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My format used to be as follows: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 1800: Dinner with parents * [x] Walk the dog * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 0900: Int

by bArray 2y ago

My format used to be as follows: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 1800: Dinner with parents * [x] Walk the dog * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [ ] 0900: Interview new recruit * [ ] Prepare interview questions * [ ] Upload result to HR system This worked really well for me and was easily searchable. One benefit would be that it is easily trackable in Git. These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page is a new day and the tasks are listed similarly. The only modification is that sometimes I put some letters to theme a task, i.e.: * [ ] YYYY-MM-DD * [x] Home: Walk the dog

james-bcn 2y ago
This is a much nicer format than the one in the linked article. I think my approach would be to generate a file in Markdown, then import that into a good Markdown editor. You could generate it each week or month from a template, making it easier to add repeating tasks like exercise and dog walking.
- bArray 2y ago
  I think the format I suggested would parse in markdown, but I created it pre-markdown. For me the best parts are: 1. You could write a parser very quickly. 2. It's very easy to edit and add to as a human. 3. It can easily be tracked in git or via a diff-based tool. I did already think about the repetitive tasks, a long time ago I used to have a tool that would look at the past tasks and recommend future tasks (with appropriate distributions). One example was booking a dentist appointment every 6 months, even if I forgot to schedule something it would remind me to book one in, dismiss it or push it back.
einpoklum 2y ago
This format is terrible for working with line-based tools; you need to go an unknown number of lines back to get the date or the time. Although, TBH, the OP's suggestion of one-line-per-day puts too many items on the same ling. I would have gone with one line per event. Yes, there's more repetition, but you need no out-of-line context, you have to do a lot less parsing, and you can look at a fixed number of _columns_ and get the beginning of the description of each event, which is nicer for manual searching.
- bArray 2y ago
  I think it's somewhat passable with line-based tools, i.e. you could easily use sed to match a range [1]. I think that it's far more important that it is human readable, if it becomes too tricky to edit manually, then just go with a database. [1] https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/236754 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/236754
apricot 2y ago
I use a small paper planner that I keep in my pocket at (nearly) all times. People are taken aback and ask why I don't use something more modern, but why should I? This works better, for me, than anything else I ever tried.
- tero 2y ago
  It's unfair to computers how well paper planners worked. Among with todo.txt, paper calendars were an inspiration and a benchmark for writing calendar.txt.
mock-possum 2y ago
Nested list of checkboxes in markdown is exactly how I organize my work days - I write it I every morning, and then review it every afternoon before I power down. It’s basically job-journaling, it helps fix everything in my head day-to-day.
setopt 2y ago
Why did you make the day itself into a checkbox? Did you use this for weekly reviews or something?
- bArray 2y ago
  To mark the parsing of the day and to note that any incomplete tasks that I intend to keep have been re-planned to elsewhere. Any marked days are then there for historic purposes only.
krupan 2y ago
If you like this you might like org-mode
notdiaphone 2y ago
> These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page is a new day and the tasks are listed similarly. Periodically my task system fails (the Taskwarrior 3 disaster being the most recent) and this is pretty much what I end up using. But then I forget a bill or something important because there are no bells or buzzers keeping me as a useful working unit. Then I erect the previous system, or some variant, and go with that until some inevitable breakage sends me back to paper. So it goes...

by bArray 2y ago

james-bcn 2y ago

This is a much nicer format than the one in the linked article. I think my approach would be to generate a file in Markdown, then import that into a good Markdown editor. You could generate it each week or month from a template, making it easier to add repeating tasks like exercise and dog walking.

bArray 2y ago
I think the format I suggested would parse in markdown, but I created it pre-markdown. For me the best parts are: 1. You could write a parser very quickly. 2. It's very easy to edit and add to as a human. 3. It can easily be tracked in git or via a diff-based tool. I did already think about the repetitive tasks, a long time ago I used to have a tool that would look at the past tasks and recommend future tasks (with appropriate distributions). One example was booking a dentist appointment every 6 months, even if I forgot to schedule something it would remind me to book one in, dismiss it or push it back.

einpoklum 2y ago

This format is terrible for working with line-based tools; you need to go an unknown number of lines back to get the date or the time. Although, TBH, the OP's suggestion of one-line-per-day puts too many items on the same ling. I would have gone with one line per event. Yes, there's more repetition, but you need no out-of-line context, you have to do a lot less parsing, and you can look at a fixed number of _columns_ and get the beginning of the description of each event, which is nicer for manual searching.

bArray 2y ago
I think it's somewhat passable with line-based tools, i.e. you could easily use sed to match a range [1]. I think that it's far more important that it is human readable, if it becomes too tricky to edit manually, then just go with a database. [1] https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/236754 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/236754

apricot 2y ago

I use a small paper planner that I keep in my pocket at (nearly) all times. People are taken aback and ask why I don't use something more modern, but why should I? This works better, for me, than anything else I ever tried.

tero 2y ago
It's unfair to computers how well paper planners worked. Among with todo.txt, paper calendars were an inspiration and a benchmark for writing calendar.txt.

mock-possum 2y ago

Nested list of checkboxes in markdown is exactly how I organize my work days - I write it I every morning, and then review it every afternoon before I power down. It’s basically job-journaling, it helps fix everything in my head day-to-day.

setopt 2y ago

Why did you make the day itself into a checkbox? Did you use this for weekly reviews or something?

bArray 2y ago
To mark the parsing of the day and to note that any incomplete tasks that I intend to keep have been re-planned to elsewhere. Any marked days are then there for historic purposes only.

krupan 2y ago

If you like this you might like org-mode

notdiaphone 2y ago

> These days I have a little A6 lined notebook and manually list tasks there. Each page is a new day and the tasks are listed similarly. Periodically my task system fails (the Taskwarrior 3 disaster being the most recent) and this is pretty much what I end up using. But then I forget a bill or something important because there are no bells or buzzers keeping me as a useful working unit. Then I erect the previous system, or some variant, and go with that until some inevitable breakage sends me back to paper. So it goes...