I Tried Every Todo App and Ended Up With a .txt File

I use Tasks.org android app on my phone's home screen that displays Appointments with 3-days before, 1-day before and 8-hours before reminders, unscheduled To-Do tasks and Shopping/Grocery needs.

All other notes are kept using Termux where I can sync my notes with my computer using rsync.

It took me at least a year to get into the habit of using my notes and reminders like that but it's worked great so far.

The only downside to my system is that if I lose my phone, all my appointments will disappear into the void. Win some, lose some. Fortunately I keep a simple life which reduces the chances of unwanted human contact appointments.

Have tried ALL the same ones. Probably even more.

Square Post-it notes. One for what needs to be done that week. Another for that day. Cross each item as I go. When every item is crossed off, crumple into bin. End of day, whatever item is left gets scribbled on fresh one for next day. End of week for the weekly one. That's it.

Stuck on desk, to laptop, or carried in pocket. Works great. It's all about reducing friction and clutter. If too much effort to keep track, gets easy to drift into bike-shedding territory.

Keep going back to new, shiny apps every once in a while. Always end up back on damn sticky notes.

The author uses a lot of the same reasoning I do for using a bullet journal. (Some people like making theirs more elaborate or add more complexity - I keep mine very simple.)

Though I do like the idea of keeping the text document synced everywhere.

The thing I like my bullet journal for over a living document and using sticky notes, is that I can see very easily what I have accomplished. I started getting frustrated at never having everything done that I wanted. After starting the bullet journal, I could actually see what took up my time, and I was able to cut myself a lot more slack.

This is a great article, and matches my experiences.

But...

I'm not sure I want company in the "amazingly productive professional" club.

Let's not share this insight too far, okay?

I'll be quite content if everyone competing with me for money keeps investing their energy in AI tools.

Pretty much what I do. Except that I created a keyboard shortcut that launches pluma /path/to/todolist.txt for convenience.

I use a Calendar App, as that is literally it's function.

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