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Ask HN: What systems do you use to manage life/projects/tasks/self development?

5 points by ChildOfChaos ↗ HN
I'm interested in hearing what others do to manage there life, anything that really fits into this overall productivity bucket, how to figure out what tasks to work on, how to manage what tasks you have, how you keep track of goals, or even decide what goals to have etc.

What systems, ideas, processes, technology/apps etc do you use?

11 comments

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32gbsd
I avoid apps and write everything down on paper. Helps with my eyesight and hand eye coordination.
chrismeller
I really love writing things down on paper as well. For some reason it helps me remember things a lot better than even if I typed the exact same content.
kingkongjaffa
Emacs org-mode. Recently I’ve been trying org-journal and org-roam as well.
gregjor
None. Life is too random to try to manage. No expectations, no disappointment.
ChildOfChaos
I get this and I more and more fall into this category because I realise you can't control the world and a lot of what happens to you will be random, chance events, even if you do everything right, something random can happen that makes it all pointless and likewise, even if you do everything right, you still likely need a few random bits of luck to 'get anywhere'.

So you shouldn't overly try to control life.

However, i'm curious, do you use nothing at all then? You have no goals? No way of remembering tasks or things to do? How do you stop your life just being chaos jumping from one fire to the next or how do you even give it any direction? Else it's just about what is shiny and what is in front of you?

gregjor
I have never had goals, just some vague ideas like “work as a professional programmer” and “have kids,” both accomplished mainly by chance and luck.

I use to-do list and calendar for short-term planning but mainly rely on memory, which gets less reliable the older I get. Nothing I would call a system, just the apps on my iPhone. I rely heavily on GMail search, I forward important emails to myself with keywords in the subject. I freelance so I juggle multiple client projects, but the key information ends up in GitHub.

lmarcos
> How do you stop your life just being chaos jumping from one fire to the next...

But that's the other extreme, isn't it? At least my life is kinda average: no big planning nor management, but no chaos nor fires either.

School -> highschool -> university -> jobs -> family. Hobbies in between. Fun and sadness as well.

So far so good.

joshxyz
none. whats life without chaos and suffering?

kidding i just use lists. lots of it. on paper and online, whatever is accessible.

o2l
I maintain a set of mind modes which I can 'slip into' while doing anything. These are abstract ideas which help me remember how I felt when something worked for me and I find myself subconsciously repeating most of them periodically.

I name them in odd ways that appeal to me but they are commonly known ideas.

I take a few minutes to mentally prepare myself and accept this mental state, and try to sustain it for a few hours at least if it's working, otherwise switch to something else.

A few examples are -

* Numb & dumb (to be numb to stimuli and dumb in action and keep moving forward with task at hand) - This helps me remember not to be nitpicky about small details, to ignore minor distractions and just do the damn task at hand. In short, to suppress procrastination.

* Plan & Execute (Do not make a single move without a plan) - Helps me think before I act, on certain days when I am overwhelmed and have a tendency to suffer with decision paralysis.

tomjen3
I use a todo app, but I don't use it to do things, I use it to remind me of what I planned to do. There is a big difference and that is that I will guilt free move tings around or mark things as done even if it isn't.

This break some peoples minds, but ultimately there isn't anything you have to do, there are just consequences for not doing it and the list of things that you are not doing is always going to be so much bigger than what you are doing.

The definition of being an adult is dealing with the consequences of your choices, so I enjoy my guilt free todo list and I have no issues with adding more to it, since that doesn't mean I have to do it, just that I think I will be doing it.