in a few years.
|
| Generally the tool isn't the problem: NEVER put ticket
| numbers into long term storage as in a few years you
| won't be able to reference them. That is version control,
| design documents, and anything else that isn't the ticket
| system itself. You can talk about who is working on
| ticket 12345 and the problems they face, but if anything
| is going to be written down you need to summarize the
| ticket without a number.
| skydhash wrote:
| I don't know if anyone has done so, but why not export a
| static html version of the old tool data and have an
| archive that way?
| bluGill wrote:
| Because all the bookmarks/links are still worthless since
| they point to a server not there.
| zxexz wrote:
| I'm very guilty of trying all sorts of productivity
| software as a form of procrastination. The best one did, in
| fact, turn out to be index cards and a pencil.
| popoflojo wrote:
| The real takeaway from your story is that it's easy to stay
| on task when you're interested in the task. Your coworker
| just didn't care about his work. But if his work was
| creating a productivity tool then he'd probably love his
| work and be productive.
| miroljub wrote:
| The whole point of org-mode is that it's so malleable, that
| you can extend it to be whatever you want it to be, much
| easier than writing your own, ad-hoc, bug-ridden
| reimplementation of org-mode.
| reddit_clone wrote:
| Org-mode is the most appropriate answer. It is as simple or
| as sophisticated as we want it to be.
|
| Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first
| jorvi wrote:
| > Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first
|
| This makes it so infuriating that the top comment on Todo
| systems is almost invariably "just org-mode lol". Same as
| remote editing "just TRAMP lol".
|
| I am not going to completely change my editor and rebuild
| two decades of optimization just to use two Emacs tools.
|
| On-topic: TickTick or Todoist with a slimmed-down
| "Getting Things Done" system works really well. Almost no
| learning curve, and you get to free up so much mental
| bandwidth vis a vis remembering things and prioritizing
| things. And you don't have to do hamfisted tricks to make
| a 'simple' .txt system work. Bliss.
| spauldo wrote:
| Agreed on TRAMP. It's great and all, but not worth
| abandoning your toolong.
|
| org-mode though... It's called Emacs' killer app for a
| reason. Even if I only used Emacs for org-mode it'd be
| worth it. And I don't even use the productivity features.
| eadmund wrote:
| > I am not going to completely change my editor and
| rebuild two decades of optimization just to use two Emacs
| tools.
|
| Change your editor and rebuild two decades of
| optimisation in order to use Emacs, two Emacs tools, and
| also every other Emacs tool out there. Org Mode, TRAMP,
| Magit, gptel, eglot, flycheck, elfeed, ERC, Emms, EWW ...
| there are a ton of reasons to use Emacs.
|
| Or you can keep using less-capable systems and being
| annoyed when folks recommend that you upgrade.
| felbane wrote:
| Your argument highlights its own flaw; changing your
| editor opens up a world of tooling that's certainly
| adequate for most use cases you can throw at it, but it
| also requires either discarding or (worse) un-learning
| all of the tooling that you've learned for your current
| editor.
|
| For example, I'm perfectly content to use nvim as my
| primary editor, and this was born out of having to
| develop for and administer literally tens of thousands of
| linux servers professionally. I have all the plug-ins and
| configuration necessary for productivity on my
| development machines, and when I'm on a remote system ad
| hoc editing a configuration it already has a built-in
| lightweight version of the editor I'm already used to.
|
| If I switched to Emacs locally, I'd still have to
| maintain a working knowledge of vi and context switch
| when in a remote shell. Changing to Emacs would require
| _more_ cognitive bandwidth when the whole purpose of
| "switching for org mode" is to _reduce_ mental load.
| eadmund wrote:
| > If I switched to Emacs locally, I'd still have to
| maintain a working knowledge of vi and context switch
| when in a remote shell.
|
| Even ignoring the possibility of installing Emacs on
| remote systems, there are still alternatives:
|
| 1. You can run remote shells within Emacs, and edit files
| remotely using TRAMP. When you are editing a remote file,
| shell commands run from Emacs run on the remote system.
|
| 2. You could use Evil, the Emacs implementation of vim.
| Then you would use the same bindings everywhere.
|
| 3. I have been running Emacs locally for literal decades
| now, but I still remember and use vi frequently, both
| locally and remotely. It's really not a problem.
|
| I feel like there must be an editor version of the Blub
| Paradox.
| jorvi wrote:
| > Or you can keep using less-capable systems and being
| annoyed when folks recommend that you upgrade.
|
| Or I get to choose the most logical option yet: keep
| being annoyed when haughty people keep trying to push a
| downgrade on me as a supposed 'upgrade'.
| dngray wrote:
| > _Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first_
|
| Not true I use the Neovim plugin https://nvim-
| orgmode.github.io/. It supports everything I tried from
| the official org manual. https://orgmode.org/org.html
|
| I use syncthing to sync it between my devices.
| https://www.orgzlyrevived.com/ works great on android.
| miroljub wrote:
| > Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first
|
| The only reason why I still use Emacs daily is org-mode.
| j45 wrote:
| Systems you design yourself for yourself naturally will come
| easier to us.
| docmars wrote:
| Yep, at the risk of repeating what you said: I think this is
| why so many project management / todo apps exist with their
| own flavor of the very basics. It's a reflection of those
| wishes that feel natural to us individually, and it just so
| happens many of these apps mesh well with our model of
| thinking and organizing.
|
| This is also why it's so difficult to get teams on the same
| page about project management in their respective workplaces.
| cwnyth wrote:
| I think in part because larger systems aren't typically
| custom made to the user's exact workflow (especially because
| users don't typically have one single workflow anyway!). So
| not only do I have to get into someone else's mind, but it
| feels ill-fitted to my own mind. Thus, it's also more
| inefficient.
| nottorp wrote:
| When you start structuring your TODO list, you will miss
| adding stuff that isn't easy to fit into the structure to
| said list.
|
| And possibly regret it 3 months later...
| basch wrote:
| What I gather is people really like the blank whiteboard.
| There's something about Notepad and Excel, the freedom, the
| linitlessness, of having a blank canvas and being able to do
| anything.
|
| Todo software is too opinionated. It's not flexible enough to
| allow you to break rules. You can't move things around in a
| way that allows you to control visual white space between
| entries. Everything "is something" (a task, an event) vs just
| being (text.)
| cjonas wrote:
| Ya, I don't need my todo list to have "docs" at all.
| conception wrote:
| Note taking and task management are two things which everyone
| has a slightly different style and need. There is no one size
| fits all and in a group someone will always find some aspect
| lacking.
| graemep wrote:
| A lot of this is solved by todo.txt format (
| https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt )
|
| There are apps that support it on many platforms and it is easy
| to sync across devices.
| dcanelhas wrote:
| Sometimes I like to imagine early people inventing,
| forgetting about and inventing the wheel again.
| GLdRH wrote:
| Now that I think about it that probably actually happened,
| considering the large distances between groups.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| Because it's never about finding the good or good enough or
| even the perfect system of something. It's about the _itch_!
| jimbokun wrote:
| I think a lot of your examples demonstrate the power and low
| learning curve of a single text file as an organizing tool.
|
| Org mode is one direction you could take your text file in.
| Feeding your text file into an LLM or committing it to git or
| formatting with Markdown are others. But starting with a plain
| text file doesn't commit you to any of those paths.
| zem wrote:
| from James Hague's blog https://prog21.dadgum.com/56.html:
|
| 8<---------------------
|
| I still like to implement my own ideas, especially in fun
| languages like Erlang and Perl. I'm glad I can program, because
| personal programming in the small is fertile ground and
| tremendously useful. For starters, this entire site is
| generated by 269 lines of commented Perl, including the
| archives and the atom feed (and those 269 lines also include
| some HTML templates). Why? Because it was pleasant and easy,
| and I don't have to fight with the formatting and configuration
| issues of other software. Writing concise to-the-purpose
| solutions is a primary reason for programming in the twenty-
| first century.
| rambambram wrote:
| Not so fast my dear, just this year I finally adopted the
| default home-directory structure of my linux distro (Document,
| Pictures, Music, Video, etc.) in my workflow. I'm not ready for
| more big obvious changes like this. ;)
| makapuf wrote:
| Am i the only one to generally find those directories getting
| in the way ? I have very few videos or music, or even images
| worth storing as images and not related to other documents.
| Downloads and documents might be useful but then, documents
| is almost everything that is not online so why not put it in
| $HOME. And I don't like capitalized folders but that's me.
| GLdRH wrote:
| I put my media files in other folders, just to spite
| Microsoft
| spauldo wrote:
| Nope, I've hated those for years. Seriously, capitalized
| directory names?
| eadmund wrote:
| man 5 user-dirs.dirs
|
| I hate the default directory names, and like you I hate the
| capitalisation -- fortunately they can be overridden.
| makapuf wrote:
| Thanks. But then, starting discussion, what would be a
| sensible directory choice? downloads, backups ? Nothing?
| rambambram wrote:
| I 'hated' this too for a long time, but I finally gave in.
| It now also matches my backup workflow perfectly. And now I
| don't have to tweak that much after installing a new
| distro. Sometimes my tools have to adapt to me, sometimes I
| adapt a little to my tools.
| amelius wrote:
| That's more because Emacs is an OS-within-an-editor, which imho
| is not a good thing.
| spauldo wrote:
| It's a portable Lisp environment that just happens to have an
| editor as its default application. I know it's advertised as
| an editor, but that's like saying a web browser is a website
| viewer.
| csallen wrote:
| "Copy-pasting tasks is laborious"
|
| "I recommend people read this 30,000 word technical guide"
| jama211 wrote:
| Lmao
| nonethewiser wrote:
| Im perfectly happy with markdown in vscode. Right next to my
| work and with a search function. I guess I could do txt but the
| syntax highlighting makes things a bit more readable.
|
| I think it works for me because it's mostly just a working
| memory. I virtually never visit my notes again. It is not some
| personal knowledge base nor project tracker.
| _345 wrote:
| This satisfied me for awhile, eventually though I wanted a
| more comprehensive solution to record todo notes alongside
| thoughts and project ideas, so I escaped my IDE and got a
| simple obsidian setup going. I can definitely recommend
| nonethewiser wrote:
| Yeah it definitely doesnt scale for every use case. It has
| been enough for me.
| CompoundEyes wrote:
| Same and if I need to share a bit often times I just
| highlight it and tell an LLM to blast out a markdown table,
| render preview and screenshot it to someone.
| t_mann wrote:
| How about having a synced and editable version of your to-do
| list on all your devices, including mobile? I've found that to
| be the main filter for note taking setups. You seem to suggest
| that there's an emacs plug-in that can handle that?
| p_j_w wrote:
| There are apps for iOS that will read .org files and allow
| you to edit them and include the ability to sync with iCloud.
| beorg is one of them. I'm not sure about Android, but I have
| to imagine they exist there as well.
| wim wrote:
| Combining the feel of plain text with real structure is also
| exactly why we're building an "IDE but for tasks/notes" [1].
|
| With structured apps (task managers, outliners) you lose the
| illusion of editing plain text, but plain text alone lacks
| things like structure, links, dates, and collaboration. We've
| spent the last few years building an editor completely from
| scratch to keep the ease of text editing while adding planning
| and structure.
|
| [1] https://thymer.com
| antiframe wrote:
| There's a few bits of information missing on the website that
| is critical to some people:
|
| - What platforms are supported? - What is the business model?
| - Does the editor support customizable key bindings? Are
| there presets for Emacs, vi, or others?
| btilly wrote:
| You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go
| on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a
| specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you
| personally like.
|
| As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from
| emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something
| that works well for you. But I hope that some day you
| internalize the fact that other people aren't you, and they
| shouldn't always be "encouraged" to give up their existing
| solutions to do things in the way that you've decided is
| perfect.
| massysett wrote:
| Don't switch text editors, and don't use a plugin.
|
| For a few years I used Orgmode. I didn't use Emacs. That is,
| when I needed to edit text files, I used Vim or macOS
| TextEdit. I used Orgmode to track my tasks and keep notes.
| That Emacs was underneath it was purely incidental, and I
| didn't use Emacs for anything else. For me, Orgmode was not a
| plugin. It was the primary software I used, and there was
| this Emacs thing under it.
|
| Ironically, these days I do actually use Emacs, and I use
| OmniFocus for tasks, mostly because OmniFocus gets multi-
| device sync right so it's worth the price. But don't hesitate
| to use Orgmode even if you don't want Emacs otherwise.
| btilly wrote:
| And now you encounter the issue of, "a long list of
| features that I don't want".
|
| It is hard to sell someone on a solution to a problem that
| they don't have.
| spauldo wrote:
| org-mode is basically better Markdown with a bunch of
| automated things that don't get in your way unless you
| specifically put them in there.
|
| The only unwanted feature you're likely to encounter is
| automatic sub/superscript conversion, and that's
| documented and easy to turn off.
|
| I'm not recommending org-mode. I personally don't care if
| you use org-mode or not. I never understood that
| mentality. But the type of software you're describing is
| crap, and org-mode doesn't fall into that category.
| f1shy wrote:
| I think the OP is far from saying what you are implying. He
| is not advocating for changing text editor or installing any
| plugins. Just recommends trying out org mode. I think is very
| valid. I've known many many people (in the order of hundreds)
| that use vi for editing in general but emacs for other tasks,
| e.g. org mode, sbcl repl, etc. I think the suggestion ist
| just to give org mode a try. No need to feel offended or
| pushed to leave your favorite editor. At the end, is _all_
| about personal preference.
| btilly wrote:
| To quote the OP:
|
| _I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-
| mode. It takes some time to get used to the editor and its
| keybindings..._
|
| He's literally recommending that everyone who doesn't use
| emacs should install and use a different text editor.
| catoc wrote:
| I see this just as someone being genuinely enthusiastic
| about their own approach, and trying to convince people
| out of that enthusiasm, to make them experience the same
| happiness they are getting from it. I think most of us
| here are old enough to know not to take recommendations
| from some dude on the internet as obligations, which, for
| me, just leaves the enthusiasm between the lines.
| cwnyth wrote:
| He says we should try it out. He doesn't say anything
| about long-term use.
| lelanthran wrote:
| > As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect
| from emacs users.
|
| I'm a vim user, with two exceptions:
|
| 1. SLIME
|
| 2. Org mode
|
| There's a vim plugin for org mode that I used to use, but
| TBH, Emacs excels at org mode.
| dngray wrote:
| > _There 's a vim plugin for org mode that I used to use,
| but TBH, Emacs excels at org mode._
|
| Which one did you use? I use https://nvim-
| orgmode.github.io/ and am happy with it, it's fairly modern
| written as a lua script.
|
| I did see an older one https://github.com/jceb/vim-orgmode
| but i don't think that's maintained anymore.
| lelanthran wrote:
| Probably the one that is not maintained anymore. I
| stopped using the plugin in 2018 or thereabouts.
| jama211 wrote:
| You didn't need to go all tribalistic mate.
| mbonnet wrote:
| how exactly is a .txt not greppable?
| zaptheimpaler wrote:
| Todoist does all of that and more, basically any reminders app
| does most of that.
|
| Just a counterpoint to say, many of us look for a todo app, use
| one of the many great ones on the market and then don't write
| blog posts about it. It's worth just trying one of the many
| existing apps instead of building your own.
| XenophileJKO wrote:
| So my current pet project is a to-do system with an app that
| you can look at, edit, or complete tasks in. But I have both a
| fully agentic interface and simpler LLM powered inputs.
|
| I'm really enjoying it. I think it is a good example of how to
| leverage LLMs to reduce drudgery.
|
| Things I can do now: - take a picture of a notice like a
| license renewal and a task is created and automatically filled
| with due dates and information extracted from the image and
| likely from online searches.
|
| - turn a design document into a reasonable task plan.
|
| - create classified and researched tasks with a sentence.
|
| I'm just getting started on it but it already is kind of
| feature complete. Programmed with Claude Code, about 20k lines.
|
| The key I think is to have something as easy to input as a text
| file, because it applies intelligence to remove friction.
| heresie-dabord wrote:
| > many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build
| quite a lot of snowflake software
|
| The most robust, stable solution for me has been to use
| foundational tools with proven longevity:
|
| = bash
|
| = git
|
| = ncal
|
| https://github.com/viviparous/showcal.git
| waffletower wrote:
| I have used emacs for more than 30 years, use it as a primary
| code editor now, and I have never found use of org-mode,
| despite a few attempts, to become a lasting habit. Of the list
| of integrations provided here, I only see alert and calendar
| support being of interest (but because of this, I may give org-
| mode one more try).
| geor9e wrote:
| please accept that some of us need to re-invent emacs with org-
| mode from first principles, to fully appreciate it
| nkrisc wrote:
| > but _every_ item on the list above is handled out of the box,
| or is offered through a free and maintained plugin.
|
| Which one writes post-it notes for you?
| bitexploder wrote:
| Most of this is solved by: todo list in one file. One list. Use
| markdown. Try Obsidian. Read Randy Pausch last lecture. Look at
| his todo list. Copy that. Use a calendar if it is time
| sensitive. Look at your todo list often. Want to be fancy? Have
| an inbox file that is also a list. Your backlog is stuff that
| moves down to priorities other than 1. Try the Covey quadrants
| for your task priorities. Don't over complicate this.
|
| You can make an art form out of procrastinating on real tasks
| to create the most perfect todo system ever. We got LLMs now.
| It can query your text file, categorize, etc.
| hal009 wrote:
| Emacs is the unholiest of them all.
| komali2 wrote:
| If people want an excellent todo list system that's essentially
| infinitely customizable but still approachable for basic
| productivity, org mode is good.
|
| The mobile experience is somewhat lacking but good enough with
| Orgzly on Android.
|
| However with org mode I had the same issue I had with all my
| to-do list systems, wherein I tended to record too many todos.
| I needed granular prioritization and gtd contexts and scheduled
| and deadlines and repeaters to keep track of it all. I needed
| to install org super agenda to get useful views.
|
| I switched to trillium and nuked 90% of my todos in the
| migration as out of date or just kinda vague things that'd be
| nice to do and chucked those into a future projects note.
| Trillium's to-do UX is slightly better than a markdown document
| because you can click to check the boxes, that's about it. It's
| high friction. I have to go to today's note, go to the Todo
| section, and then put my to-do in the list. Or the week Todo
| section, or month or year.
|
| What I've found is now I actually do all my to-dos because now
| they're all actually worth doing. I'm not scrabbling down every
| single thing and cluttering up my list.
| tempestn wrote:
| I feel the same way. I landed on Evernote rather than org-mode,
| but it similarly provides all these features out of the box,
| while letting me largely customize my setup. (I basically do
| GTD with a notebook for each priority level.)
|
| Was regretting it a bit in the 2020-2023 range when Evernote
| was going downhill, but it's improved a fair amount since the
| acquisition. Almost (but not quite) to the point where I'd
| recommend it to others again.
|
| What I would recommend is spending the time to learn some
| system beyond just a text file. I've ultimately found it well
| worth it, to the extent that I couldn't imagine going back now.
| It is definitely an investment up front though.
| coolThingsFirst wrote:
| All of this is BS and not important. No one goes through 20
| high priority meetings or tasks a day. It's one and maximum 3.
|
| If you need an ALERT for something important, it likely isn't
| important in the first place.
| davedx wrote:
| Text files are too basic, I'm a spreadsheet TODO fella
| setopt wrote:
| To add a different perspective, I love Emacs Org-mode for note
| taking but gave up on it for task management after a couple of
| years. Not because the tool is inadequate - my attempts at
| Todoist or Taskwarrior didn't fare any better - but because the
| GTD-style workflow just doesn't fit my personality.
|
| I've now happily used a paper-based bullet journal instead, and
| am about to transition to a Rocketbook for this use.
|
| The problem is that a GTD-style workflow requires a lot of
| discipline to stick to daily/weekly reviews, where you prune or
| reschedule tasks, and it requires you to be strict about
| deleting tasks you'll never do. If not, you just get an
| endlessly growing list of stale tasks, and for me personally
| the list becomes so associated with guilt and stress that I
| just burn out and get paralyzed unless I regularly throw it all
| out and start from scratch. (Is "TODO bankruptcy" a thing?)
|
| Surprisingly, this led me to the conclusion that _being able to
| forget tasks is crucial for me to remain focused, productive,
| and mentally stable._ Being able to start each day with a blank
| page, write or transfer tasks that I can realistically do
| today, and letting the unimportant ones silently disappear on
| old pages without having to consciously delete them, somehow
| works better for me.
|
| For notes however, Org-mode is great. I've found great value in
| rediscovering old ideas and knowledge 5 years later, whereas
| finding 5 year old undone tasks is rarely something I want.
| renegat0x0 wrote:
| All that you write is not necessary for me.
|
| I use a plain text app on phone for TODOs. I hate
| notifications, do not use full text search.
|
| I have been using it for 5 years now and I hate the notes apps
| with their clunky buttons, limiting software, where you cannot
| write or do what you want to.
|
| I see apps often as regressions toward freedom of note apps.
| zelphirkalt wrote:
| You do understand that org-mode is plain text, yes? You are
| basically losing nothing, if you write an org mode file. You
| don't even have to use org syntax. The point is you can and
| you can do things faster, if you do. Like inserting a new
| heading, or changing the order of text blocks, or inserting a
| quote or a table.
| finaard wrote:
| > I would encourage everyone to try out emacs with org-mode.
|
| You can even do that, _and_ do stuff from your unholy list.
|
| I have my org folder synced via syncthing to every device I
| care about. I used to do automated git commits on that folder,
| but eventually stopped it years ago as commit messages like
| "daily automated commit" are not better than regular backups.
|
| But thanks to LLMs I went back to that - now I have a systemd
| timer which calls a script that calls Emacs (because I have all
| the LLM bindings set up in there already) with the git diff to
| generate a commit message. That does a pretty good job at
| summarising my changes.
| myaccountonhn wrote:
| I like caldav instead with todoman. Allows me to use
| reminder/whatever on my phone, sync with fastmail and also have
| my CLI todo list.
| 7thpower wrote:
| Just wait until I tell you that the reason people have done all
| of that work is because it is a satisfying form of
| procrastination.
| billfruit wrote:
| I think using org mode is way overkill. If someone wants to do
| pros tastination dressed up as emacs-gardening, it may be a
| good option.
|
| The best todo app ideally should be a smartphone app, which
| you'd have always with you. I think Microsoft Todo is a good
| choice for Android. It is mostly functional, free of cost and
| does not have any ads.
| zdc1 wrote:
| Obsidian is my happy medium. Does many of the above while also
| doubling as my journalling tool.
| debussyman wrote:
| > who then build quite a lot of snowflake software
|
| So close! People building snowflake software is a consequence
| of it not being a generalizable problem, not the cause of it.
| Everyone organizes their notes/todos differently, and though
| the variations may seem slight, they are best solved by a blunt
| and unopinionated tool.
|
| > It takes some time to get used to
|
| Non-starter. A text file is the hammer of the digital world
| BrtByte wrote:
| But I think part of the OP's point was about deliberately not
| chasing extra features, even if they're free and
| meistertigran wrote:
| Org mode is nice, but ultimately you are adapting someone
| else's approach. The best is making your own, for which you
| know all features and which works exactly as you want it to
| work.
| qwertywert_ wrote:
| That's exactly my workflow but I use markdown txt file, and use
| vim + macros for auto inserting a new entry with date or marking
| things done. Plus some custom syntax highlighting for done tasks.
| ajd555 wrote:
| This certainly doesn't apply to all cases, and version control /
| history is very complicated, but I use a notepad and a felt tip
| pen and I just couldn't use anything else to keep track of my
| TODOs for the day! It has been my goto ever since my first job,
| and it's never failed me!
| tbbfjotllf wrote:
| Sounds to me like you need something simple and quick. If the
| current system works for you I would suggest to keep using it. If
| you ever feel like you need something better I would recommend
| trying microsoft todo or google tasks. Google Tasks syncs with
| your google calendar so it's a bit more powerful. Apart from them
| both a pretty simple. If you are looking for something even
| simpler take a look at google keep. This is what I use
| personally.
| krwang4094 wrote:
| Especially for Android users, Google Tasks is dead simple to
| use and works seamlessly with voice prompting. The less I have
| to manually write or type out my reminders, the better.
| tbbfjotllf wrote:
| My oldest todo app that I can think of was just a microsoft
| sticky note[1] on my desktop. It always stayed on my desktop.
| It lacked sync between other devices so that sucked but my pc
| was the only device I had at that time so it worked for me.
| After I got a phone; google keep has kept me company. It's
| dead simple, cross platform, and gets work done. The only
| fault? It's by google, and they have a long history of
| killing products.
|
| [1] https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nblggh4qghw
| derbOac wrote:
| I'm sympathetic to the text file, but for me the problem comes
| when you have todo lists that you are sharing with someone
| else, like a spouse. Then you have/want to share and edit them
| collaboratively.
|
| Simple enough, there's ways to do that, but by the time you set
| that up to work across multiple devices of your own and someone
| else's, it's simpler from a UX perspective to just use an app
| dedicated to that task. I suppose we could use a Google doc or
| something but there's Keep.
|
| I'd be interested in trying something else -- I have tried
| other things -- but keep going back to Google Keep.
| d_burfoot wrote:
| The problem with productivity apps is that one size does not fit
| all. Everyone has radically different goals, constraints,
| interests, and workflows. Many people would benefit from having a
| "living" app that is personalized to their tastes, and also
| adapts over time as the characteristics of your life change (e.g.
| having kids is probably going to change your approach to
| productivity!)
|
| I recommend finding a framework within which to build your own
| apps, and then building your own suite of apps that have exactly
| the features you want (shameless plug, I built a platform that
| can serve as such a framework : WebWidgets.io. It is basically a
| way to hook up SQLite databases to JS objects in the browser,
| which allows wide liberty to build your own simple custom apps).
| douglee650 wrote:
| Then, finally you reach the last layer: a 4" x 6" notepad and pen
| that are always kept at your desk
| cluckindan wrote:
| Don't forget scissors, glue and a photocopier!
| benchly wrote:
| It's like Rumshpringa for TODO apps. Everyone wants to rebel
| from the old norms and go do something different, only to end
| up returning to the reliability, clarity and comfort of a good
| pen and pocket notebook.
|
| Big fan of the Rite-In-Rain notebooks, myself, and Fisher Space
| Pen's Cap-o-matic.
| thewebguyd wrote:
| > Big fan of the Rite-In-Rain notebooks, myself, and Fisher
| Space Pen's Click-o-matic.
|
| I carry this combo everywhere I go. Way less friction than
| taking out my phone, unlocking, and suffering the horrible
| experience of typing something on a virtual keyboard.
|
| I do enjoy the looks I get from friends and family sometimes,
| as they all expect me to be high tech everywhere in my life
| but I'm probably one of the most low-tech people outside of
| work.
| skydhash wrote:
| The only productivity I do from my phone is reminder
| alerts.
| jama211 wrote:
| Interestingly enough, this just shows how different people
| like and hate different things. I personally can't stand
| writing with a pen, and am very fluent and fast with a
| virtual keyboard and would never describe the experience as
| horrible. I'm writing this on one right now, and it's
| great.
|
| I also don't want to carry an extra thing in my pocket when
| I already have a phone.
|
| But I'm glad what works for you works for you!
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Did you mean Cap-o-matic?
| benchly wrote:
| Yep, thanks for the correction
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Just making sure I didn't miss a new pen coming out of
| Fisher.
| treetalker wrote:
| Meme on why Rite-in-Rain is _de rigeur_ : https://www.reddit.
| com/r/tacticalgear/comments/u6dq3i/fuck_y...
|
| I'm a pencil person, though.
| jerlam wrote:
| Hipster PDAs (a stack of index cards with a binder clip) were
| all the rage before people even had smartphones. I used
| something like it for a decade.
|
| My extravagance was a corner punch.
| jrowen wrote:
| Even more hipster: A nicely machined piece of walnut and
| bespoke pre-rounded cards:
|
| https://ugmonk.com/collections/analog
|
| I love it! There's a disc-bound version for on-the-go as
| well.
| ralferoo wrote:
| I prefer A4, but yeah. I adopted something roughly based on
| Bullet Journal about 6 or 7 years ago and now on my 4th book.
|
| There's something about manually writing and copying over TODOs
| to the next month that makes you really question if you still
| need to do it, and if you do, gives you a reminder that you
| still haven't done it.
|
| I use a few basic markers copied from standard bullet journal,
| which work well as a dot can be promoted to all the others. A
| dash "-" for informational stuff, a centre dot "*" for a task,
| which turns into a slash "/" for partially done or a cross "X"
| for done, ">" if I carry it forward to the next month and "<"
| if I copy it into the future log (I have pages at the front for
| about 4 years of future events, 3 months per page). I also have
| a leftmost column for the date when something needs to be done
| or for meetings/events.
|
| Surprisingly, even when doing a whole page of notes on
| something, it's not excessive to leave an inch margin, and
| sometimes you want to star a key point or attach an action
| point market.
|
| I've got really used to this way of journaling, and appreciate
| the ability to do different things, like calendar views - such
| as 36 week views with one page for weekends and the other for
| mid week - which are great for planning holidays, weekends and
| significant events.
|
| I never really got into the monthly reflection aspect, but I do
| like doing that around end of year and other inflection points
| through the year.
| skydhash wrote:
| The only issue with paper is links. Hyperlinks are nice and
| makes notes (and task list) a true knowledge base.
| atothayu wrote:
| A4 maxi. surprised to find this here - and yea, you can 1)
| take photo 2) easily index later via vision llm types cheap
| now etc even local (99% time never do, essence of todo
| lists ie ack wont ever need to index most items)
| ralferoo wrote:
| If there's really a hyperlink I need, I might e-mail it to
| myself, add it to a text file in an appropriate place in
| the appropriate project, leave the tab open in my browser,
| or just do the task now.
|
| But IMHO none of that is related to the todo list, which is
| stuff like "7 * Fred's birthday". It's about remembering
| things that I need/want to do, and in a way that's tactile
| and I can reflect on it whether I'm using the computer or
| not, not trying to maintain a knowledge base of everything.
| skydhash wrote:
| For me, it's not about remembering what I have to do.
| It's mostly about capturing the context and track what I
| have done.
| recfab wrote:
| I recently tried out Task Warrior for tasks and this is
| why I switched back to Obsidian + DataView.
|
| Forgetting to check TW is the big reason it didn't work,
| but the secondary reason is that I take a lot dev logs on
| context and the `annotate` command is too clumsy to be
| practical for that.
|
| I like the idea of a CLI tool for todos, but it needs to
| integrate with my notes.
| rambambram wrote:
| > There's something about manually writing and copying over
| TODOs to the next month that makes you really question if you
| still need to do it, and if you do, gives you a reminder that
| you still haven't done it.
|
| This is also key for me. Striking through an item that's on
| my list for some time and that I just decided doesn't matter
| feels just as good as marking some item as done. Undecided
| items indeed go to the next list, and just the act of writing
| down the same item on a new list forces you to reconsider it.
|
| List done? Timestamp it and throw it in the archive box.
| thewebguyd wrote:
| I do this. I love good old fashioned pen and paper.
|
| I've tried, many many times to use digital for both Todos and
| note taking and nothing ever stuck. Even tried using an iPad
| with GoodNotes & the Apple Pencil. Pen and paper is the only
| thing that has ever worked for me still. Plus I enjoy the
| physical sensation of writing things down physically, with a
| really nice pen and a high quality notebook.
|
| So I always keep a notebook open on my desk, I intermix Todos
| and notes on sort of a "daily page" format, and I also carry a
| little field notes flip pad notebook with me everywhere I go.
| On the go it's also, oddly enough, less friction to write in my
| field notes book than it is to take out my phone, unlock it,
| and suffer through the horrible experience of typing anything
| out on a virtual keyboard.
|
| OCR is readily available everywhere now so digitizing your
| handwritten notes, if you have to, is trivial.
| scotty79 wrote:
| I prefer scraps of paper that eventually get spontaneously
| disposed of, regardless of whether I crossed all of the items
| from them.
| dctoedt wrote:
| > _scraps of paper that eventually get spontaneously disposed
| of_
|
| Where "spontaneously disposed of" is sometimes abbreviated
| L-O-S-T, right? <g>
| treetalker wrote:
| Even so, I feel that much of the point of writing things
| down in the first place is to put the information into the
| mind (where the subconscious mind can work with it and do
| its jobs) and, ultimately, so you won't _need_ to be
| reminded about it later.
| dctoedt wrote:
| Very true; I've noticed the same thing myself.
| scotty79 wrote:
| Yeah... that's really weird, I very rarely read what I
| wrote down on the TODO list ... I just write it there and
| cross it off later.
| julianeon wrote:
| If we're being fair here then this must be the place to list
| the problems with the note card/pad system. For me, I
| ultimately settled on using a GitHub repo of todo lists w
| markdown as my solution, viewable on desktop & mobile.
|
| The problems with a physical note card system are:
|
| - I have to use the computer & mobile phone to enter and
| receive all my work, so it makes sense to consolidate the todo
| list(s) into those systems, instead of adding a third one.
| Having to remember to keep a physical bundle near me all the
| time, with a working pen, feels clunky.
|
| - My handwriting is messy and this causes various problems. I
| can't really read it at a glance; longer messages take longer
| to decode; something about the non-uniformity of it also throws
| me off. I don't relish the thought of consulting a pile of my
| handwriting multiple times in an hour.
|
| - I frequently cross off old items and add and/or modify new
| items. This is very easily done with a text file but sounds
| like a mess with note cards: keeping the empty cards around,
| scratching off or erasing existing ones, etc. With GitHub's
| commit history, I can even get a holistic view of how it's
| changed over the day, not possible with physical cards.
|
| - A LOT of the value of my system comes from being able to view
| past days todo lists, to see what's getting done and what
| isn't; I do this daily. Obviously keeping up w/today's tasks
| stretches the physical card system to its limits; extending
| that to the past 7 days sounds like a nightmare.
| general1726 wrote:
| The moment you will start burying old tasks in new tasks, you
| will find out that it is not a good idea.
| bluGill wrote:
| If only I could read my own writting. (Dysgraphia - slowing
| down does not help)
| AstroJetson wrote:
| Are people not doing Hipster PDA on 3x5 cards??
| lrytz wrote:
| FriXion erasable pens FTW
| gedy wrote:
| I suppose I'm boring and already in the Apple ecosystem, but
| Notes app has checkbox and indent support, works between laptop
| and phone nicely. Just works
| koonsolo wrote:
| For me it's still Trello. I used to have a .txt file, and once
| went back to it. But somehow, having these task cards is easier
| for me.
| mentos wrote:
| Trello here too. Has a web and mobile app so its slightly
| better than .txt file in that I can add to it on the run.
| FinnKuhn wrote:
| I use a pretty similar setup. At the beginning of my day when I
| get to my desk at work I open a new .txt and enter all the tasks
| I'm currently working on (copied from the last day). I then mark
| them as completed or leave notes as needed. Works perfectly for
| me - no need for anything more fancy.
| seemack wrote:
| I do the same and I also find that it greatly improves how
| rapidly I can context-switch back into the work, even after a
| weekend away.
| mockingloris wrote:
| Markdown with Obsidian is a good mix. Let's you add context and
| you could figure a way to sync with phone from my 2nd hand lenovo
| running linux to view; code snippets, documents, media, graphs,
| ...all due to the - in my own view the universal document format.
|
| I am a tech creative so I am okay with this vice. Trying to
| finetune the above setup btw.
|
| +-- Dey well
| the_af wrote:
| "It's mine, no company can kill it"
|
| + it's low friction, no special knowledge, no special tools,
| works offline is what does it for me.
|
| Of course we use something bulkier at work, but for my own
| personal TODO I keep a .txt file, and It Just Works (tm).
| Aperocky wrote:
| Shameless plug of my journey of logging diary/todos:
|
| I had tried a diary script that does the simple act of opening
| today's diary in vim: https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman
|
| Once things became overwhelming, it was less trackable across
| time and became messy - so I created tascli:
| https://crates.io/crates/tascli to centrally manage tasks and
| records with sqlite in a CLI app.
|
| Think I'm in a sweet spot now having both of these minimal
| version logging - the lack of functionality is exactly why they
| are great.
| gkoos wrote:
| I guess the more organised you are, the better off with just a
| textfile. I'm not, so I use layers: - postit notes - google (I
| know!) calendar if it's time sensitive - paper or text file notes
| - if it's a longer thing, maybe obsidian (I know!)
|
| The point is, I don't think one app, any app can solve all
| mankind's all scheduling problems.
| cluckindan wrote:
| This is the way. Markdown does improve it a bit, though!
| mockingloris wrote:
| Markdown on Obsidian is a prestine setup. Can be used to embed
| many file types; media, documents, code snippets, graphs, ... all
| this can be linked and this unlocks so much context. Being able
| to sync that; My 2nd hand Lenovo running Linux and my Samsung S20
| Phone.
|
| I am a tech creative and this is one of my vice. Having a todo is
| an opportunity to go through your experiences for clarity.
|
| +-- Dev well
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| I went through the same process and now use a text file, or more
| accurately, I use a "canvas" in slack which is essentially a
| free-form text page with Markdown formatting (including check
| boxes that I can check). I make one page per month, with H1
| headings for each day.
|
| The reason I use this in Slack is that I already have Slack open
| all day and don't want to have YetAnotherWindowOpen. Also, I get
| sync between computers/devices for free.
|
| This is just for the work I need to do that day. Otherwise we
| have YouTrack tickets; any meetings I set in Google Calendar.
| didip wrote:
| Legit. Especially with the rise of LLM.
|
| But I use .md files stored in a private git.
| fs111 wrote:
| The only thing that ever really worked for me is taskwarrior.org.
| It is super easy to get started and can be made more
| sophisticated as you. I live in the terminal most of the time
| anyway so that makes it a natural fit.
| ChanderG wrote:
| Shameless plug: I built [1] and use a small magit like interface
| on top of org-mode.
|
| I love org for all its bells and whistles and use them in various
| ways. But most of the time I need a small subset of org in a
| form-factor that allows ease of use.
|
| [1] https://github.com/ChanderG/toodoo.el
| julianpye wrote:
| I swear by Mindmapping Applications (e.g. Xmind, Mindmanager) -
| one file every month (extractable with a python library for LLM
| evaluation).
|
| One top-level branch is a prioritized Inbox with a Pending branch
| at the top (Item half-completed, but awaits external action, e.g.
| an order has to arrive).
|
| One top-level branch with Done, which is a folder with a branch
| for each week, then day, where I dump completed items into
|
| One top-level branch for ongoing subscriptions with alerts
|
| Collapsed top-level branches for Hobbies and Family Ideas and
| things-to-do
|
| With xmind, you can easily tag the task progress of each item.
|
| Took me 8 years, including a really beautiful Android ToDo
| Concept which I build and ended up abandoning :D
| mt_ wrote:
| I would take this more seriously if the title were: > I tried
| every todo app and ended up with a .md file
| goshx wrote:
| I use Apple's native Notes.app
|
| It is easy to create text with checkbox you can click on, and on
| macbook you can type fn + Q to open the floating Notes window, or
| use hot corners. It is automatically available on your iPhone as
| well, since it syncs.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| I write them on my hand
| LightBug1 wrote:
| Nice. How do you filter?
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Folding fingers over the ones you want to hide, obviously!
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| if I get really overwhelmed I get sweaty and my list
| completes itself
| mxuribe wrote:
| I think that's referred to as "handTodo Zero" :-)
| hu3 wrote:
| Same, but my text files are .md and synched for free between
| mobile/workstantion using Joplin + OneDrive.
| non- wrote:
| This is what I do with my "Daily Brain Dump". I use Apple Notes
| bc it syncs up nicely with my phone. Every day I add a new entry
| to the top of the note. Mix of TODO's and a journal. Actually
| have two files, one for my life in general and one for work.
| doug_durham wrote:
| Exactly this. I realized that full featured tools like OmniPlan
| made increased my anxiety because it is too easy the build up
| to do items that you would never do. Having a simple note pad
| forces me to delete unnecessary cruft every week since I have
| to manually copy it. Also the notes approach gives me one place
| to look for and summarize all of my activities.
| HocusLocus wrote:
| A txt (rtf in my case) is a notebook that doesn't get messy.
| Deepest parts go back to 2007. Cell phone alarm for reminders,
| also acts as a clotting agent for time. After you do what the
| alarm is for you have choice of setting alarm again or proceeding
| into the next item.
| zkmon wrote:
| ToDo apps are a perfect example of coming up with solutions for a
| non-existent problem. Most of the tech solutions fall into this
| category.
|
| When the consumer gets to take a hard look at their needs and
| gives a thrashing for sales pitch and doesn't give a damn to peer
| pressure, and demands for a bare-bones functional solutions only
| for their real and immediate needs, 90% of these solutions vanish
| into thin air.
| tyk06 wrote:
| You should try org-mode
| picafrost wrote:
| To be honest, I have never understood the TODO "industry." Do
| people really have so many things to do, and is it really that
| difficult to keep track of them all? I do not know if it's just
| me but I feel completely alienated by these apps and articles.
| happytoexplain wrote:
| >Do people really have so many things to do, and is it really
| that difficult to keep track of them all?
|
| I think you can find the answer to this question by looking at
| the comment thread of any TODO/notes/task-tracking submission
| on HN.
| picafrost wrote:
| That's a fair point - but most of these threads focus on
| comparing systems rather than discussing whether they are
| necessary in the first place. I can see how folks with ADHD
| or similar challenges would benefit from a TODO app (or
| similar).
|
| I'm more curious about a broader question: at what point does
| life complexity actually require a formal system versus just
| mental tracking? Tech people are, for the most part, the only
| people I encounter actively _using_ and iterating on their
| TODO solutions, and I am skeptical that in general they lead
| more complex lives.
| aaronbaugher wrote:
| Maybe virtual tasks need better organization or reminders
| than physical tasks. I rarely forget to wash my dishes
| because the dishes are right there. I don't forget to go
| gather the eggs because I have to shut up the chickens
| every night and check their food and water, or living
| creatures could die. There are physical consequences and
| reminders of those things.
|
| The need to update a piece of software doesn't give me any
| physical cues, and if I have a couple dozen tasks like that
| waiting on me, I'm never going to remember them all unless
| they're all popping into my head throughout the day. That
| pretty much is how I used to try to do it, and it wasn't
| good.
| cloverich wrote:
| For someone with ADD, it can be extremely difficult to keep
| track of even 3-4 relatively simple items that need completed
| in a day. They will get distracted by something minor, and 8
| hours later have completed 20 things in a highly productive
| manner, but 0 of the 3-4 important items they were supposed to
| do (and most likely, they will have forgotten those items
| existed entirely). For me what works is starting each day with
| a list of 3 items that need done that day, and to check that
| list about every 30 minutes all day long.
| icedchai wrote:
| Same. There are tons of people are spend more time organizing
| 'TODOs' than actually doing them.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| What I have:
|
| Work projects: typically on the order of a dozen
|
| House projects: Probably over 20 distinct chores over the
| course of a week, plus currently two maintenance things that I
| can't do myself and have to call people repeatedly because 90%
| of contractors just don't show up unless you remind them to.
|
| Kids: most things can be handled immediately (e.g. sign a
| form), but there are always at least half-a-dozen things in the
| air that can't for one reason or another.
|
| Other: Resubmitting medical bills to insurance (can only be
| done during business hours, I typically open my mail after
| business hours). Contacting bank about _something_. &c.
|
| Here's a fraction of what I'm doing today, including one from
| each category (except calling a contractor because my wife is
| doing that):
|
| - I have to contact my bank during business hours because they
| sent me the wrong form (discovered while I was filling it out
| this weekend).
|
| - I need to call a coworker because one project is blocked on
| them regarding an issue that they haven't replied to my e-mail
| sent Thursday afternoon.
|
| - I need to pickup my daughter from a day-camp on the way home
| from work. Before dark, I need to weed part of the front yard.
|
| - Tonight the trash (but not the recycling) goes out to the
| curb for a pickup tomorrow morning.
|
| Yes, I have met people who can keep track of these things in
| their head. I am not one of them.
| helloworlddd wrote:
| You have too many things on the go at once. Do less at work,
| delegate all your chores to your wife, and send the kids to
| boriding school. Problem solved.
| itsboring wrote:
| You're not alone. Like many in this thread, I have kids and a
| house, etc. etc. Never needed anything like this. Maybe jotting
| down a note with pen and paper now and then, or at most, e-mail
| myself a reminder of something.
|
| I have to wonder if some people use these systems to make
| themselves feel more important than they actually are.
| egometry wrote:
| Reinventing the plan file!
|
| I mostly do this too for personal stuff. Although on solo
| projects I have a neverending TODO.md I check in...
|
| ...and on multi-person projects I end up using github
| issues/projects and/or Forgejo's equivalent
| SanjayMehta wrote:
| I've always circled back to a shirt-pocket sized spiral notebook.
| A7 size, I think.
| brap wrote:
| Productivity really doesn't need "solving".
|
| The problem is procrastination.
|
| It's quite ironic the amount of time people sink into these
| productivity methods and apps. Almost like it was yet another
| form of procrastination...
| mapontosevenths wrote:
| It reminds me of the developers I know who spend 6 hours out of
| every 8 hour day tinkering with their obscure toolsets and
| crazy build systems to avoid writing code.
|
| I've seen folks using vim get way more done than some of these
| Youtube addicted professional tool testers.
| ChromaticPanic wrote:
| Checking things off might give that small endorphin drip enough
| to break the procrastination habit.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| _sigh_
|
| I've done the text file thing, and it's fine. Up to a (very
| small) point.
|
| What the author describes as their "workload" barely registers.
|
| For context, for me, Things on any given day has over 100
| individual actions, most of which are recurring.
|
| By doing this, I can stay on top of an extremely broad surface
| area. There is no way a text file can handle the number of
| parallel work streams my (or really many) people have.
|
| Broadly, for me these work stream are:
|
| * Self Care
|
| * Relationship
|
| * Children * Special Needs (IEP, SSI,
| Conservatorship, GGRC, Medical, Special Needs Trust, etc)
|
| * Friends
|
| * Professional (BD, etc)
|
| * Investments (Real Estate, Angel Investments, SEP, etc)
|
| * Legal (LLCs, Litigation, Wills, etc)
|
| * Financial (Quarterly and Annual Taxes in 2 countries,
| Insurance, etc)
|
| * Home (Massive)
|
| * Hobbies
|
| * Vehicles
|
| Without a _serious_ amount of structure in the form of my todo
| system, there's no way a person could manage this - certainly not
| with a text file.
|
| Calendars very rapidly fall down for scheduled tasks that you
| can't knock out the day of, they lack reminder functions, etc.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Maybe you can talk a bit about what _does_ work for you?
| don_neufeld wrote:
| I've tried most of the major systems, and for me Things3 wins
| hands down. Yes, it costs some money to by the app on my
| phone and on my Mac, but the cost of missing even one
| deadline blows those costs out of the water.
|
| I do with Things3 supported nested areas, but I just use
| Projects that I never complete to achieve the same effect.
| Cassandra99 wrote:
| I previously developed an open-source alternative to
| Things3, available on web, Android, and Windows. You can
| try it out. I posted Show about it before, but not many
| people paid attention.
|
| Currently, the UI is a bit ugly, but I have hired a
| professional UI designer to redesign it, and it is
| currently in development.
| ukFxqnLa2sBSBf6 wrote:
| I have use a system similar to this guy and TickTick is
| perfect. I even use shared lists with my girlfriend to track
| chores which is something we implemented recently and works
| great.
| block_dagger wrote:
| I would argue that it would be trivial to have a todo.txt for
| each area you mentioned. Put them in a folder labeled "todo"
| and you're all set.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| Sure, but I would lose a ton of reminder and repeating action
| functionality.
|
| I'd also have to scan across a dozen or more files to figure
| out what my day looks like.
|
| Seems strictly worse to me.
| astrobe_ wrote:
| "Things on any given day has over 100 individual actions,
| most of which are recurring" looks more like checklist(s) to
| me.
| jama211 wrote:
| There's a reason pilots don't use text files for their
| checklists. Sometimes people need better features.
| nonethewiser wrote:
| This looks like anxiety
| btilly wrote:
| It sounds like your life requires a manager's schedule. Lots
| and lots of things to fit into a busy day. Likely without a lot
| of big blocks of focus time.
|
| Most programmers are far better off with a maker's schedule.
| Far fewer things in a day. Each with a significant block of
| time associated with it.
|
| An absolutely minimal productivity system is perfect for anyone
| on a maker's schedule. You're right that it wouldn't work for
| your life.
|
| See https://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html if you're not
| familiar with the terms "manager's schedule" and "maker's
| schedule". It also provides context for why those different
| kinds of schedules are appropriate for different people. (One
| of the big mistakes that people on manager's schedules often
| make is to not recognize and respect the impact that a "quick
| 15 minute meeting" has on employees who need to be on a maker's
| schedule.)
| don_neufeld wrote:
| 100% - I read that when it came out, and I point others to it
| too.
|
| The thing about Maker's schedule for me is that it's easy to
| get so into what I'm doing that other things in my life don't
| get the attention they need.
|
| Having a reminder system helps make sure that doesn't happen.
| anzumitsu wrote:
| Can you give some examples of your 100 daily actions? I'm
| struggling to understand how you're scheduling so many things,
| like I'm sure I complete 100 actions in a day but most are
| going to be things like "brush my teeth" or "clean up the
| dinner dishes", which I personally wouldn't schedule.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| It's definitely detailed. Here are a few from today:
|
| Call PG&E about medical baseline allowance
|
| Check SM Court website re: Conservancy ruling
|
| Expect next invoice from [redacted]
|
| Order refill of [medication]
|
| Book service for [vehicle]
|
| Various financial transfers associated with agreements.
|
| Tons of project related tasks for work I can't share
|
| etc, etc.
| anzumitsu wrote:
| Sounds like you need an assistant haha. I'm glad your
| system is working though.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| Thanks, it's grown organically over the 10+ years I've
| used it.
|
| I've also used a variety of EAs over the years, and in my
| experience reliability is highly variable. The great ones
| are _amazing_.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| Just in case it wasn't obvious, there are a bunch of
| "Expect X to have happened by now" type tasks in there.
|
| These are basically dead man's switches to remind me to
| check on someone else's progress vs a timeline - ala
| @patio11's "dangerous professional"
| robenkleene wrote:
| GTD (Getting Things Done) has a similar concept called
| "Waiting for".
| jrowen wrote:
| Managing the line between daily and long-term tracking is one
| of the toughest parts. I have a flat list of files in Notes
| analogous to yours, but I'm not working in every one every day,
| some will sit dormant for months. Do I maintain a "to buy" or
| "Home Depot" list in each one, or at the top level?
|
| I like using paper for today's tasks and instant thoughts. I
| like to avoid cluttering with recurring unless I'm really
| having trouble (or keep it in calendar). I find that the "oh
| shit" part of my brain is largely a good enough reminder system
| as long as I capture the thought before it flies away.
|
| side note: I do like the "Relationship" call-out. I had a past
| relationship suffer in part because I kept it a bit too much in
| the back pocket and not up on the proverbial board with the
| other projects. Workaholics take note - make your relationship
| part of your workflow.
| bravesoul2 wrote:
| Some of this sounds like it could benefit from check-lists
| (probably you are?).
|
| 20 home todos could be wrapped into a single check list that
| you do once a week.
|
| The master todo says "do 1 hour home checklist".
|
| Then in that hour you analyse what you will prioritise, drop,
| defer and delegate.
|
| The idea being your mind is then free of "repair the gutter" in
| general life, but you know you'll visit that on Sunday at 4pm.
| don_neufeld wrote:
| I do have those, especially for shopping. "Home Depot Trip"
| for example is a constant, and has 2-10 checklist items on it
| at any given time based on what I need.
|
| The problem with a once weekly checklist of [all the house
| things] is how do I track when I last did a specific action
| so I make sure it doesn't drag on too long?
|
| As a concrete example - I live in a steep, hilly area. So I
| schedule making sure that my drainage is clear about every 3
| months. When I bought the house, drainage was a significant
| problem because it hadn't been attended to and a lot of stuff
| needed significant cleanouts. Do I strictly need to do
| something about it every 3 months? NO, but if I let it go for
| too long then it becomes a problem.
| dap wrote:
| Folks are criticizing this as too much or coming from too much
| anxiety. I might have agreed before owning a home and having
| kids. But I totally get it. A typical week involves dozens of
| random tasks like those you mentioned. Then there's the long
| backlog of stuff that's important but not urgent.
|
| I've used Todoist for the last few years. It's not perfect. But
| it's been game-changing in terms of _reducing_ anxiety because
| I never worry that I 'm forgetting something.
|
| Like you, I don't know how folks in similar positions manage. I
| think a lot of people just drop the ball on a lot of stuff or
| wait for stuff to become suddenly urgent. I don't think that's
| a terrible approach -- I still drop a lot of balls because
| there's just too much. I just try to do it more intentionally.
|
| I'm not knocking folks with other systems, text files or
| otherwise. Do what works for you!
| don_neufeld wrote:
| Yuuuup.
|
| I remember the days before I had this much complexity.
| Frankly, it's forced me to get a lot better at stuff.
|
| Back to school was a blizzard of forms, meetings, drop offs,
| etc. each with their own unique timelines. Sandwiched between
| all the rest of life.
| BLKNSLVR wrote:
| I have multiple times had the thought that it's not
| actually possible to "get ahead" because it takes 110% of
| available time (because no one gets enough sleep) just to
| tread water.
|
| Investments and Property I see as kind of essential to
| having much of a retirement, but these things need
| knowledge and research to get a handle on initially and to
| closely manage going forwards, such that they could be a
| part-time job on their own.
|
| How does that fit around a full time job plus kids school
| and sports plus maintaining a healthy diet and exercise?
|
| The one thing that all of the above does teach a person,
| though, is: filtering of bullshit; ability to say no.
| WhyNotHugo wrote:
| Did you try todoman (which I wrote, like a decade ago)?
|
| It stores todos in icalendar files, so it's easy to sync onto a
| CalDav server and onto your phone.
| kown7 wrote:
| I like Tasks.org for Android and I think it syncs with CalDAV
| that comes with my e-mail provider. That should just about do
| the trick, even with Thunderbird.
| LightBug1 wrote:
| Like the simplicity ... but this would never work for me ... I
| literally have thousands of tasks and ideas and notes and
| possible tasks and checklists and ...
|
| The key is being able to filter all of your tasks down quickly to
| what's essential today. No way in hell I can visual-scan
| everything that's important to me.
| lordkrandel wrote:
| Yes, oh yes, it's so refreshing. You have got 217 points but you
| deserve more. One million. Let's not engineer things that don't
| need it.
| mbesto wrote:
| New todo apps have absolutely amazing UIs because people think
| the frustration of todo apps has to do with the UI. The thing is
| YOU WANT FRICTION in your todo app. There is something rewarding
| and satisfying about a UX where you've accomplished a task and
| you get to check it off.
|
| The perceived holy grail of todo apps is the one that
| automatically creates tasks and then checks them off when we
| complete the task with zero interaction. This is wrong.
| janwirth wrote:
| I have an alias called "notes" which opens a file called "notes"
| where I write everything, including upcoming todos.
|
| I never look back more than a day or two worth of notes.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| I host my own wall calendar. There is an annual subscription
| cost, but it's so cheap I don't notice. I hacked it together with
| thumbtack 1.0 and Bic Crystal a very long time ago. Others have
| used it and find the interface extremely intuitive. Localization
| is supported. I even have pencil support. If things become
| tentative, we can switch over to it seamlessly. When I have a
| todo item, I input it onto the day and time that works best.
| Highly recommended.
| tra3 wrote:
| How do you deal with multi tenancy? What's your back up
| strategy?
| perilunar wrote:
| to back it up just take a photo of it.
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| The real curveball is sending smoke signals to request pricing
| info.
| nixpulvis wrote:
| I'd be happy if I could define my own notification system on top
| of a text file tbh.
|
| I can't tell you how many times I would have forgotten something
| if I had not made it a timestamped reminder.
|
| That said, most apps all suck in various ways. So I feel the urge
| to just use text.
|
| I'm currently using Reminders.app (the default on iOS) and it's
| nice that it's somewhat lightweight. But organizing things is
| clunky and the experience feels flimsy.
|
| All throughout college I used Trello, and frankly it was better
| that way. I should go back, except every time I log in something
| new is different and I don't like change.
| dugmartin wrote:
| If you live in VS Code there is a notes plugin that lets you
| create and manage Markdown notes in the sidebar. I usually create
| one note per repo and then pin the tab in that repo. If you work
| on a lot of projects it is a great way to segregate your todos by
| project so you don't get overloaded. I also have a todo folder
| that has multiple notes pinned (today, scratchpad and long term
| notes) that I keep open in my main workspace window. It works for
| me, YMMV.
| tlhunter wrote:
| Is this a joke? AI helps but isn't needed: With
| Cursor/Claude Code or Neovim + Supermaven, I can write my entire
| day's schedule in 5 minutes. The AI completes my sentences,
| predicts meeting times, memorizes how I write tasks.
| EGreg wrote:
| I've been using a text file for years.
|
| I wanted to make my own todo app. One thing that I would want is
| to reorder things, group and rank them etc.
|
| For example, in my text file I usually put the number of minutes
| or hours something would take, and then order things by easiest
| first, to get things done. That way I have less things to carry
| over for the next day.
|
| I also found that if I keep procrastinating on important but long
| things, it probably means I need to hire someone, or partner with
| someone, who is better than me in that thing. I don't believe in
| pushing myself more than I already am, or optimizing personal
| productivity, I think it's actually a sign that I need to work on
| recruiting people to a startup or join an existing project. I
| believe in optimizing the organization and its systems, not
| people.
| hateful wrote:
| I also do the text file thing. I use EditPad Pro. The only
| additional thing I've done is create syntax coloring in any file
| named 'tasks-*.txt'.
|
| I added simple things like: - Color anything ending in a ? green,
| so when looking at a list of notes, so I know where the questions
| were. - Any line beginning with an all caps word is highlighted
| (e.g. TODO: ) - Any line ending in a : is highlighted light blue
| (e.g. title) - Any Line Containing "Error" is red
|
| I do suppose I could be using Markdown, but I've had this going
| for 20 years now.
| julian_t wrote:
| I currently have three editors open: nvim (because I've been
| using it since it was vi), VS Code (because that's what work
| mandates) and Emacs (for org mode only). Horses for courses, and
| all that.
| leecarraher wrote:
| my slightly next gen todo is a notebook on my remarkable. added
| features are sharing between devices, and since it's eink its a
| good paper like alternative to sticky-notes. For me beating
| procrastination can be more important than organizing many
| subtasks.
|
| FWIW, i only use this for work todos and differentiate todo with
| calendar(paper calendar and dry erase board for home, outlook for
| work calendar)
| kkfx wrote:
| Me personally I'm very satisfied by org-mode, but the main point
| is not org-mode itself but Emacs, or an integrated, end-user
| programmable environment. Org-agenda handle todos, but in the
| same notes I handle attachments, runnable live code, links to
| mails/threads, ... because of that and that's the point: we have
| a single brain, we need systems who are integrated as well.
|
| Not a gazillion of independent apps lacking also unix CLI IPCs
| (only cut&paste), but a single integrate, moldable one. Modern
| software have ERPs as best integrated solution, Emacs is the most
| integrated one still alive and kicking, Smalltalk workstations
| and LispM was the best from the past.
|
| Maybe in some more decades, a step at a time, we will be back at
| such evolutive levels...
| uludag wrote:
| I've came to a very similar conclusion. Productivity SaaS apps
| feel exciting to get started but eventually I've abandoned them
| all. I feel that many others have similar experiences but I'm not
| exactly sure why. Like the author, I too ended up with a plain
| text format (org-mode) and I've happily been on it for 7 years.
| Some questions that came to mind:
|
| - Is it the artificial hype and promises around certain
| productivity apps (e.g. youtube notion promoters) that ultimately
| leave one disappointed?
|
| - Does the productization of these apps make the companies feel
| compelled to change too much, thus alienating users? Is this why
| Apple notes has such a following, since it's not a monetized
| product of apple?
|
| - Is the allure of plain text the fact that it doesn't change,
| analogous to something written on paper?
| elAhmo wrote:
| In my case, I ended up using a simple note in Apple Notes, for
| each month/quarter, having a collapsible day heading and just
| adding tasks there. Bold indicates a bit of a higher priority,
| and I can move things that I don't complete from previous days.
| mstudio wrote:
| Somewhat similar situation here, but I use a .diff file:
|
| ! heading here
|
| + item to do here
|
| - item completed here
|
| the !+- prefixes auto-highlight/colorize in editors. I use
| Sublime Text.
| diimdeep wrote:
| I am stealing this.
| calebm wrote:
| I do a combined TODO + Log in pure text. So the stuff at the
| bottom of the list is todo, and the stop above is a log of stuff
| I've done. I do one list per year.
| chr1ss_code wrote:
| Suggestion for Android: Tasks -- I've been using this (free) to-
| do list, planner and reminders app for probably more than ten
| years now, mostly as a shopping list app. Be aware that there are
| other apps with very similar names and icons.
|
| https://mytasksapp.com/
|
| cheers
| rolandpeelen wrote:
| I had the same problem and then built https://crom.ai/
|
| --> htts://app.crom.ai/register
|
| Side project - so don't really actively market it, but it's been
| my daily driver for over a year now
| modeless wrote:
| https://workflowy.com is the closest to a text file I've used and
| that's why I like it. It's like a text file that is synchronized
| between all your devices and lets you collapse nested bullet
| lists. That's enough for me.
| bambax wrote:
| Came to say this. It's not exactly a todo list, and it
| certainly isn't "yours", but it's very close to a text file,
| with just about the right amount of additional functionality,
| and it's free.
|
| I don't use it all that often but it's a good companion, for
| example to make checklists for packing, etc.
| modeless wrote:
| Oh yeah, sharing is another nice feature it offers for things
| like packing checklists. You can share part of your bullet
| list with collaborators.
| d--b wrote:
| Workflowy is a text file until you need it to be a little more
| than a text file.
|
| It's the best out there for sure.
| billy99k wrote:
| I use obsidian with the tasklist plugin
| tatjam wrote:
| I like the "dopamine hit" of changing a task from TODO to DONE
| that comes from colors. I use this very simple vim syntax file
| for that :)
|
| syntax match TODOKey "TODO"
|
| syntax match DONEKey "DONE"
|
| syntax match BLCKKey "BLCK"
|
| syntax match MAYBKey "MAYB"
|
| syntax match Comment "\/\/.*$"
|
| hi def link TODOKey DiagnosticWarn
|
| hi def link DONEKey Type
|
| hi def link BLCKKey DiagnosticError
|
| hi def link MAYBKey Constant
|
| hi def link Comment Comment
| melodyogonna wrote:
| Too much organization never helps, I've learned this with both
| note taking and with todo apps.
|
| My workflow with ticktick is largely based on having all my to-
| dos in one "next actions" list. Tags are the one feature I can't
| throw away though, most of my to-do lists is tagged with a
| project name. My day to day view of Ticktick is usually some tag
| Olshansky wrote:
| Todoist. Unaffiliated but love the product and believe they
| deserve a shotuout.
| dkersten wrote:
| I tried a bunch of todo apps, task trackers etc and also tried a
| txt file. None of it really worked for me. I tried bullet
| journals, I couldn't stick to it.
|
| What did end up working for me is a clipboard with a sheet of
| paper that I replace every few days. I write my todo list on it
| and I cross done tasks off in red marker. I guess it's kinda like
| the bullet journal but even more lite.
| lovehashbrowns wrote:
| I just switched to printing my todo tasks on a receipt printer. I
| have an arduino connected to a receipt printer and a Python
| script that can send commands to the arduino to print tasks. Also
| just finished adding barcode scanning so the task gets printed
| with a barcode and I use an iOS Shortcut to mark the task as
| complete. Actually works so well! Having the tasks in physical
| form helps me stay more focused and scanning the barcode to mark
| a task as complete feels so satisfying. I have the code if anyone
| wants to delve into this but it does require arduino + receipt
| printer + a TTL to RS232 module, though! And BPA-free receipt
| paper if you are concerned about that.
| swat535 wrote:
| The only note taking app I've been able to use is "Reflect"
| (https://reflect.app/) because it gives me a calendar view and
| allows linking with tags and backlinks. Plus it's encrypted and I
| can always export my notes.
|
| The only downside is that it's only on OSX/IOS but the webapp is
| good enough for my use cases.
| gareth5851 wrote:
| I made a dumb command-line tool that sends a 1-line email to my
| work email or to my personal email. The tool is in my PATH on 2
| computers. I use paper when I'm not at my computer and I have
| small pen and small paper with me at all times. Occasionally I
| send texts to my email address. I'm considering giving this tool
| to my coworkers.
| alankarmisra wrote:
| Same. I use Apple Notes. I have a few notes pinned (regular work,
| creative work, self-education, travel, chores). I write tasks.
| Break them up into small tasks with indents. Pick a task from the
| pool and execute. "Regular Work" tasks get priority. But if I'm
| not feeling it, I move to the other ones. Once I finish a task, I
| delete it/replace it with next steps. Nothing fancy. No
| formatting except for indentation. Been crushing it.
|
| But I will add, there is no right way to do things in life in
| general. Experiment, and do what works for you.
| sgt wrote:
| Same as well, Apple Notes. It works really great. I've also
| fully adopted the smart notes now with tags so that I can more
| easily organize stuff. I give the folders names with emojis to
| make it a bit more "fun".
| burnJS wrote:
| I send an email to myself. Monday todo, Tuesday todo etc..
| zahirbmirza wrote:
| I find it most interesting that despite Notions appeal and
| fanbase, it continues to lead to failure of this function. I am
| one of those who has built not just one, but two two apps for
| this! But, for todo management, I still use a Notes file (.txt on
| iOS is hard). I suspect that the upcoming integration with
| AI/calendar in iOS 26 will make it less appealing to me however,
| because it will take away the control and simplicity of managing
| things myself manually.
| atothayu wrote:
| you are forgetting the most goat/clutch better than .txt - pen on
| back of hand :) (being completely serious/earnest here. great
| article, read thru the whole thing. same experience, tho i do
| love things), but ultimately back to my tried true high school
| days, timeless, eternal: WRITE IT ON THE BACK OF YOUR HAND THEN
| WASH IT OFF
| atothayu wrote:
| BONUS - take a PHOTO as soon as you write it (so you can check
| later if needed, 99% never. just cognitive safety). but BODY as
| POST-IT is FASTEST, TIMELESS
| slackpad wrote:
| A few years back a friend approached me with an idea to track
| todos in Google Calendar directly by adding #todo to event
| titles. If you don't mark them as done they will roll forward to
| the next day. We ended up shutting it down as a product, but I
| recently vibe coded it back as a Google Apps Script so it's free
| to run on your own. It works super well for people who live off
| of their calendar - https://github.com/slackpad/hashtagtodo-
| redux.
| mnw21cam wrote:
| I totally wrote my own TODO system. It's actually quite
| featureful, and it works as a command-line program that stores
| its data in a human-readable text file. And can produce graphs.
| Admittedly, it's more of a time-tracking system with an attached
| TODO list than anything else, and it doesn't pop up reminders for
| anything - I have an annoying calendar for that instead. Maybe
| one day I'll pop it on github and see if anyone else likes it.
| jrowen wrote:
| I'm also a fan of the minimalist approach, having settled on a
| combination of Notes app and temporary paper lists. When I'm
| feeling overwhelmed and really need to knock out some tasks,
| nothing beats pencil and paper for me.
|
| I recently came across the Analog product from Ugmonk and I love
| it. It's basically just a dedicated little wood holder for you
| desk, and different types of cards. I use the blank lined cards.
|
| https://ugmonk.com/collections/analog
| TurkishPoptart wrote:
| $70 for a cute wooden card holder. Holy moly!
| jrowen wrote:
| What perspective are you coming from where that is a crazy
| amount? If it works for one it will become a part of their
| daily life. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Most pairs of
| pants cost at least that much unless you're of the "I only
| shop at Costco/Target" mindset.
|
| I'm sure you could get a knockoff or DIY and save a few bucks
| but I appreciate the thought that's gone into their designs.
| KWxIUElW8Xt0tD9 wrote:
| There was a curses-based todo program that was totally awesome
| MANY years ago, source code posted to usenet I believe back in
| the day, but I have never been able to find it again. Anyone have
| a pointer?
| general1726 wrote:
| For short term tasks (task-cache) I have ended up with
| essentially the same thing, just using *.md file + Notepad++
| because of markdown syntax highlighting + snappiness of Notepad++
| and I can then see it as a webpage using Markdown Viewer
| extension on Firefox.
|
| For structured documentation of my projects + searching + writing
| notes down on the go via phone I am using Joplin.
|
| For tasks to be done on a specific date I have calendar
|
| For project management I have Redmine behind VPN so I can get on
| it from anywhere.
| clocker wrote:
| On similar note, I tested every grocery list app and ended up
| with papers and pencil
| bux93 wrote:
| I have a very simple todo list, it's essentially the same every
| day! - check mail - check calendar - check jira - check azure
| devops board - check Microsoft Tasks - check confluence - check
| Teams - check home calendar - check home e-mail - check signal -
| check whatsapp - check client e-mail - check client jira - renew
| prescription for benzos
| OldfieldFund wrote:
| I was thinking "oh boy that's miserable" and then you got me in
| the end...
| bravesoul2 wrote:
| Scottish accent: I chose something else...
| BrtByte wrote:
| At that point the todo list isn't so much a plan for the day as
| it is a daily pre-flight checklist just to make sure no fires
| are burning in any corner of your life
| CaRDiaK wrote:
| Interesting here the author states
|
| > Things 3: Beautiful. Expensive. Tricked me into thinking I had
| my life together. But I kept forgetting to check it.
|
| Followed by
|
| > The Secret Sauce... Checking the list regularly...
| breadchris wrote:
| I have a draft of a similar post to this one about lists
| https://gist.github.com/breadchris/683202bffd4463e517335ab3f...
| busymom0 wrote:
| In a typical todo list, I expect the following features
| (explained with examples of a typical school timetable:
|
| What, When, Where, Who, Color, Some Notes, Completion checkmark.
|
| 1. Name of the event/task e.g. Chemistry
|
| 2. Day/Date/Time of the task (can either be specific weekdays or
| a specific date with time) e.g. Monday at 9:30am, Thursday at
| 4pm.
|
| 3. Person who the task will be with (professor name) e.g. John
| Doe
|
| 4. Location of task e.g. McKenzie Hall Room 504
|
| 5. Color e.g. red or hex code #FF0000
|
| 6. Some extra notes
|
| 7. Maybe ability to add checkmark before the task when it's done.
| This can be done using the unicode character.
|
| We also need nested tasks (think Lab for Chemistry or some
| Assignment due for Chemistry). This can be done by adding tabs or
| hyphens before the line.
|
| The format which works best is a text file containing:
|
| -------------
|
| Chemistry on Monday at 9:30am, Thursday at 4pm #green @McKenzie
| Hall Room 504 by John Doe //this comment can be a note
|
| - Lab on Wednesday at 2pm by 8am #blue //don't forget to bring
| lab coat
|
| - Assignment on Mar 9 at 8am #red
|
| Dentist appointment on April 5 at 11am
|
| /* Full block comment which is multiline. Lorem ipsum is
| placeholder text commonly used in the graphic, print, and
| publishing industries for previewing layouts and visual mockups.
| */
| charles_f wrote:
| I've been back and forth on that topic, going to paper and back
| to a todo manager of some sort.
|
| For the past few years I've been using obsidian for all my note
| taking, and none of the extensions I tried did what I wanted, so
| I built myself one[^1]. The initial goal was to take todos right
| within my notes, so I could keep the context of what the todo was
| about. Then I started adding stuff like planification and
| tagging. So it's entirely text based, but with a planner UI on
| top of it that makes it easy to drag and drop stuff to when I
| want to do them, and plan my day accordingly.
|
| I think the more you go, the more you get set in your own ways,
| the harder it is to tag along on someone else's implementation of
| a system.
|
| Low tech like paper and text files are good because they're
| maleable, and dont embed stuff you don't actually need.
|
| ^1: https://obsidian.md/plugins?id=proletarian-wizard
| hanklazard wrote:
| I've been using obsidian also, I just use the daily note with
| some tweaks. Works great with todo's autopopulated in new notes
| until they are checked off, deadlines, etc. Only downside is
| that I do pay for their sync functionality since iOS makes it
| very annoying otherwise. I'll check out your plugin though,
| sounds useful.
| ausbah wrote:
| i like text files for day to day lists that are easily discarded.
| what am i trying to do for work today, who do i need to call,
| other reminders
|
| for longer term planning i've found todoist to be indispensable.
| UI and features haven't changed much in years, great cross
| platform, pretty enable to different styles of planning, etc
| 8organicbits wrote:
| I believe todo apps run into the challenge that "to do" is way
| too broad a concept. Personally I track in-progress tasks (on a
| giant roll of paper), recurring and schedule tasks (especially
| where I coordinate with my spouse; on a dedicated Skylight smart-
| calendar), long term ideas and goals (as issues in a dedicated
| GitHub repo), meeting follow-ups (as .txt), groceries (on scrap
| paper), etc. The UX I want for each of these is quite different
| so I've never been able to make a generic todo app work. Worse,
| I'd hate to accidentally see my work list when I'm trying to do
| housework as I'm liable to start a side quest. So I need
| dedicated tools for each type of list.
| phil21 wrote:
| Try as I might, the best to-do/task list I can come up with is a
| legal pad. Mixed with notes of the day for meetings or ad-hoc
| remembering-of-things.
|
| Closest to that is a .txt file in my specific format, but even
| that is not quite as good.
|
| The days/weeks I can maintain discipline with a legal pad are
| much more productive. It works well if you work out of an office
| or a single location, but breaks down quickly if you are moving
| around.
|
| A notebook is a close second, just not quite as easy to go page
| through quickly to figure out wtf you were doing 3 weeks ago or
| find that one note you're pretty sure you have but not quite sure
| where or when.
|
| I've tried pretty much every electronic form out there, but have
| never been able to maintain it. The Remarkable 2 comes the
| closest, but I've found it tends to be very much "write only"
| compared to a legal pad. Hard to go through it and reference past
| notes quickly.
| skrebbel wrote:
| Didn't try Workflowy though! (YC S10 and still not enshittified)
| (!!!)
| ljosifov wrote:
| Good man. Everyone eventually reaches the same year zero: a text
| file.
|
| Then adds structure back, as it suits their persona. Not too
| much, not too little, just right - goldilocks. It's very
| personal, even more than a smartphone.
|
| For me - $ githome add logBook to git $HOME solves versioning and
| replication:
|
| giho() { (cd "$HOME" && git --git-dir="$HOME"/.githome/ --work-
| tree="$HOME" "$@";) } # prior must $ git init --bare
| $HOME/.githome
|
| And in the logBook structure currently at:
|
| 1. Sections FIXME, TODO, DONE, DONTDO. Keep them vi searchable
| /^SECTION$.
|
| 2. Entry start searchable /^-(space).
|
| 3. Entry end separator from next is empty line searchable /^$.
|
| 4. New items add at the top, push old items down.
|
| 5. Items move wholesale, no change on between sections move.
|
| 6. Items spending too long in TODO moved into DONTDO.
|
| 7. No new items added in TODO if FIXME is not empty.
|
| 8. If really really need to add to TODO - then move blocking
| FIXME entries to TODO.
|
| 9. Above are rules of thumb - break them with a reason, don't
| break them without reasons.
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| I use typora which is a markdown edior with folder structure. And
| AI to make the checkable lists.
| smm11 wrote:
| I record stuff I want to have around in TXT files, by week every
| week over 10 years. The files lived on OneDrive for a time, but
| now on my desktop, backed up daily. Advantage is I can search.
|
| My to-do list was sticky notes forever, moved to new ones when
| the old was getting too worn out to read. Now it's Rite notebooks
| as needed.
| supersrdjan wrote:
| I spent my 20s searching for the perfect todo solution but my
| search ended when I discovered org-mode. It's not that I'm the
| most productive person you'll meet, it's just that there's
| nothing further to look for. Should I decide to be my productive
| self for a while, I know org-mode will support me and not stand
| in my way :)
|
| Oh, and I love the Denote package.
| vrnvu wrote:
| I use Apple Notes and Reminders for work.
|
| - Reminders: I just have a few simple lists: TODO, WIP, and
| BLOCKED (for stuff I'm waiting on others for).
|
| - Notes: I keep daily, weekly, and monthly notes. At the end of
| each day, I clean up my daily note and move anything important to
| the weekly one, and then do the same into monthly.
| rkuodys wrote:
| I actually built the app myself. And for one simple reason -
| recently started learning to better plan my time. Started with
| paper version, and up to 5 most important task - my personal goal
| is to have consistency rather than squeeze every minute of every
| day.
|
| And paper version is great. However, the vacation came and I
| wasn't really keen on dragging the book everywhere. Additionally
| i noticed that while planning, I don't really respect my long
| term goals - so I build an app for that: Simple thing that does
| several thing: - 1. Keep only 5 slots for most important tasks. -
| 2. Have calendar view in the same view (like google tasks) to
| make sure that I havent' forgotten some important meeting - 3.
| (Unlike google tasks, or clickup) - have short-term and long term
| goals in the same view , to make sure that every important task
| is related to long term goal - Bonus: I see stats on how much of
| important tasks I have completed. Goal is at least 80% avg for 7
| days. - Bonus2: I've added my values to make sure that these are
| not forgotten in other places.
|
| So single view to address todays work and relate it to long term
| vision. But I believe it depend on what you're optimising for.
| Dumping things or makeing sure that signal to noise ratio is
| better.
| noufalibrahim wrote:
| I've cycled between a few low tech. solutions and have finally
| settled on Emacs org-mode. I don't use my phone to track TODOs
| and this works fine for me.
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| Other benefits of plain text notetaking: perfect versioning,
| using favorite text editor (therefore spell checking and various
| tools), amazing integration with unix programs, support on any
| platform/device.
|
| Two shortcomings are: figure out cross-device sync (ssh/nfs are
| good options), reinventing the wheel for rich text (tags,
| references, data tables, etc.)
| metalman wrote:
| it's actualy simpler to text yourself a note and keep the
| "conversation" as a file would be nice if basic andriod allowed
| for a long press, and then create a file/document, like ***
| gasp*** a word processor
| al3rez wrote:
| i often use telegram saved messages for this
| gwbas1c wrote:
| I've found that a lot of apps try to micromanage me, my workflow,
| or how I use my computer.
|
| I've grown to appreciate using simple tools, (spreadsheet,
| document) without the structure of an app.
|
| I manage my 10-house HOA with spreadsheets, because the tools
| cost so much that I'd have to raise HOA rates.
|
| Shopping lists are on whatever document app I'm using. (Currently
| Word, used to be Google Drive, used to be iPhone notes.)
| ggregoire wrote:
| I've been using the Gmail webpage for tracking my TODOs for like
| 20 years. The idea being, since I always have the webpage open in
| the first tab of my browser, and since I'm checking the webpage
| at least once a day, I never forget it. Every time I check my
| emails I also see my TODOs. And I can check/edit it from my phone
| when I'm not at home.
|
| If it's a list of TODOs for the current day or week (e.g. work
| tasks, watering the plants, etc) I just start a draft and keep
| the draft open in the UI and update it regularly, then delete it
| when everything is done. If it's more mid-long term (let's say
| TODOs for the month, like buying some big stuff, etc), I usually
| send it to myself with "TODO [3-4 words description]" in subject
| and keep it in the inbox to be visible until I completed it. If I
| need to add something else I just reply to the same email.
|
| I think Gmail has actually an integrated TODO widget in its
| webpage, but I just use emails out of habit.
| GloriousKoji wrote:
| Something I miss with modern UI design is the location
| persistence of items. Like the old windows desktop widgets or
| the OSX dashboard. You should show the desktop or bring up the
| dashboard and the todo list would always be in the same
| location and show up or hide with a quick key strokes.
| diegobit wrote:
| I also just began experimenting with plaintext. At the moment, I
| create regular apple reminders when I want to receive a
| notification, and for everything else I keep a markdown file
| `quicknotes-YYYYMM.md`, which I use also for some some throwaway
| notes.
|
| Every month, I duplicate the file, remove what's been completed
| and the things I don't want to do anymore. The file is on iCloud
| Drive in the obsidian folder, so I can edit it also from my
| phone.
|
| An example:
|
| # TODO - [ ] todo ...
|
| # NOTES
|
| multiline note 1
|
| ---
|
| multiline note 2
| jpasmore wrote:
| yeah...i have one neverending Evernote note...called "To do"
| steezeburger wrote:
| There is definitely something to be said for simple file formats
| augmented with tooling like LLMs and such. I am one of the people
| who also ended up writing my own todo list app. It really started
| as a journaling system, but it was super simple to add TODOs. I
| basically created my own clone of Logseq if anyone is familiar
| with that. I've basically got what the author has got, but I've
| automated the part where a fresh page is created each day, and a
| feature to quickly move undone TODOs to any day.
| antdke wrote:
| Ironically, I ignored Apple's Reminders app as an options for
| years. It's now my daily operating system. Lots of simple table-
| stakes features out of the box that elevate the experience above
| just using a simple Notes app
| whatsakandr wrote:
| For personal, I've got the nirvana life plan. It's great, for
| work, it's TODO.txt on a network drive.
| l0c0b0x wrote:
| I have an always running session of Notepad++ with (currently)
| 356 tabs open. I can search through all of them if needed. This
| worked for me after also piloting several solutions.
| spacemule wrote:
| The author's complaints about the various solutions hit home. My
| wife and I tried a bunch of solutions for shared tasks and lists.
| Finally I found vikunja, put it on my home cluster, and it's been
| a game changer. We never run out of milk due to a lack of
| communication, and I have no excuse to forget the chore she asked
| me to get around to last week.
|
| There really is a sweet spot between helping productivity and
| overcomplicating life, and most of these applications go for the
| latter. Glad we finally found something that works for us. I'm
| just sharing here hoping it'll help someone else.
| gomako wrote:
| nvAlt must surely have been mentioned somewhere. It's the best by
| far. Very simple markdown, searchable notes etc. there's a new
| version in the works (and has been for some time) but the
| original is still great. The best thing is that the notes are
| just a folder of .txt files.
| treetalker wrote:
| nvUltra is destined to become another Terpstra vaporware, I
| fear. The longer it's "almost done, I swear", the less likely
| anything will happen with it for the general public.
| jraby3 wrote:
| Don't use a ToDo list. Just put stuff on your calendar!
| bryanhogan wrote:
| I just use a Kanban board for my to-do's, and it has been working
| amazingly well for years now. I sort stuff based on four columns,
| starting with the most important that should be done "today".
|
| I love Markdown files with editors such as Obsidian or Logseq,
| but found them to be suboptimal for to-do's / tasks.
| grecht wrote:
| There actually is a Kanban plugin for Obsidian [1]. I've been
| using it for a while and think it's pretty good. Each Kanban
| "card" can also be turned into a full note.
|
| [1] https://github.com/mgmeyers/obsidian-kanban
| bryanhogan wrote:
| I have it installed as well, but for me it's missing many
| things I'd expect from a Kanban board, it also doesn't work
| that well on mobile.
| unrealman wrote:
| This is the best thing in a long time. Made me feel productive
| just by reading it. I've made my own list and plan to attack it
| diligently today. Most of the highly productive people I've made
| are just militant about
| __rito__ wrote:
| Haha. Been there, done that.
|
| My journey has been like this: Wunderlist -> Microsoft acquired
| Wunderlist -> Any.DO -> Google Keep -> Todoist -> Trello ->
| ClickUp -> Obsidian -> todo.md file
|
| (I am probably missing multiple.)
|
| I still use Obsidian, but not as a Todo app, with absolute zero
| plugins. And Wunderlist remains the most tasteful todo app I have
| ever seen.
|
| Now I just open up Alacritty and type in `vim todo.md`. It has
| today's date in H2, and tasks as checkboxes. That's it. Works
| better than anything else. Why . md over .txt? Because I like the
| syntax highlighting in vim.
| codyb wrote:
| My simple notes setup that I love since I live in ViM and TMux
| sessions
|
| ```.vimrc
|
| map <leader>x :vs<cr>:e ~/Documents/notepad.txt<cr>
|
| map <leader>X :vs<cr>:e ~/Documents/notes<cr>
|
| map <leader>P :Files ~/Documents/notes<cr>
|
| ```
|
| And that's pretty much it. I can pop open a long running file for
| temporary one offs, or pop open a directory with directories with
| files which all start with `01-`, `02-`,... to enforce order,
| with additions to a particular topic doing `01A-`, etc
|
| And since I edit everything I work on in ViM, I have notes
| available in all my editors which have keyboard short cut quick
| jump navigation.
|
| It keeps me very organized, can be set up anywhere with just a
| couple lines in the config file there, and only took me about a
| decade of steadily refining things down to get to
| cloudking wrote:
| Next version, a pen and paper!
| Theodores wrote:
| Next, next version, just commit everything to working memory,
| as in one's brain. To help with this, simply tell others what
| you are doing and give them updates. Practice can be gained by
| doing things such as shopping without a list. Hacks can also be
| used, so a list of code fixes can be called 'updating the
| specs', even though it is a list of things to do.
|
| As for pen and paper, writing things down is a way of
| committing todos to working memory, the paper does not have to
| be referred to, just the act of writing means that it gets
| noted.
|
| Forgetfulness is a feature. If it wasn't important and it gets
| forgotten, then forgetfulness has worked.
|
| Joking aside, todo lists, in whatever form, are rarely going to
| be forever solutions, and, depending on the task and who you
| are working with, the solution is going to vary.
|
| What is fascinating is working with someone that has all the
| tools for the day job and to work on another project, for
| instance DIY. They might have all of these fancy project
| management tools for work, but do they use them for renovating
| the house?
|
| Of course not! They are back to either pen and paper or just
| working memory.
| alihawili wrote:
| I had a similar journey, settled on a todo app that actually uses
| text files too https://www.taskpaper.com Save the text file to a
| cloud sync provider and you can check it on every device
| msephton wrote:
| I ended up there, too. Taskpaper Mac app is great.
| bdewberry wrote:
| Couldn't agree with this more! Obsidian is my go-to. I
| essentially do the same thing but make look a little better with
| Obsidian's markdown theming/formatting. I keep a Priorities.md
| file and review that at the start of each day, making needed
| updates as I go.
| bachmeier wrote:
| I've never found that emailing to a todo.txt file works very
| well. Seriously, though, if your only goal is to make a long list
| of things you don't want to forget, use a text file, paper, or
| any system you want. I get a boatload of things to do in my
| email. Forwarding the message to a task manager reduces a lot of
| stress.
|
| Another thing for me is the ability to capture files or take
| pictures. I just can't do that with todo.txt in an efficient way.
| Being able to grab my phone and snap a picture or create a new
| task and upload a file is hard to beat. I can later come back and
| add some comments.
| lemontheme wrote:
| I prefer keeping everything in one file as well, since even the
| act of creating a new file is sometimes enough of a hassle for me
| to skip jotting something important down.
|
| Question for fellow one-file'ers: what do you on mobile? My
| problem in the past was that all plain text editor apps on iOS
| open files at the top, which meant scrolling all the way down
| every time I opened my notes file.
|
| These days I use NotePlan, but I don't really use enough of its
| features to justify continuing my subscription (the dev is really
| great though).
| thesuitonym wrote:
| I don't use a to do file, but I do keep notes in (mostly) a
| single text file, and I just have them on a server exposed to
| the internet. When I need to read/write something I SSH to the
| box and use Vim to update the note.
|
| I wouldn't recommend this if you didn't already have a server
| set up for other reasons, but it might be a useful option for
| some commenters here.
| jshen wrote:
| I use obsidian. It's markdown, and can sync across devices.
| lemontheme wrote:
| Obsidian is great but it's a productivity trap for me. The
| last time I got into it I went too far in designing the
| 'perfect' PKM system, while not actually using it all that
| much. Turns out I just really like designing systems. =p
| jannesan wrote:
| How about writing new things at the top of the file? If you use
| dates as sections you can still add new things at the bottom of
| the current day, but you always have current day at top.
| sandcat_ wrote:
| Just add new notes and tasks at the top? I find that it means
| less important tasks tend to settle towards the bottom, and
| I'll periodically go and reshuffle things as required.
| lemontheme wrote:
| Okay, so there are people who do this? I've actually
| considered it on several occasions, but it always felt a bit
| 'wrong', like prepending rather than appending to an array.
|
| I like the idea though of less important things being farther
| down, like sediment, whereas current/important things stay
| closer to the surface. There's a fun metaphor in there.
|
| Might try your way, after all!
| l1am0 wrote:
| Shoutout to checkvist.com use them for years. Exactly enough
| bells and whistles.
|
| It fits my brain of an endless deep list.
|
| Have no affiliate with them apart from paying them each and every
| year.
| ElijahLynn wrote:
| TruTruth! I've been paying them for a couple years too, and am
| still in the camp of "take my money".
|
| Such an efficient to-do list that has progressive enhancement
| of some sorts where you start out with a list and if you want
| more features they just kind of are there but they don't get in
| the way unless you want them. I love how I can do everything
| with keyboard shortcuts with Checkvist!
| broast wrote:
| The only feature I need that would accelerate my workflow that
| text file editors don't currently have is a column with the last
| modified timestamp of that particular line, and maybe some color
| indication to show which lines were modified the most recently
| compared to others. And this would be based on change, not based
| on save or commit.
| user3939382 wrote:
| My inbox is my todo list. If I want to go nuts I can add a
| "waiting for them" label. Archive means done. Unread means
| unprocessed. I can send myself an email or if the task originates
| from someone else their email thread is the task. For voicemail,
| call, SMS heavy workflows of the past I routed my sms and
| voicemail through my inbox as well. This tooling is very personal
| but the above I've found to standup to very large workloads.
| regnull wrote:
| I was also frustrated with the current app offerings, so I wrote
| my own. Feel free to try: https://checkoff.ai
| keizo wrote:
| I came to the same conclusion. Except I decided I could make a
| simpler software. I'm still in the "one more feature bro" phase,
| but if this blog post resonates for anyone and you're open to a
| simple saas -- would love feedback https://grugnotes.com
| pjs_ wrote:
| Real shame that CalDAV didn't dominate the way SSH/email/whatever
| dominates.
|
| I use Todoist which is the only one that actually works IMO,
| kicks ass, but I wish it wasn't one someone else's backend.
| zeruch wrote:
| I've tried so many todo apps and the only thing I've stuck to is
| Obsidian and a daily morning habit of checking my list (I check
| it multiple times a day, but I set at least one 'forced' point in
| the morning to level set.
|
| I also use a notebook that often feeds that obsidian tab because
| I still often prefer to take notes/diagram by hand. The kinetic
| action sticks with me better.
| _345 wrote:
| Read this and you clearly want something like Obsidian.
|
| Get obsidian and then set up - Syncthing for free open source
| syncing that doesn't go to any cloud, just replicates across your
| own devices
|
| - You can just do a single markdown file instead of a single txt
| file if you really want to smoosh everything into one file (gross
| but you do you). markdown is portable and many software can
| render it easily, if they can't markdown is still readable raw
| plaintext
|
| - But I would get some cool plugins like Periodic Notes and then
| set up either a Monthly or a Weekly periodic note. Basically the
| idea is the same as what you are doing, but instead of one
| lifetime markdown file, you split them up into monthly or weekly
| chunks. I do weekly (one note for each week), but its really your
| preference.
|
| Now you get pretty rendering of your notes, generate sharable
| links to your notes, password protect them, all still free, open
| source, syncing, and portable (markdown plaintext)
| flanked-evergl wrote:
| I use Obsidian on my phone, and I use syncthing to sync it, and
| then I just edit it with vscode on my computer.
|
| I have Obsidian set up to create a new week file every week,
| and then I add things to do there, I also move things from
| previous weeks if I still feel they are relevant.
|
| Works like a charm.
| naet wrote:
| I like that the author mentions making a post it and actually
| achieving all the stuff on the post-it.
|
| I have a portable whiteboard on my desk, around the size of a
| sheet of printer paper. I use it only to write the things I want
| to accomplish _today_. I have found that very effective for me
| personally.
| dcchambers wrote:
| This blog post is wonderful and so accurately sums up my own
| journey through TODO productivity.
| seansh wrote:
| I've gone through this too and came to the same conclusion except
| for phone.
|
| While on laptop/desktop nothing beats txt (or md or org), it's
| just so uncomfortable using a text file like that on the phone
| and relying on dropbox or something.
|
| And I get it, all the note taking apps on the phone have issues:
| not local first, proprietary, subscriptions, or no encryption, or
| a thousand features before making sure the full text search works
| even offline.
|
| Last year I finally sat down and wrote my own PWA out of
| frustration [1]. There was a SHOW HN too [2]. Yes, shameless
| plug. There are only a handful of other people using it (and
| probably never more than that) but I really wrote it for myself
| and it's been such a relief the past year knowing I always have
| my notes whenever wherever and works exactly the way I want.
|
| I probably spent <5h fixing a few issues in the past year. As far
| as I'm concerned, my problem is solved once and for all.
|
| [1] https://unforget.computing-den.com/demo
|
| [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40645743
| below43 wrote:
| I tackled this years ago but found that having a todo list was
| too limiting.
|
| I ended up building a very simple scratchpad [1] (initially iOS
| and MacOS, then of late, a PWA version for everyone else...).
|
| [1] https://klipped.com
| seansh wrote:
| this is really nice. Really as simple as it gets.
| mastermage wrote:
| This right here is, something that probably goes over a lot of
| peoples heads in here. Understandably so as we are on
| HackerNews people arr most likely IT people and simialar they
| view the PC as the prime Working environment. And while i
| personally concur and think the PC is much more productive than
| a Phone. One of these two devices you always have in your
| pocket.
|
| Which is why for jotting done some quick note, or some oh
| remember to do this later when i am back home is just best done
| on a phone.
| dbacar wrote:
| why not use just a pen and a notebook then :) ?
| the_af wrote:
| This is a good question, and at least for me the answer is:
| because it generates more trash, and also because I'm in front
| of the computer for work anyway, so I might as well just have
| my TODO there.
|
| But sure, a physical notebook or post-its would work just as
| well.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| >I've tried them all. Notion, Todoist, Things 3, OmniFocus,
| Asana, Trello, Any.do, TickTick.
|
| There are hundreds of todo apps. Possibly 1000s. Including mine,
| which isn't mentioned. ;0) So _all_ is something of an
| exaggeration.
| ElCapitanMarkla wrote:
| I use Joplin. I made a little extension which generates a file
| with Monday's date and then the days + dates as headers.
|
| On Monday I copy anything I still want from the previous week and
| then just jot down notes as I go.
|
| ---
|
| # Monday - 11
|
| # Tuesday - 12
|
| # Wednesday - 13
|
| # Thursday - 14
|
| # Friday - 15
| mtillman wrote:
| I respect using plain text for everything so kudos to OP. That
| said, I use Things by Cultured Code because I really like it.
| Does everything I want on my various computing devices.
| shmoogy wrote:
| I feel the pain of this, I use obsidian for my day to day note
| taking and tasks to do as a general plan, I push tasks from Slack
| into Trello inbox as people chat me things that I need to look
| into, I make reminders for myself while away from a computer on
| my iPhone via Siri.
|
| Apple reminders has a kanban now that is actually pretty okay,
| but I dont have a great way to get things from slack into it -
| manually copying all the text/attachments/url is super annoying.
|
| There is an app that syncs your reminders with an obsidian task
| list, but I ran into too many bugs with it resetting and taking
| too long to clean all the old shit up that just got archived due
| to not being required.
|
| I could probably get away with a bunch of MCP servers that query
| my local reminders, trello, and obsidian daily notes, outlook
| calendar, gmail calendar.... but it feels like such a bad way of
| going about aggregating everything.
| Havoc wrote:
| It's challenging. I struggle with the mismatch between work and
| personal in particular. They run both on different software stack
| and different cadence. On work side I'm constrained by whatever
| corporate thingie they give us, and on personal side I prefer
| selfhost FOSS...so fundamentally incompatible
|
| No idea except knowing if I can crack this my life would be
| better
| Otek wrote:
| Personally I like that my work and personal life is being
| clearly separated. Some device ale work only, some are personal
| only. Same with software
| hermitcrab wrote:
| Every developer:
|
| 'Wow there are a 1000 of ToDo apps. I can't possibly try them
| all. So I will write my own ToDo app that does exactly what I
| want!'
|
| Result:
|
| There are now 1001 ToDo apps.
|
| ToDo/productivity apps is a very tough market. I know because I
| wrote a visual task planner for Windows and Mac (hyperplan.com)
| and struggled to get enough visibility to make it commercially
| viable, despite a lot of rave feedback.
| inanutshellus wrote:
| The same is true for group apps (manage a team; organize events
| with random people, etc. apps)... so many options... and so far
| every single season my kids have participated in a sport I've
| been privileged to try a new one... :-\
| aranchelk wrote:
| I was also dissatisfied with existing task tracking apps, and
| built my own:
|
| t-do.com
|
| There are still many rough edges, but it's extremely useful. One
| of the best features that a text file has that very few apps
| support is unlimited sub-task nesting, and that's a core feature
| of T-Do.
| ata_aman wrote:
| Funny coincidence, I just published an offline infinity-scroll
| notes app[0] today to replace my long txt file. Desktop version
| probably in a couple of days. Last time I published an app for
| myself, my friends (and ~1k others!) loved it so trying doing it
| again.
|
| I've used a .txt pretty much my whole life from my old Vaio
| running Ubuntu to my Mac books after, especially as a heavy
| terminal/nano enjoyer. I always saved it as do.txt in my base
| dir. Thousands of lines which was always nice to look at and more
| importantly easy to reference links I used during debugging or
| troubleshooting from months ago. It's a weird mix of a
| bookmarking list, daily to dos and quickly jotting down phone
| numbers or details while on the phone with someone (if I'm not on
| my personal laptop, I usually type the thing while I'm on the
| phone in the PC browser address bar then copy it over which is
| not ideal because auto-search).
|
| Another strategy I've used is iMessaging myself with links or
| notes, which in my opinion is the best way since it auto syncs
| AND you can pin yourself in the iMessage app for quick access.
|
| [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/infinote-single-page-
| notes/id6...
| ntnsndr wrote:
| Same experience, but ending up with .md, sync-ed on Nextcloud.
| fernandogrd wrote:
| I follow something similar automated as: function
| todo vim "$HOME/<todo-directory>/"(date
| --date=$argv --iso-8601) end
|
| So I can do.: $ todo # opens the today
| file $ todo tomorrow #opens tomorrows file
| $ todo '<anything --date command accepts>'
|
| And silver searcher for full text search.
| kamaal wrote:
| Or you could use a Google doc. Everything is backed up online
| and has all kinds of formatting and security baked in these
| days.
| charles_f wrote:
| I'm not sure why you'd propose google docs to someone who
| uses CLI to handle their todo. Sounds like the polar opposite
| to that solution.
| jonbaer wrote:
| If you sit in the browser most of the day,
| https://momentumdash.com
| mvieira38 wrote:
| I can't imagine using a to-do app that isn't Obsidian+tasks. You
| can link notes for infinite subtasking and for describing/logging
| to your heart's desire. Just better version of txt
| DiddlyWinks wrote:
| "Todo?"
| pqs wrote:
| I see that nobody mentions Howm for Emacs. I find it more simple
| than Org-mode and its task sorting algorithm just works well for
| my brain. I really recommend it to those interested in a
| zettlekasten like note system with integrated tasks, all in text
| files.
|
| https://kaorahi.github.io/howm/
| m463 wrote:
| I think a more nuanced look at this is:
|
| - he needs to get things done
|
| - checks out some tools
|
| - they don't enforce fundamentals
|
| - he needs self-discipline to do fundamentsls
|
| - uses least-common-denominator
|
| thing is, if the person continues with the .txt file at some
| point the habits will form and maybe tools will support his goals
| just fine.
|
| the Getting Things Done book starts with pencil and paper.
|
| A lot of people do this with literal tools. They skip from a
| manual screwdriver to a power screwdriver before they understand
| the "mechanics feel"1 of tightening a screw and make a mess of
| things.
|
| Then they go back to basics, use a hand screwdriver and learn to
| properly tighten a screw. At some point in the future a power
| screwdriver will accelerate what they are doing. And when
| necessary, use the hand screwdriver or the principles learned
| with it.
|
| 1: zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
| kachapopopow wrote:
| I just vim ~/.todo.txt or more recently, just having claude code
| act as a middle man for it asking to generate what (should) be
| done then asking it what I need to do to finish x, has mcp
| integration to my IDE's so it can see what I am doing update the
| todo automatically, basically, a real life assistant which I now
| see why nearly every CEO has one.
| Arch-TK wrote:
| What I need TODO for is just to come up with a plan for the day.
| I don't really look at it after that. I don't look at it after
| today except maybe tomorrow. So yeah, a text file works.
| jFriedensreich wrote:
| This would be amazing if obsidian mobile did not take 10 seconds
| to start or even recover from being in the background and lose
| scroll position every time. For the desktop I would be absolutely
| happy with all todos in a simple markdown file. There can also be
| any number of UIs on top of markdown that people use over the
| years and grow out of but as long as the base system is markdown
| files you get the best of both worlds. I would never consider
| using an app for notes or todos that does not persist like that
| and no: ability export is not the same as native persistence in a
| human readable format. (Discovered the heard way multiple times
| when apps advertising with export failed or just lied.)
| edu wrote:
| Where does the author talk about obsidian?
| jFriedensreich wrote:
| He did not. I just pointed out if obsidian mobile would not
| have these flaws i could live in the reality he describes.
| grzes wrote:
| just use google tasks? hello? it has notification and calendar
| integration
| arkaic wrote:
| I echo the authors sentiment except for one thing: mobile-native
| editing experience. This is where Google Keep shines for me
| personally. I need to also be able to modify my notes immediately
| and with an intuitive note taking interface.
| EchoReflection wrote:
| John Watson's "writer" webapp/website is an _extremely_ useful
| and aesthetically pleasing tool that is free but has various
| perks for its ' paid tiers. The "lifetime" purchase cost of
| $149.00 USD is totally worth it though.
|
| https://writer.bighugelabs.com/welcome
|
| Everything before the "no annoying banner ads" is included in the
| "free" tier:
|
| -fast and distraction-free fullscreen writing environment -Saves
| automatically as you write -All writing is private, secure, and
| backed up regularly -Save an unlimited number of documents -Works
| online and off -Customize colors, fonts, and line spacing
| -Optional typewriter sounds -Automatic word count and writing
| goals -PDF and text export -Markdown formatting -No annoying
| banner ads
|
| --- paid|
|
| -Export to Dropbox, Google Docs, Evernote, WordPress, and more
| -Built-in thesaurus -Word count updates as you type -Hemingway
| mode (backspace disabled) -Revision history -Create downloadable
| eBooks -Organize your writing with folders -Track your
| productivity with writing statistics -Downloadable archive of all
| your writing -Premium support
|
| 100% worth $149 for the "pro/lifetime" license. Been using it
| regularly since December 2021.
|
| John Watson's website: https://johnwatsonllc.com/
| pkilgore wrote:
| me, too, then https://godspeedapp.com/, and it finally stuck.
|
| Still very sad about no Android, but it's good enough from my
| computers that I've managed to work around it with a few
| cloudflare-worker based mobile affordances.
| soorya3 wrote:
| Very true. I never got used to any of the todo apps
|
| You just need these three things.
|
| - A Text Editor - A Calendar - A Cloud Sync for easy access
|
| If you need to history just backup to any cloud drives or git or
| home backup.
| hkdobrev wrote:
| I've created a very rudimentary bash tool for extracting todos
| out of markdown (GFM) files. People might like it and contribute:
| https://github.com/hkdobrev/notetaker
| bravesoul2 wrote:
| I use Google Calendar tasks. Why? Because I'm always in Google
| Calendar anyway. They are actually a bit shit UI wise but good
| enough.
|
| It's less work than dealing with a text file and available
| anywhere. I could drop box a text file but editing on a phone
| would be fiddly.
| replete wrote:
| The best native app IMO is 2Do. I have tried literally everything
| for years, not found anything better. One cost, no subscriptions,
| sync never failed me (caldav), android/iphone apps, android
| widgets. Also has GTD options
| j45 wrote:
| Todo apps or lists in text files are great until collaboration
| are needed.
|
| If your'e after more for yourself across more than one device,
| 2do was one of the dozens that worked well for me - one of the
| few that used text files on a drive share to get maximum fields
| and functionalities instead of being limited by a caldav or
| something.
|
| Beyond this Logseq is starting to be a quick capture champion.
| Technically text files.
|
| The question comes down to how many areas of life, major
| initiatives, projects, tasks / sub tasks you might have on the go
| at any time, and how much you are waiting on whom.
|
| Having something that could start as simple as a text list and
| absorb complexity as it comes up (dates, context, follow ups,
| etc) is really valuable.
| namrog84 wrote:
| Would people consider obsidian juat a note taking app and not a
| todo app?
| jmfldn wrote:
| Best compromise is a markdown file. You can read with it with
| Obsidian if you want a better gui, but you can also just treat it
| like a simple text file if you prefer. No lock-in to an app.
|
| I agree that complex todo apps are a bit of a waste of time.
| samuell wrote:
| Markdown + Vim-wiki plugin is a really powerful combo, that is
| still all only markdown underneath.
|
| And yes, you can combine that with something like Obsididan at
| any time.
| taesu wrote:
| I use google doc as my todo, coming from notion and obsidian. It
| just works and syncs to all devices (even offline). Can link to
| documents in the drive easily. Track changes.
| nicolasbichon wrote:
| I created an app to deal with that and quickly add my
| todos/thoughts from anywhere on my Mac https://usetype.app
| amithegde wrote:
| [Windows Only] - Just create a .txt file, add `.LOG` at the top
| and save it. Next time you open it on `Notepad`, it will
| automatically add a timestamp.
| egypturnash wrote:
| Notebook + pen. Checkboxes. A mix of half-hour timeblocks ala the
| Pomodoro method, and plain checklists for shopping tasks. For
| stuff that's extra important or is happening in the next few days
| I slap a post-it on my desktop monitor somewhere I'll have to
| constantly move it when I'm using the whole screen to work.
|
| If I want to get fancy then I have a couple of bookmarks to
| custom myNoise.net multi gens configured to run for 25min.
|
| I also have some pretty notebooks and a cheap fountain pen, this
| combo makes me feel like a witch when I write in them and that's
| fun.
|
| I have tried a ton of apps and they all fall by the wayside. I
| have to buy a new bottle of ink once or twice a year and the
| occasional notebook. Simple. Gets out of the way and never
| requires me to open up the Attention Sink and lose a half an hour
| getting distracted by a Telegram message or whatever.
| LAC-Tech wrote:
| I solved my problem with a todo _stack_ , stored in a text file.
|
| Basically it's a TUI app that operates on new line separated
| text.
|
| Insanely simple. can only operate on the top 3 todo items. All
| one shot keypresses to manipulate.
|
| But I absolutely love it. Use it every day. Those one shot
| keypresses to manipulate may not sound like much, but it's always
| 1-4 less keypresses than I'd need in vim, and the limitations
| free up a lot of mental space.
|
| (I'd give a link but it's posix only and I you'd have to compile
| it yourself, and also I don't want to implement your features).
| harha_ wrote:
| I can't believe this is what hackernews has become. This kind of
| stuff is at the top.
| ElijahLynn wrote:
| Checkvist is pretty decent, entirely keyboard shortcut driven.
| I'm a beast when it comes to making and editing lists with
| Checkvist, so fast.
|
| I can rearrange, nest, denest, move up or down in hierarchy, just
| focus in on one hierarchy, mark as completed, filter search.
|
| All with keyboard shortcuts!
| russellbeattie wrote:
| I tried a bunch of different shoe styles, but decided that cheap
| sandals are really all you need. You people wearing boots,
| sneakers or loafers should really consider going back to basics.
|
| I mean, we all have feet, right? And we all want to protect the
| soles of our feet, so there's really no need for all the bells
| and whistles like laces or padding.
| goncalossilva wrote:
| > Todoist: Great until I realized I was gaming the points system
| instead of doing actual work. Turns out completing "drink water"
| 8 times a day doesn't make you productive.
|
| OP was drinking 2+ liters of water per day. It may not be
| productive work-wise, but it's productive health-wise.
|
| So... win?
| shinycode wrote:
| For work I use pen and paper now. Sometimes a notepad on the Mac
| and every few days I sum everything up on paper. For iOS the best
| tool I found is Goodtask, a lot a customization, build upon
| Reminders from Apple so a single source of truth, integrates with
| calendar and Siri. Awesome app.
| totalhack wrote:
| I use markdown files in vs code. Supports folding of sections,
| combined with a few keyword/char patterns that I highlight
| different colors. Also get code highlighting in properly labeled
| code sections.
| bovermyer wrote:
| I dunno, I've been using Todoist for years and it works just fine
| for me.
| tensorturtle wrote:
| I tried every todo app and ended up with a small stack of flash
| cards and pen.
| submeta wrote:
| There's text based and there's text based.
|
| I keep my tasks in textfiles (markdown) as well. Not one, but
| several, for all kinds of projects. And I view my files in
| Obsidian, although I open them in neovim as well, searching via
| ripgrep, finding via fd, fzf, viewing via bat. All in terminal.
|
| Textfiles are great.
|
| Emacs + orgmode is also an excellent choice, but that's all tied
| to Emacs. And Orgmode files do not render nicely in other
| editors/viewers. Besides it's overkill. Trying to do everything
| in one app. I prefer the Unix way. Do one thing and do it good.
| hebocon wrote:
| I tried 'todo.txt' and gave up when I needed more control over
| recurrency and other small details (I also missed being able to
| attach files to tasks for quick reference).
|
| Currently setting up [DAVx5](https://www.davx5.com/tested-with)
| to be used with [jtx Board](https://jtx.techbee.at/sync-with-
| davx5#setup) and [Radicale](https://radicale.org/v3.html). It's
| quite a bit of overhead at first but then I can trivially manage
| my calendar and contacts afterwards.
|
| CalDAV has provisions for
| [vTODO](https://icalendar.org/iCalendar-RFC-5545/3-6-2-to-do-
| compone...) and [vJOURNAL](https://icalendar.org/iCalendar-
| RFC-5545/3-6-3-journal-compo...) so my hope is that this is a
| durable FOSS solution to aid in getting out of some Google
| services.
| swax wrote:
| I've been using the same OneNote for like 20 years now. It is
| backed up, synced and available no matter what device I'm on.
| Hundreds of lists, notes, references, thoughts, all fully
| searchable and quick to access.
| adhoc32 wrote:
| Google Keep is a nice concept. Text and available on all devices.
| Forge36 wrote:
| I moved out of keep. It's an HTML backend.
| onfir3 wrote:
| Taskwarrior is my go to Software if I'm not currently in the
| piece of paper mode. Its good for Automatic priotization and by
| using from terminal close enough to a text file
| wistlo wrote:
| Many years ago, I standardized on Journal in Microsoft Outlook.
|
| Well guess what. Microsoft created Notes and Journal bceame a
| "legacy app." It was not possible to migrate. The deprecation of
| the .PST file in Exchange Server left me no way to transfer when
| I lease-rolled to a new laptop.
|
| Enter Notes. As in, "notes.txt", which is exactly the same idea
| as todo.txt described here. Works. If this text file ever becomes
| machine unreadable, file compatibility will be the least of our
| worries.
| mkhalil wrote:
| I have a lot of longer term notes that are just ideas (a.k.a
| "genius ideas") but written in "to-do" format. I found using
| different solutions for different notes is the best IMO.
|
| MS OneNote* for all longer term to-dos, or writings I wish to
| archive.
|
| Paper or notepad.exe for ephemeral to-dos.
|
| _: one large synced notebook with folders, sub-folders, and w /e
| nested levels it offers, but I use search anyway.* *: this can
| totally be replicated with documents/files, folders, and a git
| repo. (and maybe some markdown editor)_
| dap wrote:
| > Todoist: Great until I realized I was gaming the points system
| instead of doing actual work. Turns out completing "drink water"
| 8 times a day doesn't make you productive.
|
| This is such a strange conclusion. Just... stop using the points
| system? I've been using Todoist for years and I've never
| intentionally done anything with the points or looked at them.
| That said, I've learned about myself that checking things off is
| surprisingly motivating. Having a discrete task, even for a tiny
| thing, makes it much more likely that I will do it.
|
| If a text file works for you, great! But it's strange for the bar
| to be "the tool must not have any features I find useless".
| 65 wrote:
| For simple TODOs honestly using the Reminders app for Mac is the
| easiest.
|
| For more complex TODOs and lists, I have my own bespoke note
| taking web app that syncs with S3.
|
| Either way I'm not paying for a TODO app!
| danparsonson wrote:
| Since we're sharing our setups, I self-host
| https://github.com/nanawel/our-shopping-list, which is a nice
| clean, simple list keeper that can install as a PWA, and
| https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy for recurring
| notifications; every morning a shell script runs over a text file
| full of reminders (mostly birthdays) and sends me a notification
| about them.
| mindwok wrote:
| In my experience of trying dozens of todo apps and systems over
| the years, they become a reflection of some theoretical ideal
| version of myself and inevitably fail because I am not someone
| who is inherently organised and disciplined with task completion.
|
| Turns out this was my problem. I just wasn't serious about
| keeping track of things to do, and doing them. No app in the
| world could solve that. Once I started to take it seriously, it
| doesn't really matter what you use to keep track of things. If
| it's there, you'll do it.
| dankwizard wrote:
| Why do these types of blog posts always blow up on hacker news?
|
| "I tried every new zany method but our tried and true classic is
| what I selected!"
| mindwok wrote:
| Because it tickles our brains with validation that others have
| come to the same conclusion as us. To the front page!
| julienreszka wrote:
| Yea tho I prefet nested markdown check-lists
| orsenthil wrote:
| I have stuck with my todo app, that I wrote 15 years ago. Writing
| something as fundamental as this helps with both the features as
| well as the using it for my own benefit. My app is available at
| https://beaver.learntosolveit.com
| lsc4719 wrote:
| Gtask works good for me
| jader201 wrote:
| I've dabbled with todo lists in the past, and keep coming back to
| -- doing nothing.
|
| At least with todo list apps specifically.
|
| I have a pretty bad memory, so I'm the target audience for todo
| lists. But I think what's worked for me has been a combination
| of:
|
| - Keeping things simple. At work I try to only focus on one thing
| at a time. I have a bug tracker that's used to track larger items
| (everyone uses the same tool), but it's not a personal todo list
| in a more granular sense.
|
| - Reminders app on the iPhone. I use this just so I don't forget
| to do things that aren't naturally top of mind. Or, at least
| things that should become a priority, but only at a later point.
| And I don't have many times that I need these. Maybe a few times
| a month, and a few recurring ones.
|
| But other than this, if it's really that important, I'll remember
| it anyway. And if I don't, and it's not tracked with a bug (work)
| or reminder (home), it's not that important.
|
| So unless you count the occasional use of the Reminders app, or
| our work bug tracker tool, then I'm currently not using any todo
| lists, and it's been working fine.
| BLKNSLVR wrote:
| I think I could also survive in a similar way.
|
| My to-do list just helps a bit with my ability to be
| productive. If I'm at a loose end, I can refer to it and remind
| myself of X, Y, or Z that either should be done or that I'd
| like to have a bash at.
|
| Without it, I'd 'float unproductively' more.
|
| (And it's not necessarily about productivity, more about
| purpose, where I'll feel much better having completed a task
| that I'd previously set myself - like mulching the dead leaves
| or tidying the study or weeding the vege patch that I'd
| otherwise have not done in favour of 'floating' scrolling HN or
| whatever).
| foobarbecue wrote:
| Lol @ "every todo app" . There must be literally tens of
| thousands.
|
| The best one is https://taskwarrior.org/ , which was missing from
| this list.
| meatstick wrote:
| Precious few task/todo apps have this exact combination of
| features I'm looking for:
|
| * Native Mac, iOS, and Android apps, plus access via web
|
| * Reminder notifications for native apps
|
| * Start/defer dates AND due dates
|
| * Option to recur from start/due dates or completed date
|
| Todoist doesn't support start dates. Things and OmniFocus support
| nearly all of these things, but aren't available on Android.
| Nirvana doesn't support notifications on desktop.
| yodsanklai wrote:
| I'm quite happy with Apple Notes. I use it all the time, for todo
| lists, for taking notes during meetings, for anything really.
| Actually, as a general principle, I try to embrace the tools that
| are readily available and limit the amount of customization.
| dtkav wrote:
| > "But what about collaboration?" - I use work tools for work.
| This is for my life.
|
| I'm working on local-first collaboration for Obsidian
| (https://relay.md), and there's something so nice about editors
| and then collaboration as layers of "progressive enhancement"
| over files on my own machine.
|
| I want me-centric software that treats life and work as just
| folders on my device. IMO git/github is a model experience for
| this kind of thing.
|
| It's great to have text files that I can use vim, rg, fzf, etc on
| my laptop, then switch to use the best writing tool (Obsidian
| IMO) on any of my devices, and then sync the content and
| collaborate in-real time with my team.
| pmarreck wrote:
| Just go 1 step up to a set of .md files and Obsidian; that's what
| I did, anyway.
| bariswheel wrote:
| Similar to this idea to increase accessibility:
|
| Just use tasks.google.com
|
| Add your todos, when finished, type DONE in front of it, this way
| it' a journal and you get to feel good about all the things
| you've done since you're always looking at your list. Anything
| without a DONE needs to be done. You can write details in each
| entry, too.
|
| No subscriptions, no fees, accessible from your phone, computer.
| etc. Keep it simple, folks.
| shmerl wrote:
| Add using ripgrep with it.
| BLKNSLVR wrote:
| I use the same application for my to-do list as I use for my
| "scattered everything" documentation: Noteself[0] (not
| affiliated, just a happy user for many years). It's a
| modification to TiddlyWiki that allows for the use of couchDB for
| essentially 'cloud hosting' (which I self-host).
|
| I have a Calendar for appointments, which provides reminders as
| notifications and or email. That's outside my scope for a to-do
| app, although it's complementary.
|
| I have two 'tiddlers' that open up front by default, one is the
| regular weekly schedule of things (with some calendar overlap)
| and the other is my (now very long) bullet pointed to-do list. It
| doesn't matter (to me) how long the to-do list is because the
| more important things are very near the top - merely by the
| passage of time if they haven't been done yet then they weren't
| important enough. But I keep them on the list as reminders of
| things I wanted to do and may still pursue at some point in the
| future (retirement perhaps?).
|
| It's essentially a text file, but I can access the current
| version from any browser anywhere in the world (maybe not China)
| as long as I remember the URL, username and password. (It's more
| like multiple organised text files)
|
| [0]: https://noteself.org/
| nipperkinfeet wrote:
| Same here. No need for any bloat. Simple text file in Notepad4
| (Notepad22, Notepad2++).
| jv22222 wrote:
| I feel exactly the same as the OP and went on a long journey to
| build something better. 5 versions and many years later I think
| have something. It's remarkably similar to a text editor.
|
| I just kept peeling back to that because for each product I tried
| to build I still ended up reverting back to a big ass text file
| to manage my building of my product!
|
| Only the current version is the one I have been able to stick
| with. It starts with text editor as the foundation and then adds
| features (that are hidden) on top of that.
|
| Hoping to release to some friends in Sep.
| 21sys wrote:
| > Create a file called todo.txt yes, thank you.
| jwrallie wrote:
| I'm using code server running on a VPS so that my .md todo list
| is accessible from all my devices through a browser. I use the
| vim plugin for editing.
|
| I have two categories, todo and done. I separate them by project.
| I use markdown checkboxes. A checked item on todo means doing.
| Moving it to the done section means... well... done. Git is used
| from time to time to have a copy elsewhere. Basically kanban on a
| text file.
|
| Sometimes I'm doing lots of small tasks and need it to keep
| track, sometimes I'm doing tasks that span for days and don't
| look at it. I'll look at it when I want to think of the next
| step.
|
| Around once per month I remove things from it, cleaning up and
| consolidating tasks. I think it's important to let go of tasks
| that are there but never done, they can be a source of stress. If
| they are that important they will find their way back there.
|
| I also use an online calendar for tasks that have a clear start
| and end time. I consider it separate.
| lacrosse_tannin wrote:
| emacs enjoyer here. I don't even open org files any more. Just
| text in the temporary buffer. If I happen to lose the temp buffer
| oh well.
| archargelod wrote:
| I came to the same conclusion - nothing beats a simple text file.
|
| But I've also built a simple chooser program for multiple todo
| files and notes. A very simple cli program that does basic fuzzy
| search over file names.
|
| For example, I can type `mem mov` to open a `movies.note` file in
| notes directory. If I use a full name with `.note` extension and
| it doesn't exist - it will create a new note with that name and
| open it in editor immediately. It makes it easy to create new
| notes on the fly and open them in a few keystrokes.
|
| For editing I use neovim with auto-save enabled, so I can keep
| editor open all the time without forgetting to save.
| haoya wrote:
| I wrote a super simple matrix-style todo check: https://4to.do
| ksherlock wrote:
| One bonus from just using sticky notes or plain paper: you might
| discover that note, 10 or 15 years later, in a long forgotten
| jacket pocket. 'Those were the days', you'll muse to yourself, as
| you crumple up and discard a shopping list: pizza; beer; condoms
| (12 pack).
| mekster wrote:
| Use SeaTable.
|
| Rows can be very flexible and I've been using it for years for my
| to-do list (also issue tracker on smaller projects) and it works
| very well.
|
| Works well on mobile as well.
| pervysage wrote:
| Has anyone tried https://organice.200ok.ch/ ? It can be a good
| solution if you survive the learning curve.
| b8 wrote:
| I use Google Reminders and Tasks all in my calendar. Sometimes
| I'll use notepad or Google notes though.
| hyrumjb3 wrote:
| Love this idea! Everyone else seems to be comparing the end
| functionality, but from a purely neuropsychological perspective,
| this is powerful because it takes out all alternative sources of
| dopamine. It focuses the brain's dopamine pathways on the task
| that needs to be done
| Fanofilm wrote:
| I found Asana's TO DO app the best for me. Great for mobile,
| ipad, Mac app and web based.
| conductr wrote:
| At work, I use my calendar. At home, I have a wife.
|
| It's a joke but there's a lot of truth to it. She maintains our
| social calendar (which is mostly our kids social calendar and we
| tag along tbh) and I just ask what's happening tomorrow each
| night. For anything she's not telling me where to be, I have a
| Post It or just remember it. If there's something I want to do, I
| make sure she pencils it in well in advance or I look for gaps in
| the day plan she's built.
| mock-possum wrote:
| That... sounds kind of fucked up.
|
| You're saying you have an unpaid secretary?
|
| Surely there's a better way you could present this?
| conductr wrote:
| I see no need to sugar coat it when it's my reality and
| there's no labor disputes. If you want to be outraged by what
| works in my relationship have at it, meanwhile we'll continue
| our 20 years and counting... but if it makes you feel better,
| I fully realize it's self-deprecating and I'm basically a
| Homer Simpson of an oaf. I'd invite you to consider that some
| women/wives actually enjoy traditional home-making and more
| traditional roles which we have followed as it comes natural
| to us based our similar values. While you're at it, you
| should consider that I have a pretty high stress job and she
| doesn't. I also make about 8x what she makes and while she
| chooses to work, she's the one with the bandwidth for
| maintaining the house/kid's schedule. Need I continue?
| GeneralMaximus wrote:
| I think @mock-possum was responding negatively to the tone
| of your post, not the content of it. The division of labor
| within your relationship is nobody's business but your own.
| If it works for you and your partner, nobody has a right to
| question it. However, when you say this:
|
| > At work, I use my calendar. At home, I have a wife.
|
| Then you're talking about your partner as if they were an
| appliance of piece of software rather than a person. You're
| objectifying them, even if in jest. This is the sort of
| language that makes many people feel unwelcome on HN.
|
| To be clear, I don't believe you meant for your remark to
| be malicious! I just wanted to point out why it might make
| some people feel like outsiders in this community.
| conductr wrote:
| There was no tone. It was just concise. The problem is
| people online read things so literally they'd rather take
| offense than consider they're reading it wrongly. Such a
| lack of critical thinking in a world that is so heavily
| text based, lacking in context of body language and
| actual tone.
|
| > This is the sort of language that makes many people
| feel unwelcome on HN
|
| Really? How do you navigate as a functional person IRL if
| your sensibilities are so easily disrupted? I feel like
| if that's the case, you need to work on yourself first.
| Expecting the world to alter their stance and sugarcoat
| every word or POV is insanity. You're literally living
| life in hard mode by choice. I'm not a big fan of
| appeasing fragile people, I'm sure this is a generational
| thing but here's the thing, that cohort is going to live
| a majority of their life alongside my cohort and they're
| choosing to bring friction into the mix.
|
| I think HN is a place for adults to talk maturely and
| generally "we" read past this stuff. Places like Reddit
| are places for kids (or immature adults) to talk, they
| would gladly turn the entire conversation into a
| dissection of word choice based on whatever is trending
| in the offends-me-today cult. This is a what keeps HN
| community, and our discourse, high quality.
| GeneralMaximus wrote:
| You're being unfairly combative. I was supplying a
| different perspective you may not have considered, and
| you assumed it was a personal attack. It wasn't.
|
| I don't think this will be a productive conversation.
| Let's just agree we feel differently about how words
| affect people and move on.
| mi_lk wrote:
| I'll never understand how someone gets offended by other
| people's working relationship
| csvm wrote:
| This type of edgy Gen-Z sarcasm is turning HN into Reddit.
| Please don't bring it here.
| bjt12345 wrote:
| I actually find Obsidian is better than using a todo.txt.
|
| In Obsidian, open the daily file amd copy the contents from
| yesterday. Anything big gets its own folder.
|
| Screenshots...etc can be dumped into the Obsidian document.
|
| OneSync app can sync files to OneDrive so I can read it on my
| phone.
| mnk47 wrote:
| > In Obsidian, open the daily file amd copy the contents from
| yesterday
|
| What's the point of this? Isn't it easier to just keep reusing
| the same note?
| jibal wrote:
| My text file is called todo.org
| seansh wrote:
| > "But what about collaboration?" - I use work tools for work.
| This is for my life.
|
| I've been experimenting with this at work too. I created a
| separate internal git repo for the team with 4 never ending
| files:
|
| - in-progress.md
|
| - up-next.md
|
| - for-future.md
|
| - done.md
|
| So far it's been easier to use than trello or any other project
| management platform.
|
| Personally I use a single emacs org-mode file for my private work
| which is 30K lines as of today, but I'm not sure how other
| people's editors (vscode) handle big files like that.
| dileeparanawake wrote:
| Simple is good. For me - apple notes (my life todo temp), apple
| reminders (more persistent todos / reminders - setup kanban) and
| then text files + kanban for coding projects.
|
| Todo lists of any kind in a team context usually fall down and
| kanban is the way forward.
| gxs wrote:
| For those interested, you can do some cool stuff with notes using
| just apple shortcuts on both Mac and iOS
|
| I have a shortcut for example on my Home Screen that opens a text
| dialogue - anything that I type is appended to a text file I
| specify with a timestamp, for example
|
| Highly recommend for this type of stuff
| kseistrup wrote:
| There once was an app called "Do It (Tomorrow)":
| https://www.tomorrow.do/
|
| I believe it has been discontinued.
|
| It simply has two list: the "inbox" where you would add anything
| that should be done, and then a "tomorrow" list.
|
| As you went through your day you would either swipe to delete any
| done task, or you would swipe it to the "tomorrow" list. At the
| end of the day, the "tomorrow" list would be merged with the
| "inbox".
|
| Simple and effective.
| shahzaibmushtaq wrote:
| I never used fancy productivity and todo apps. I saved Everything
| in .txt files, sticky notes and writing on papers. No need to go
| for a few extra miles.
| tinodb wrote:
| > The file sits on my desktop. It stares at me every time I open
| my laptop. No app to launch, no subscription to manage.
|
| Yeah that's my problem here, I _never_ see my desktop :)
| ildon wrote:
| The author claims to have tried all Todo apps, and the lists only
| a fraction of the Todo apps available on the market. There's a
| reason why there are so many apps available, and without actually
| trying them all any conclusion is based on partial data.
| deafpolygon wrote:
| i honestly don't think the author is claiming that /literally/
| - it's often a figure of speech in English. My kids say it "all
| the kids at school <insert thing here>" - doesn't mean they
| meant literally every single student who attends.
| personjerry wrote:
| The reason why there's always a million reinventings of the todo
| wheel is because at its core, notes are just databases. A TODO
| form of note is about as flexible as Redis, and so the use-cases
| are many, from quick writes/reads (i.e. jotting down TODOs) to
| sortedset (i.e. priority list TODOs) to full task management
| (i.e. more data in the value), and everything inbetween.
|
| In the same way we build around Redis for whatever tasks we need,
| you see engineers build around the concept of the note,
| complaining every other solution isn't exactly what they're using
| it for, and they're right, because on the other end is another
| engineer building for their niche use pattern.
|
| By unpacking the use cases and slicing the right niches there
| might be a better notes app product somewhere, but I think it
| takes a very strong product person, not an engineer, to figure
| that out.
| hboon wrote:
| I used a wip.md for ~16 years. Every day, I move the done items
| to a new file with yesterday's date.
| paulmooreparks wrote:
| The funny thing is, the answer to:
|
| > Why This Actually Works
|
| isn't anything the author lists under that heading. It's actually
| what he says above:
|
| > Every night, I check tomorrow's calendar. I dump everything
| into the next day's section. Scheduled items get times in front.
| Sub-bullets hold notes or reminders. Finished tasks? I delete
| them or add what happened. Still on the list? Not done yet.
| That's it.
|
| That's why it works. He can build a simple ritual around it. The
| medium doesn't matter. The ritual does.
| lemonberry wrote:
| One of the biggest insights of David Allen's "Getting Things
| Done" is the daily review. If you're not reviewing your system
| isn't working. Build a habit/ritual around that and you're in
| great shape. Cal Newport also talks about this.
| timeonecom wrote:
| This works. The only thing I see missing is accessing it on a
| phone await from THE computer, so some kind of syncing would help
| me. I use Joplin to sync notes (and ignore it's special task
| related features)
| raldu wrote:
| I have came to the understanding that the things that we'd like
| to keep track of as "todos" are more like "issues," than specific
| and physical actions.
|
| The "tasks" are only meant for the day, maybe drafted daily and
| be disposed of and forgotten in a post-it notes fashion.
|
| The issues, then are more like a backlog of requirements, a call
| to duty, like "briefs on the mission."
|
| The "issues" are the question; and neither todos, nor tasks are
| the answer.
|
| It is robotic to compile and keep track of a set of "actions to
| be done" several days into the future, but those todo.txt's as a
| database can be treated as valuable asset, as a "documentation of
| scope," for a team-of-one, or many.
|
| Hence the treatment of those not as "todos" as issues, with their
| shifting nature of requirements and many ways of resolution.
|
| Such a database deserves reinventing because nothing else can be
| as tailored and as diamond-cut as the one that's been built by
| you.
| mxuribe wrote:
| Your approach on "issues" is fascinating! It certainly sounds
| like you're talking about almost tracking tickets...you know
| like for a dev or tech support team...Because my experience is
| that often tickets are not a one-and-done thing. Often enough,
| they require a little more folow-up, and i myself like to add
| comments along way towards the progress of completion...so,
| yeah, your approach sounds alot like tracking tickets...which
| in itself is NOT bad at all. The only concern is that tracking
| tickets often requires some pretty robust software/tool...so
| unless we're talking a kanban, the fear i would have is that
| the software/tool to use for tracking tickets might be too
| unwieldy for quick, let's say mobile tracking of
| progress...though i admit that may wrong on all thre above.
| kadrian12 wrote:
| My professor once said: the only thing that we'll still have in
| 80 years is the file system. Always bet on the file system.
| mxuribe wrote:
| Funny enough, not exactly this, but when i review new apps -
| either desktop or mobile (but especially mobile!) - besides
| ensuring that the desired features are present and will do the
| trick...i try to see if i can understand where/how the files
| are saved...This started years ago when i was interested in
| exporting stuff from proprietary apps...and now i've biased
| myself...so whenever i can not view/access/understand how or
| where files are stored for an app, then i almost immediately
| have a negative sentiment towards said app. Sadly, for mobile
| apps, the obfuscation of files and how/where they're stored is
| too much of a prevalent thing and for me so annoying.
|
| This started out in my quest to be sure that i can not trapped
| by an app, and so i can safely export my data...but, nowadays,
| it has extended a little into the tinfoil hat thinking - fairly
| or not - where i ask myself: "why does this app not disclose
| where its files are stored, *what do they have to hide!?!*"
| ...which feels like the universe is nudging me more and more
| towards either text-centric methods, or the simplest, open
| source style apps, etc. :-)
| ddmf wrote:
| I too have tried many things over the years and the only thing
| that truly works for me and my adhd (diagnosed) brain are post it
| notes and calendar alarms, unless of course I forget and
| accidentally put my phone on DND where it can stay for many days.
| ecthiender wrote:
| If the author of the article is here, do try out org-mode. That
| is exactly what you need. It is designed to be a simple text file
| format, but tooling on top of it (simple editor plugins, mostly
| in emacs, but there are equivalent plugins in vim/neovim; I'm
| sure there must be something in today's kool-aid VSCode editors)
| make it so so much more powerful.
|
| Org-mode has TODOs, Agendas, tables, nested/collapsible headings,
| mind-maps etc. You can also generate richly formatted
| PDFs/HTML/DOC files as well.
| enthus1ast_ wrote:
| I had the same issue and came to a similar conclusion:
|
| https://github.com/enthus1ast/nimTodo
| codesnakers wrote:
| I use notepad ++
| charles_f wrote:
| I use a simple process based on Jira. I added a custom workflow
| that easily allows me to create tickets with all the mandatory
| fields I want, such as business priority, criticality and risks.
|
| Then I plan my todos semi-yearly using epics and backlogs. I
| spent a whole lot of time carefully deciding what I'll do day by
| day in 4 months, so that I can use it as a baseline I can ignore
| and re-adjust it day by day.
|
| Every week I review all my todos and assign them point. I usually
| involve my partner so we can have a healthy discussion on how
| many points a todo is worth, and whether we should switch to
| tshirt sizing instead. I usually plan between 1.5 and 2x the
| amount of todo I'm actually capable of doing, because I like
| stretch goals. Then I spend the week working on the todos. I
| built an automation that sends me messages to ask why such and
| such todos are not moving fast enough. I also built automation to
| spice things up a little and ask me to get a privacy review on
| some of the items, or to start the process on those todos again
| because I forgot a step or something.
|
| I start every day with a 1/2h to 1h meeting where I explain what
| I didn't do the day before, and what I won't do today either
| because I'm blocked for some reason. I used to do it with my dog
| but nowadays I use copilot chat because its reassuring tone gives
| me the impression that it matters.
|
| At the end of the week I put back the todos I didn't do in the
| backlog. At the end of the week I build a status report that I
| then present to my partner. She's usually asleep when I do that
| but she _insists_ that I go on and give that weekly status, that
| she usually closes with "bottom line, you underachieved again".
| Helps keeping me humble.
| ZeWaren wrote:
| My requirements were: - ability to sync the TODO lists between
| devices (web and android). - ability to have sub-items, so that I
| can organise my complex lists into magnificent trees of tasks. I
| sometimes have 5 levels of details on some travel checklists. -
| ability to handle periodic tasks, and ability to create a task
| and hide it until a specific date (topics for my future self) -
| ability to be self-hosted.
|
| I'm now using Vikunja, and Tasks.org for the Android side. That
| setup has worked for me wonderfully for a couple years now.
| Vikunja has a ton of features I don't use, and that's fine. They
| don't get in the way.
| mintflow wrote:
| I was also used evernote, then onenote, then notion and obsidian
| to track my TODO items and personal knowledge base, finally
| settled using pure local markdown file and edit it using emacs,
| for syncing i just init a git repo and sync to private github
| repo, so far so good.
| Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe wrote:
| I am completely in love with tasks.org, foss, synced via
| nextcloud.
|
| https://github.com/tasks/tasks
| johnorourke wrote:
| People say "this is the one best system for every human", but if
| you want to learn how to design a system that's right for you
| (regardless of which app), read Francis Wade's Perfect Time Based
| Productivity[1]. (I have no affiliation, it's just one of the
| best productivity books I ever read)
|
| [1] https://productivitycast.net/2020/07/07/080-perfect-time-
| bas...
| justforfunhere wrote:
| There was a period in my life when, just like OP, I tried many
| TODO apps. With each new app that I tried, I was filled with
| immense expectation that this finally is the app that will help
| me get my life in order. Needless to say, the early high was soon
| filled with inevitable dread, as the items and lists in the app
| kept on growing and I struggled to keep up with the brutal
| requirements of life as it is.
|
| There were certain apps which would give the user a lot of
| options to customize the lists and the items in them. Customize
| in ways that would make the TODO item the most unique TODO item
| in its requirement and its quality. Such apps made me think a
| lot. Or should I say, overthink a lot. I would spend a lot of
| time trying to find the ultimate, most specific, custom setting
| for a TODO item that would make it unique and give it a life of
| its own. Looking back now, I am not sure how useful it all was.
| Ultimately, I ended up doing some items and not doing others. I
| cannot quantify what additional productivity they brought to me.
|
| Now I dont use any TODO app at all. I just try to remember
| things, and I don't feel any different from the time when I was
| using those apps. Makes me wonder! Was I trying to invent a
| problem so that I could use these apps as a solution.
|
| Perhaps that's why so many people come back to the old plain
| paper or a simple text file approach. Perhaps we all realize that
| it was perhaps not a problem after all and we would still have
| achieved most of what we set out to do. And even if we didn't, in
| the end, it doesn't matter all that much because life still goes
| on regardless.
| perlgeek wrote:
| > Needless to say, the early high was soon filled with
| inevitable dread, as the items and lists in the app kept on
| growing and I struggled to keep up with the brutal requirements
| of life as it is.
|
| That resonates with me.
|
| I also think that OP tried to use his TODO app for habits:
|
| >> Todoist: Great until I realized I was gaming the points
| system instead of doing actual work. Turns out completing
| "drink water" 8 times a day doesn't make you productive.
|
| I use a very simple habit tracker to track the things I want to
| do regularly, it has no gamification, just a simple
| notification once per day per habit.
|
| These days I don't use a TODO app regularly; everyday tasks
| such as groceries, household tasks etc. work fine without it.
| When lots of tasks pile up and I struggle to keep track, I use
| a text file. Those are usually short-lived.
|
| I also have a shared Todoist list with my wife, but we mostly
| use it for as a shopping list, not really a TODO app.
| tiborsaas wrote:
| I guess the real workhorse here is Neovim and the custom hotkey
| for launching todo.txt
| hnben wrote:
| I use the tasks that come with my email account/calendar. It
| integrates well with thunderbird and android-apps.
|
| I am surpised, that no one here seems to use it, since it seems
| like an obvious choice.
| deafpolygon wrote:
| privacy is an issue with e-mail and calendar apps that
| integrate with your e-mail account.
| martini333 wrote:
| > tried every
|
| Mentions just 5
|
| Does not mention Markdown once.
| gtzi wrote:
| Same here. I have Writeroom (in a terminal-like theme) always
| open next to Gmail on my mac, and I keep all my notes and to-dos
| there - for some years now. The only challenge is that Writeroom
| has proven to be a bit sluggish with the latest MacOS versions.
| gloomyday wrote:
| Simple is best. I prefer writing it down on paper. I write my
| todos for the day, and if I write too many things, I rewrite a
| stripped down version below.
|
| The more things I have in my todo list, the less things I
| accomplish. If I'm in a rut, I just write down a single thing. It
| works for me.
| kgeist wrote:
| I've been using simple text files too, for 7 years now.
|
| Except I create a new file for each new day, to have peace of
| mind (as opposed to having a million-line-long file). Instead of
| Ctrl+F, I use grep. The format is Markdown.
|
| My typical TODO file has 3 sections: TODO, Pending, and DONE. If
| something is done for the day, I move it to the DONE section.
| When I create a new file for a new day, I copy over everything
| except the DONE section. The Pending section is for something I
| can't act on immediately (say, waiting for a coworker's
| response). I look there less often.
|
| Every morning I also re-prioritize the items in the TODO section.
|
| The only problem is that if I'm away from the work computer, I
| have to add items in a separate app on the phone (Notepad Free)
| and then manually copy them to the PC.
|
| This system is something I naturally came to over those 7 years
| via trial and error, something that works well for me. I had
| other formats that didn't catch on.
|
| Just my two cents.
| stevezsa8 wrote:
| This worked really well for me at work. A new text file for
| each day, so I could explain what I did/plan to do during
| standup.
|
| I struggle at home though. Because there's not as much pressure
| to do one task until it's done... so my text file gets
| forgotten about. Then I start a paper list. Then I forget
| that... rinse and repeat.
| uttrasey84 wrote:
| I use Inkdrop for this, it's a really nice notetaker I use for
| other stuff. I pin one note to the top for my todo.txt.
|
| Syncs the notes across devices without forcing how you structure
| tzury wrote:
| Obsidian.
| jpfromlondon wrote:
| Can I ask why you abandoned TickTick?
| hs586 wrote:
| I have (re)discovered paper todo-lists, but not in a notebook but
| just a single A6 paper that I keep in my pocket the whole day.
|
| Since it's always in my pocket, I see it spontaneously during the
| day, and as a result, I manage to focus on it more. Have tried
| apps, but the fact I had to click the app would make me easily
| forget it, and get distracted on other things on the phone.
|
| I look at it every evening and write the one for the next day,
| and have the last few lying around near my bed. As one of the
| other comments mentioned, this ritual may be more important than
| the medium but I find keeping a ritual with paper has been
| easier.
| drooopy wrote:
| For nearly 30 years I have been using a combination of a .txt
| file, the Mac stickies app and my calendar app. Works like a
| charm.
| EDM115 wrote:
| related meme :
| https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/1epgj1e/im...
| unvalley wrote:
| This app is similar in concept (but Markdown):
| https://github.com/unvalley/ephe
| davidkuennen wrote:
| I also tried a lot of todo apps and ended up with a sheet of
| paper :D
| hyperman1 wrote:
| While I am slowly moving in the same direction, I have one big
| blocker:. here do I put it? On my cellphone is really annoying to
| type and I put it off. Text to speech is barely working unless I
| speak English. On my real computer it is only available at home.
| Moments like this, I miss my palm pilot.
| weird-eye-issue wrote:
| Google Keep
| ubermonkey wrote:
| Do you not have a note app on your phone you can also interact
| with on your computer? I mean, that's a solved problem, right?
| cmsefton wrote:
| I've also tried many things over the years.
|
| The problem was always about finding a process that fit with my
| needs, a process that worked for me, and then having the
| discipline to stick with it.
|
| I finally settled on bullet journaling. I like books, I like
| writing, I like journaling, the simplicity and adaptability
| worked for me. There was value for me in being able to tailor the
| system to my needs, rather than me trying to fight with UIs that
| forced me to change, or didn't quite do what I wanted.
|
| If you are resisting or fighting your system, it will fail,
| regardless of the tools involved. Go with what works for you.
| fithisux wrote:
| I prefer a markdown because of formatting. Latex also good but
| needs more tooling.
|
| I used for years M$$$ todo, but I am afraid of lock-in.
|
| Migration is WIP.
| kraag22 wrote:
| try iPhone app RTM - it is almost as simple as text file. It has
| more features, but I use it only as simple list of TODOs
| major505 wrote:
| I used a lot of Todo and Note taking APP over the years.
|
| My last and the one that ended up working more for me was
| Microsoft TODO because it was simple and synced with my phone,
| and actually worked seamless with IOs Reminder app. I sticked
| with it for a lot of time, but in the end, after a hell week,
| most my tasks where red with due dates long passed. It just added
| to my stress seeing all that red.
|
| Today I just carry a small notebook and a pen I like in my back
| pocket. If I have to do something I start with a task like
|
| - do something.
|
| After done
|
| + do something
|
| Every start of day, I just grab some coffee, sit for 5 min and go
| through the last day, what I done, what I could not finish, and
| create a new todo list for the day.
|
| I also now just carry the notebook for quick notes. Notebook for
| temporary stuff. If is something more permanent stuff that I need
| to remember, I just add an entry in my OneNote. If is a event, in
| goes to my outlook Calendar.
|
| OneNote is hardly ideal, I used to run my life on Notion, but it
| works well enough, but there where some problems.
|
| * Too much cluter. I did not use 1/3 of what it could do
|
| * I run out of space, and I did not wanted another monthly
| payment to get premium stuff
|
| * The search in One is reasonable, and does the job
|
| * I can draw in my tablet, for simple diagrams
|
| * Tt syncs with my phone independent if I'm using Android of IOs
| without me have to think much about it
|
| * is already included in my Office 365 family plan.
|
| * works offline, different from Notion.
|
| My only grip is OneNote don't have a Linux desktop app, just
| wrappers for the web app, and pasting code on it is a fucking
| disaster. Other than that, it does the job.
|
| The only thing now that would make me switch is Obsidian, but the
| IOs app is a fucking disaster. you cannot open vaults outside the
| Obsidian folder, and I was using git to sync it, but IOs dont
| have a good free Git app that can sync folders anywhere I want
| it.
|
| Also, having to sync manually and solving merge conflits for my
| notes is kinda a pain in the ass.
| major505 wrote:
| and just a quick resume: What I find that independent of your
| note taking system, what really makes the different is that 5
| min I told, that I sit and process what was done in the
| previous day. The discipline to rethink your day, apply again
| what it works, and do a little different what it did not
| worked, thats whats really makes the different.
| lycopodiopsida wrote:
| I am right now on Apple Reminders, which has its advantages,
| but I've also used OmniFocus a lot, as well as org-mode. And I
| switch between them from time to time.
|
| Org-mode could be perfect, but sync and mobile apps are PITA.
| Reminders are good, but limited. However, they are well
| integrated with calendar. OmniFocus is somehow in between, has
| own scripting engine, complex, limited at some places, but will
| surely get it done.
|
| As much as I am with the idea of writing, bringing the pen and
| notebook with you me all the time get old pretty soon. And,
| such are the details of modern life, a lot of information
| arrives per mail or links. Also, no meaningful context can be
| saved with task. What would happen is that I would have to
| maintain 2 system - short written tasks and digital information
| storage for them, and somehow link between them.
|
| But why I commented here: indeed, in the end the system itself
| does not matter that much. The regular review, in GTD terms,
| does. Cleaning up junk tasks, plan the day, process the inbox -
| it can be done with anything.
| dartharva wrote:
| The best option in the end is to just do what professionals have
| been doing for a decade - use your phone's calendar. That's it.
| arendtio wrote:
| The author might enjoy my todo app:
|
| https://github.com/arendtio/witfocus
|
| Ultimately, it is simply a folder containing text files. The
| witfocus script helps manage those files.
|
| I don't think it is for everybody, but if you enjoy having your
| todos in a text file, it might be for you.
| rhetti wrote:
| what about emacs org mode)
| makingstuffs wrote:
| I personally never moved away from the colour coded post-it-note-
| stuck-to-the-monitor system.
|
| Requires little to no thought and has unparalleled security and
| privacy out the box
| baggachipz wrote:
| But no portability :(
| makingstuffs wrote:
| This is the one great downfall of the system :(
| javier_e06 wrote:
| My 3 rules of a TODO list ( a txt file obviousl ).
|
| 1. Done in the morning before starting work. Helps to take glance
| at yesterdays todo before it. 2. It only covers task achievable
| at the end of the day. Gets updated through the day with twists
| and turns and possible completion notes. 3. Very important! It
| gets evaluated at the end of the day: pass-fail.
|
| The goal is not to pass or fail at the end of the day, is to help
| tomorrow's todo list creation.
|
| Done diligently. Sharpens my brain.
| spooky_deep wrote:
| What is a good way to do this but across many devices?
| baggachipz wrote:
| Apple Notes if you're in the ecosystem. Or, a txt file in
| icloud.
| spooky_deep wrote:
| Not a bad idea, but...
|
| Can Apple read the notes?
|
| Can Apple switch you off?
|
| Is it easy to edit from a non-Apple device?
| baggachipz wrote:
| - No
|
| - Presumably yes, but unlikely
|
| - No
|
| So you definitely have to be in the ecosystem, like I
| alluded to.
| DavidPiper wrote:
| I'm a big fan of Adam Savage's TODO system:
|
| - Ordinary dot points (on a 5x3 lined card, for me)
|
| - But instead of dots, you draw a little square
|
| - When the task if part way done, you colour in half the square,
| corner to corner
|
| - When the task is completely done, you colour the whole square
|
| It gives you partial progress, and the same satisfaction of
| crossing something off when done, but without obscuring the text
| you originally wrote.
| cbopt wrote:
| I've noticed that the best TODO list for me is almost always one
| on paper. I keep putting off tasks, but running out of physical
| space on the page really helps you get through them faster.
| Perhaps it's just me though.
| rrgmitchell wrote:
| I used to have one long .org tasks file. That was great when I
| was working, because I saw it every day when I logged on my
| laptop and did org-agenda. But now that I'm retired I don't do
| that any more. So what I have now is a sheaf of A5 slips (cut
| from scrap A4) stapled together at one corner. I scribble one-
| liners to note tasks and score through the lines when completed.
| When a whole page is complete I rip it off, screw it up, and into
| the waste basket. Works great!
|
| Plus Apple Reminders for deadlines. The Org file still exists,
| but for recording history rather than a scheduler.
| paffdragon wrote:
| I went through something similar, Todoist, Wunderlist, etc. We
| used these also together with my wife for a while. But sooner or
| later we reverted to paper for ad-hoc lists and some docs,
| spreadsheet software (Google Drive, Synology Drive, MS OneDrive,
| LibreOffice - whichever was easier) for more long term or longer
| content, and have a small board on the fridge serving as the
| shopping list.
|
| Personally, I have my own "notes" script, a combination of shell
| and vim script for general note taking. I can organize things in
| folders, have a todo file, tags and indexing of tags (a folder of
| tags, each tag is a folder that contains symlinks to the related
| notes). If I just run it without a file, it opens a new daily
| note with the current date. I use that also for work tracking and
| TODO, I create a new note each day, add my tasks, tag it with the
| sprint. I can freely grep anything, I can quickly create a sprint
| summary from the tagged files, etc. I can back up or sync with
| git or any other software that works with plain text files and
| folders.
|
| This is very simple and hacky, but haven't had to touch for years
| and it works for me - only me, only on my laptop, I don't need it
| on mobile. To carry around a list I use post its. For other
| purpose I have a physical notebook.
|
| It is definitely not for everyone and that's fine. There is no
| one fits all. This is what I found working for me, minimal
| overhead, I can change/fix anything anytime, works with standard
| command line tools.
| Weryj wrote:
| I'd recommend LogSeq, for it's local first approach.
| bojle wrote:
| I found todo apps to be clunky and bloated. I decided to use
| github issues (of a private repository) as my notes. I even made
| a little script around it (via gh-cli) to edit it from the
| command line [1]. I don't update TODO very often from my phone,
| but in case I want to, I use the Github mobile app. I am finally
| content with this solution (although I don't know for how long).
|
| [1] https://github.com/bojle/note.py
| kaiwen1 wrote:
| Like many others here, I recommend giving org-mode a try. The
| main drawback is endlessly yak shaving it to your taste.
| kenanfyi wrote:
| I tried plain-text task management too since I use plain-text
| formats for various things in my life anyway, but I could not get
| it working as good as a to-do app. My final outcomes are: -
| capturing tasks/todos on the go is a huge problem with plain-
| text. - never syncs properly. - proprietary apps (unfortunately)
| works out of the box and without a hassle or personal
| infrastructure concerns. - being able to capture using a web
| browser makes things very easy because sometimes you are not even
| allowed to install some kind of syncing solution to company PCs.
|
| Maybe I'm dumb but another thing I never understand is how the
| hell you think org-mode is the best way to do this? An org
| document is one of the worst things I have seen in my life in
| terms of readability. How do you read this and properly interact
| with that mess? I am really eager to understand...
| Kuyawa wrote:
| I'll share with the world my own txt todo list: !
| important thing to do ~ something already started but not
| finished - thing to do - another thing to do x
| something done x already done ? needs more thought
|
| Been using it for the past 35 years, once I start a project I
| create a todo.txt file and start adding items, create logo,
| create database, etc
|
| * Don't forget to add your todo.txt to .gitignore
| brainlessdev wrote:
| - add todo.txt to global gitignore
| Salanoid wrote:
| So real, I use a Sublime Text because I don't even need to save
| the file, and it keeps track of what i write in the tab after
| computer restart.
| hoppp wrote:
| I also just so checkbox in a txt file like:
|
| [X] Task 1 [] Task 2
|
| Its enough for me
| 4star3star wrote:
| I've got loads of Notepad++ tabs open for various things. No
| concerns about having to save them as they auto save, and they
| persist if the system reboots for whatever reason. Other than
| that, I just use indentation to organize related items.
| dgrabla wrote:
| Taskwarrior is perfect. Give it a try. > t stats
| | grep -E 'Oldest|Total' \n Total 7675
| Oldest task 2014-07-24
| natnatenathan wrote:
| I have found the the secret to a Todo list is to create the habit
| to keep it up to date and actually use it to prioritize your
| time. The list tool itself is much less important.
| trial3 wrote:
| exactly. i, too, have tried many of the pieces of software
| mentioned and my problem is one of executive function, not of
| tools lacking some quality. currently i'm settled on apple
| reminders (so i can say "siri, remind me to do x tomorrow at
| 11am) and then a physical notebook to actually schedule and
| write checkboxes
| adrimubo96 wrote:
| I've been through the same problems as the author, but in the
| end, I managed to find something that is like an augmented TXT
| file: https://wiseowl.cat.
|
| It has exactly what the author was saying:
|
| "Every night, I check tomorrow's calendar. I dump everything into
| the next day's section. Scheduled items get times in front. Sub-
| bullets hold notes or reminders. Finished tasks? I delete them or
| add what happened. Still on the list? Not done yet. That's it."
|
| This app automatically moves what hasn't been done to the next
| day, it's pretty good to manage work and it doesn't add any extra
| workload to manage the TODOs. Can't recommend it enough for just
| 1 buck a month!!
| ge96 wrote:
| Tangent, I've written many note taking apps (Chrome extension,
| Android widget, desktop app, web app, PWA, mobile app, etc...) my
| central local API (running on an RPi) the MySQL db went down and
| also my node pm2 error-log file grew to like 14GB taking up my
| whole 16GB sd card... later had to move this tc.log file to get
| MySQL running again, pretty funny. Otherwise been running solid,
| it's an htmlcontenteditable type so you can drag/drop images and
| it renders them. Issue is the caret position that can be
| problematic when you lose your position same for a regular
| textarea input.
|
| I was lazy the images are converted to base64/stored as such so
| like 30% growth in storage vs. hosting/url.
|
| What I still have to setup is a centralized store/preferably
| statically encrypted and remote/syncing.
| cainxinth wrote:
| I still have the same .txt file I've been keeping my notes in
| since Windows Vista. Here's what's at the bottom:
|
| - Ideas for businesses I never started
|
| - My eyeglass frame measurements
|
| - Tips for maintaining battery health
|
| - Concepts for tattoos I never got
|
| - Specs for my ThinkPad T400
|
| - Passwords to websites I don't use anymore
|
| - Rough calculations for home solar buyback time
|
| - Instructions on how to edit a video for a seamless loop
|
| - Inside jokes
|
| - List of antivirus tools
|
| - List of browser extension
|
| - Motivational quotes and bits of personal wisdom
|
| - Dimensions for small subwoofers
| jll29 wrote:
| A simple plain text file ~/todo.txt
|
| and either Emacs or Sublime are hard to beat. I've been following
| the same system, also after experimenting with multiple systems.
|
| My system has a few minor differences:
|
| - I don't use dates/time in TO DO lists (anything with times or
| deadline are what calendars are for).
|
| - Done items are never deleted, they are merely moved from the TO
| DO section to the DONE section.
|
| - I use the todo.txt from one machine only (main laptop). While I
| use many other machines, I don't bother with synchronization, I
| just open it on the main laptop if I need it. [It's tempting to
| implement some distributed P2P or C/S sync protocol somehow, but
| I view this as procrastination, because in the same time I could
| generate more value in other ways.]
| winrid wrote:
| I just have a git repo of todo files and a simple upload script.
|
| Also, the Scratches feature in jetbrains ides is great.
| j-a-a-p wrote:
| > I'm back to where I started: a plain text file called todo.txt.
|
| Nice, mine is called todo.doc, as I can easily copy screenshots
| in it.
| matthewfelgate wrote:
| I use Todoist and I like it for repeating tasks:
| * A list of daily tasks small and quick too many to remember
| * Tasks to do or check every three or four days ie about twice a
| week * Tasks to do about once a week eg hoovering. *
| Tasks to do every three months like wash house windows etc
|
| Most days I put my todo list into ChatGPT and get it to put my
| todo list in order from quickest to longest.
|
| Sometimes I ask ChatGPT to order my todo list by importance.
| iqandjoke wrote:
| What about Power outage?
| imranq wrote:
| People basically want a life coach, someone by their side who can
| tell them what the best next thing to do is at any given moment.
| Everything else are just approximation of that ideal.
|
| The author's .txt file works because its simplicity forces a
| daily ritual of self-coaching. The tool demands that the user
| manually review, prioritize, and decide what matters. There are
| no features to hide behind, only the discipline of the process
| itself.
|
| The impulse to use complex apps or build custom scripts is the
| attempt to engineer a better coach. We try to automate the
| prioritization and reminders, hoping the system can do the
| coaching for us.
|
| The great trap, of course, is when we fall in love with
| engineering the system instead of doing the work. This turns
| productivity into a sophisticated form of procrastination.
|
| Ultimately, the best system is the one that removes the most
| friction between decision and action. For the author, that meant
| stripping away everything but the list itself.
| mzirino wrote:
| Everything you are saying was something I suspected to be true
| - I think you've captured it brilliantly. Really like:
| "Ultimately, the best system is the one that removes the most
| friction between decision and action."
| Shank wrote:
| I was a really big fan of taskwarrior for the simple reason
| that it _did_ do an approximation of telling you the best thing
| by calculating urgency, based on a simple weighting method
| where "the most urgent tasks" blocked other tasks, were due
| soon, had extra tags, had dependents, and were the oldest.
|
| But I do feel very strongly that people only jump into "the
| great trap" because they feel that they were let down by their
| system, or that it didn't quite model their life accurately. A
| lot of todo apps are opinionated and those opinions, if
| incompatible with the the person using them, will lead to
| frustration. The quest for a more perfect life model often
| continues when this incompatibility is found.
| meistertigran wrote:
| This is accurate. It's about having something that works with
| your specific personality type.
|
| That's why I personally just give some instructions to an LLM
| and create a simple scrapy HTML app that does exactly what I
| need.
| jp42 wrote:
| Apple notes app works well for me. I just keep top 3 things to do
| everyday. not to me mention these top 3 are for everything -
| personal work and everything else. just top 3 things. that's it.
| phedoreanu wrote:
| The shopping_list integration in homeassistant is really good and
| is uses json.
| jbms wrote:
| I put the top 250 lines from my unwieldy todo.txt into an AI and
| asked for advice, and I could jump for joy with the simplified
| list of priorities it generated. I think this could become my
| daily habit.
| BrtByte wrote:
| The funniest part is how this "low-tech" method ends up feeling
| faster than all the "productivity boosters" out there
| meistertigran wrote:
| I think the key point here is that you made a solution for
| yourself. If you would've finished the one you started, you
| would've known all it's features and could've customized it to
| your liking. Personally I just use AI to spin up a quick HTML
| file that solves any personal productivity needs I have.
| LenaAn wrote:
| Let's wait till the author hears about physical paper notebooks
| gijoeyguerra wrote:
| I use a single markdown file. todos.md.
| neop1x wrote:
| I have tried multiple of those mentioned in the article and also
| text files. Ended uo with Tasks.org foss android app which syncs
| over webdav with nextcloud and similar. Works wonderfully even
| offline and in my opinionnis more convenient than a text file.
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