4 ms·
Ask HN: How do you structure your to-do lists?
I'm curiuous on how you structure your to-do lists. For the past months I've been keeping two lists - high priority and low priority - but I'm still struggling since some tasks are larger and take more time vs. others that are completed quickly.
- PaulHoule 5y agoI don't have a master "to do" list, rather I make them situationally on either paper or a whiteboard. Frequently I copy the lists, consolidate them, etc.
- themodelplumber 5y agoHere's what I use, in brief. It's in my daily journal text file w/ Markdown formatting. The journal files are generated via cron job. For day-scope items I use a master to-do list & daily schedule. The goal of the to-do list is to arrive at a schedule (previously the two were less related in terms of which arrived at which). Example from today: - META Schedule +sked - 910a - x Coffee - x PROJ Maint. - x Rank programming languages - 12p - Intervals of work design - META Points Tally - Use scaling - - [V-/.] Develop, Progress, Organize, Check-off (-1 pt per) - - [F-/.] Check Universe Levels (-0.5 pt per) - Vnt - like/dislike - Prmt - can/cannot - - [T-/.] High-Executive, Low-Contingency (+2 pts per) - [T-/_] [xsc] PROJ A - [T-/_] [_sc] Work CRP review - [T-/_] [_sc] Invoicing Review - [T-/_] [_sc] Reset settings for X There are a lot of optional features here like playing golf to avoid productivity burnout (points tally, unused in today's example), determining whether a task is yet on the schedule (xsc) and the type of task (V/F/T), which is determined by a system I designed for balanced productivity [0]. For longer time scope items (maybe what you're referring to by "larger" tasks?) I also integrate a milestone communications, calendar & deadline system which naturally breaks things down into more manageable portions. This system has changed a lot over the years, and will continue changing...good luck with whatever you decide to do. 0. https://www.friendlyskies.net/intj/the-balance-first-approachable-to-do-list https://www.friendlyskies.net/intj/the-balance-first-approac...
- approxim8ion 5y agoI have a single text file, structured by category. Individual items within categories are loosely ordered by the amount of time I estimate they will take, but if a task that might take longer has a higher priority, it would still go above a smaller task with regular priority. I decide the priority but don't label it.
- 0x008 5y agoSince I can only work at one thing at a time I structure them from top to bottom. One bullet point one task. Reorder daily by upcoming priorities. Always I my work on the top task. Only 1 order of indentation allowed if a task needs further description (no subtasks!). If I have multiple projects I will split my day and have one todo list per project, only switching from project A to B after lunch.