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 neededAnother tool I like is Things.app. But it's Apple only and I'm moving away from that ecosystem.
We tend to overcomplicate things when it's not needed. Sometimes I think we like playing with tools more than doing actual work.
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.
For longer term stuff/backburner items, I use Google tasks.
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
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...)
https://Simpletaskmanager.vercel.app
All the info is locally hosted.
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.
A bash alias so I can run `todo` and have the file open:
alias todo='nvim "$HOME/.todo.txt"'
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>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.
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.
This does complicate the system a bit, but still low overhead in my opinion.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
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).
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.
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.
- 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.
No org mode? No Taskwarrior? Both are apps backed by plain text.
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.
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.
i use whatever notes app my phone has and sync that on my laptop. Sometimes my email apps have that feature.
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/
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
There are a few things I wish I could magically add to the text doc, though, like inline alarms and calendar events.
For the rest, I just use plain files that are encrypted locally and stored on GitHub and Google Drive.
I mostly use text(markdown) these days.
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...
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.
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.
Longer term, I mainly want it to just use external auth (Google, etc.) and not use passwords at all.
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
> “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?
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.
The top part is the todo list and the bottom portion is a list of days and what was done beneath each.
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.
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.
- 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.
Emacs will happily run in the background.
But living in Emacs is more the sort of thing you get to do, not the sort of thing you'd need to do ;)
I use orgzly revived with it.
Org mode could do with a bigger non emacs ecosystem, though.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As for tasks tracking, it’s all lists. And a daily/weekly/monthly review is enough for me.
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.
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.
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!
-------------------------
```
└── Dey well
What benefit does your digital sticky note have over a physical one?
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.
> 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.
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.
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.
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 ;)
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.
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.
I read about all these complex systems for notes and second brains and whatnot.
All procrastinating imho.
There are apps that support it on many platforms and it is easy to sync across devices.
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.
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.
"I recommend people read this 30,000 word technical guide"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Big fan of the Rite-In-Rain notebooks, myself, and Fisher Space Pen's Cap-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.
I'm a pencil person, though.
My extravagance was a corner punch.
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.
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.
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.
Where "spontaneously disposed of" is sometimes abbreviated L-O-S-T, right? <g>
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.
I am a tech creative so I am okay with this vice. Trying to finetune the above setup btw.
└── Dey well
+ 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).
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.
The point is, I don't think one app, any app can solve all mankind's all scheduling problems.
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
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.
But I use .md files stored in a private git.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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…
I've seen folks using vim get way more done than some of these Youtube addicted professional tool testers.
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)
* 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.
I do with Things3 supported nested areas, but I just use Projects that I never complete to achieve the same effect.
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.
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.)
I like using paper for daily tasks and instant thoughts. I like to avoid cluttering with recurring unless I'm really having trouble. 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.
It stores todos in icalendar files, so it’s easy to sync onto a CalDav server and onto your phone.
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.
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.
I never look back more than a day or two worth of notes.
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.
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.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.
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.
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)
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...
- 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?
! heading here
+ item to do here
- item completed here
the !+- prefixes auto-highlight/colorize in editors. I use Sublime Text.
cheers
—> 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
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
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
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.
The only downside is that it's only on OSX/IOS but the webapp is good enough for my use cases.
But I will add, there is no right way to do things in life in general. Experiment, and do what works for you.
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.
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.
> 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…
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. */
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Oh, and I love the Denote package.
- 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.
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.
Two shortcomings are: figure out cross-device sync (ssh/nfs are good options), reinventing the wheel for rich text (tags, references, data tables, etc.)
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.)
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.
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
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.
I love Markdown files with editors such as Obsidian or Logseq, but found them to be suboptimal for to-do's / tasks.
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.
```.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
moi2388•4h ago
trey-jones•4h ago
e40•4h ago
xz18r•3h ago
I don't want to be mean but calling Emacs a buggy mess sounds like a skill issue.