I actually use 4 different todo apps, and a paper notebook. The medium is the message, and the tool is the workflow. Different tools enable different kinds of t

I actually use 4 different todo apps, and a paper notebook. The medium is the message, and the tool is the workflow. Different tools enable different kinds of thinking. Also if you have an ever-growing mountain of tasks, you're doing it wrong. 1. For "technical" thinking, fleshing out precise ideas that aren't fully formed yet, I find hierarchical outliner tools like Roam, Workflowy, and OmniOutliner enable deeper, more precise thinking that just doesn't happen with plain text. Currently prefer Omni for its native macOS experience. Good tools generate thoughts I previously didn't have. 2. For "creative" random thinking and my diary, nothing beats pen and paper, or plain text journaling. The key here is to use a tool which is inherently tied to a calendar (such as NotePlan/Agenda on Mac or a dated notepad). Beats a simple plain piece of paper or generic tools like Apple Notes / Google Keep, by moving the thoughts out of the mind once the date has passed. These tools help to "let go" of thoughts, not keep them. 3. For "habits", i.e. daily/weekly recurring tasks, I use Todoist, for its fantastic handling of recurring/overdue status and easy postponing/rescheduling. No other todo app I've tried "gets" recurring/overdue tasks as well as Todoist does. With Todoist I don't have an ever-growing mountain of tasks, just my daily habits. Whenever I'm bored or feeling down, I've made a habit of checking Todoist, and doing small mundane tasks helps to get the brain back in gear again, by doing the dishes or laundry or bank transaction clearing. 4. For "collaborative" unstructured work and one-time reminders, nothing beats email. Inbox-zero philosophy treats your inbox like a queue. The addiction to checking your email inbox and keeping it a 0 can be harnessed for great good. Email can also be used like a CMS, to follow up on people, with the right tools. The key is to build a habit with each of these tools, perhaps even an addiction. Once a habit is built, it's hard NOT to do it, and easy to come back to after a vacation or sickness.