Comment by don_neufeld
1 day ago
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.
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.)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sounds like you need an assistant haha. I’m glad your system is working though.
2 replies →
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.
Maybe you can talk a bit about what does work for you?
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.
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.
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.
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.
This looks like anxiety
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.
"Things on any given day has over 100 individual actions, most of which are recurring" looks more like checklist(s) to me.
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.
There’s a reason pilots don’t use text files for their checklists. Sometimes people need better features.