Nothing electronic because of problems with object constancy: I am already looking at a screen and don't want to lose what I am looking at, have to navigate through lots of tabs and icons to find my note taking application, then navigate through lots of tabs and icons to get back where I was.
Colored pencils might help? Plus a practice of manually copying last days open To Do’s to start fresh. I’ve done that for a while and if you finish most but not all of your daily tasks it can help get you into a groove. Getting things done made me proud, with a booklet of activities to look back on. Can’t mix notes in the same book though.
Have an indicator for done pages (tick marks in the corner works for me), and then for not-done pages that you need to get back, add those tiny stickies and let it stick out of the page.
I message myself in teams, mainly to store articles, draft messages, and memes for future use. I also email myself draft emails to pick up the next morning.
I have workflow in Alfred that copies the selected text into a ‘notes’ list in Reminders, which is linked to a keyboard shortcut, which is assigned to a spare button on my mouse. At the end of some research task I’ll consolidate it all, and add tags etc.
I spend way too much time stuffing around with similar hacks in obsidian.
Draft email to the other party that might be affected, could be myself. I review those drafts regularly to see if they can be deleted or need to be refined and eventually sent out, deleted or incorporated into some kind of project schedule.
I put each task on a line in a file called `to-do.txt` which perpetually lives on my desktop. When I complete a task, I mark `X` on the beginning of the line. Whenever the length of the file starts to feel unwieldy, I delete the oldest completed tasks.
For small tasks or things that pop into my head I like braintoss, it sends a mail to my inbox with the txt/pic/voicenote. I like it because I do5get sucked into my inbox. I have it setup to open on my phone with a double tap of the power button.
Put it in my phone as a reminder with a notification set to a more convenient time. The intrusiveness of the notification is proportional to its urgency. Usually just a silent badge. I also only use it for things that I cannot forget. If I can forget it without consequence, I do not set a reminder. Otherwise the system becomes useless.
For work, I keep a file called todo.org in a company-provided synced directory.
For personal stuff, I use a similar local file for longer term things and Google Keep for short term, transient things (i.e., grocery lists, packing lists and prep for travel).
I find apple reminders to be the least frictional to input tasks, it took a lot of tinkering with smart lists to get the app to work with the GTD methodology though
A todo.txt file, with a line for each item. As items get turned into DevOps tasks, emails, etc., they are removed. For meeting notes I sometimes create a txt file with the filename YYYYMMDD_meeting_name.txt.
Not entirely related to little tasks from meetings, but when I need to remember something eg. the next morning but I'm already in bed and dont want to get up to write it down etc, I find that a quick way to remind myself is to take something nearby, for example the book on my nightstand or just a crumpled tissue or two, and throw it on the ground where I'll see/stumble over it the next morning and think "why is this here" and then remember.
I'm glad you like it! It web scales indefinitely as long as you have new things to burn to increment the burn index. Want to remember two things the next morning? Burn your shirt and pants! Easy peasy.
Handwritten notes on my paper calendar or in my journal/diary/notebook or on random scraps of paper; since I generally keep track of things spatially, this approach works better than digital notes, which all get flattened to a nebulous point in my mind. CTRL+F is wonderful, but the barrier to getting to the file in the first place is too high. I'll keep using this for archiving notes I think I'll want to access later, until I finally grow out of that and realize that a thought I had three years ago is relatively unimportant. I'm not there yet, and still compulsively comb through my notes, saving some and discarding others.
For awhile I was chucking notes into Obsidian but now I'm in the process of transferring it all of my phone to text files on my laptop and using paper more again. The shine is off Obsidian; takes too long to load, and the Find action is too out of reach. I like the act of writing by hand, anyway.
It's essentially creating states/variables then garbage collect it upon completing. There are several things you can do:
Remember it in your brain: It's like let the state occupying one of the 16 registers in your brain. Later it will automatically offloads in the hard disk in your brain but there's a chance it gets lost or cannot be recalled reliably. Not recommend. But I do this more recently because I realised I don't have to do everything.
The stateless approach: Do it immediately so you don't need to bear the state/variable. Even though sometime it disrupts my current tasks, I find this approach is surprisingly relieving - less debts. Just like software engineering - minimise states because they're evil.
External storage approach: Write it down on paper or an app. There are trade offs between the tool you're using, but the key is to minimise the cost of your moves.
For pen and paper I tried different configurations until I can always comfortably carry them in my pocket.
For digital approaches I'm currently shovel things to Linear. Make sure you're fluent with shortcuts so you can create tasks and jump around like a breeze. I also use Arc browser and pin it in the third slot so I can jump to Linear with <Cmd-3> without even thinking about it.
As I'm in the terminal most of the time, I started using todo.txt [0], but I haven't used it enough to tell if this is *the* solution for me. Curious if others use this too and can stay on top of things with todo.txt
A paper notebook with todo lists. In my original industry (mechanical engineering) I was taught to maintain notebooks with glued spines (i.e. not binders or coiled-notebooks that can have pages removed/added) in case you ever have to defend yourself within a company or even in court. Over time I have developed a system to keep todo lists in my notebooks.
Generally, I have one "backlog" list and one "current" list. Whenever a task comes up, I make a small box ("⃞") and a description in one of the lists. I fill in the box when a task is done ("■"). Every 1-3 days I start a new current todo list by striking through remaining items off the old one and writing them in priority order in a new list, writing them in backlog, or deciding they don't need to be done, ever ("⊠"), or delegate to someone (strike through with an arrowhead and note about the name). Every week or so I do the same thing with the backlog list. I always write the date at the top of the page when I start a new list, and very rarely note dates for starting/finishing tasks.
I see a few benefits with a notebook system. 1) It takes some effort to rewrite tasks so it also encourages me to just do 5 or so low-effort tasks for 20 minutes instead of re-writing them. 2) If I need to focus on some particular tasks, I can make a priority list in a very deliberate order, finish it and then go back to my current list. 3) I can look back at my old lists and see patterns in struck-through vs checked-done vs X-d tasks vs delegated tasks
I also take notes (for meetings etc) in the notebook, and when needed for work, rewrite them in confluence or whatever. At the top right corner of pages which need an online version, I draw "⧄", and I fill it in as "◩" when it's actually online. It's saved my ass a few times to use my notebook to say "well we met on x date, and I put the notes online with you tagged so you should know this" or "I see here that I marked this task as done, and thinking back I sent you a message about it". It's way faster and more credible in the moment than opening your laptop and searching n number of services for communication.
I'd like to say I have some productivity routine and daily practice that improves my memory....
But I just follow one simple rule. Don't even try to remember anything critical, put all information in Google Keep, or paper if I want to appear professional or not break theming and atmosphere by being seen with a phone.
If it's time based I set calendar reminders.
The only time I don't use tech is when the cost of failure is relatively low, otherwise... I've screwed myself over way too many times by not setting reminders.
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Nothing electronic because of problems with object constancy: I am already looking at a screen and don't want to lose what I am looking at, have to navigate through lots of tabs and icons to find my note taking application, then navigate through lots of tabs and icons to get back where I was.
Avoid paper
Only use app you use on a daily based. Go back and consolidate them to at EOD.
I have workflow in Alfred that copies the selected text into a ‘notes’ list in Reminders, which is linked to a keyboard shortcut, which is assigned to a spare button on my mouse. At the end of some research task I’ll consolidate it all, and add tags etc.
I spend way too much time stuffing around with similar hacks in obsidian.
This way I can add a bit more conditional logic before sending myself a notification.
I glued some cardboard on the back of the block. More durable.
For personal stuff, I use a similar local file for longer term things and Google Keep for short term, transient things (i.e., grocery lists, packing lists and prep for travel).
The next morning wonder why you have fire extinguisher dust everywhere and you'll remember!
First Alert even makes a handy portable fire extinguisher that's perfect for your bedstand: https://www.firstalert.com/us/en/products/fire-extinguishers...
For personal, it goes into my Apple Reminders app.
I put in as much or as little information as I care to, at that moment.
I make it a point to look at both every day, and adjust items as necessary.
I do keep a pen and notepad on my nightstand, but my phone's also there, so I almost never end up using the notepad.
For awhile I was chucking notes into Obsidian but now I'm in the process of transferring it all of my phone to text files on my laptop and using paper more again. The shine is off Obsidian; takes too long to load, and the Find action is too out of reach. I like the act of writing by hand, anyway.
Remember it in your brain: It's like let the state occupying one of the 16 registers in your brain. Later it will automatically offloads in the hard disk in your brain but there's a chance it gets lost or cannot be recalled reliably. Not recommend. But I do this more recently because I realised I don't have to do everything.
The stateless approach: Do it immediately so you don't need to bear the state/variable. Even though sometime it disrupts my current tasks, I find this approach is surprisingly relieving - less debts. Just like software engineering - minimise states because they're evil.
External storage approach: Write it down on paper or an app. There are trade offs between the tool you're using, but the key is to minimise the cost of your moves.
For pen and paper I tried different configurations until I can always comfortably carry them in my pocket.
For digital approaches I'm currently shovel things to Linear. Make sure you're fluent with shortcuts so you can create tasks and jump around like a breeze. I also use Arc browser and pin it in the third slot so I can jump to Linear with <Cmd-3> without even thinking about it.
[0] https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt-cli/wiki/User-Documentat...
Generally, I have one "backlog" list and one "current" list. Whenever a task comes up, I make a small box ("⃞") and a description in one of the lists. I fill in the box when a task is done ("■"). Every 1-3 days I start a new current todo list by striking through remaining items off the old one and writing them in priority order in a new list, writing them in backlog, or deciding they don't need to be done, ever ("⊠"), or delegate to someone (strike through with an arrowhead and note about the name). Every week or so I do the same thing with the backlog list. I always write the date at the top of the page when I start a new list, and very rarely note dates for starting/finishing tasks.
I see a few benefits with a notebook system. 1) It takes some effort to rewrite tasks so it also encourages me to just do 5 or so low-effort tasks for 20 minutes instead of re-writing them. 2) If I need to focus on some particular tasks, I can make a priority list in a very deliberate order, finish it and then go back to my current list. 3) I can look back at my old lists and see patterns in struck-through vs checked-done vs X-d tasks vs delegated tasks
I also take notes (for meetings etc) in the notebook, and when needed for work, rewrite them in confluence or whatever. At the top right corner of pages which need an online version, I draw "⧄", and I fill it in as "◩" when it's actually online. It's saved my ass a few times to use my notebook to say "well we met on x date, and I put the notes online with you tagged so you should know this" or "I see here that I marked this task as done, and thinking back I sent you a message about it". It's way faster and more credible in the moment than opening your laptop and searching n number of services for communication.
But I just follow one simple rule. Don't even try to remember anything critical, put all information in Google Keep, or paper if I want to appear professional or not break theming and atmosphere by being seen with a phone.
If it's time based I set calendar reminders.
The only time I don't use tech is when the cost of failure is relatively low, otherwise... I've screwed myself over way too many times by not setting reminders.