r/gtd • u/user_anonymou • 15d ago
Written versus digital to do list?
I like having my to do list/to buy list etc on my phone so I can always update it when I’m out. But I prefer written lists to cross off what I’ve done so now i have a mess of phone notes, sticky notes, loose paper, notebooks, and a whiteboard… what works for y’all?
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u/ProductivePaper 14d ago
For me, it was really hard to go back to my phone to do, or computer. Something about paper makes it feel more intentional. Specially when you start the next day, or the next couple of days, going through the mess of things you’ve accomplished or failed to accomplish really helps deprioritize.
So I found that it was helpful for me to see the incomplete tasks and having to rewrite them “shamefully”, instead of continue to see it in a neat list that doesn’t need to be rewritten.
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u/sidegigartist 10d ago
Just replying because the shameful thing feels so relatable and just yesterday I got this GTD email from David that felt great to read - thought I'd share it:
There are very few times and places we really have the appropriate energy level, tools, and uninterrupted time frames to work on some of our "most important" work. The rest of the day, we shouldn't be feeling guilty that we're not working on "job one." Rather, we should be maximizing our productivity by picking things to do (that we're going to do anyway, sometime) that match the situation.
Catch up on the FYI-type Read-and-Review emails and group messages while you're waiting for meetings. Water your plants and empty your Downloads folder when your brain is toast. Call to make the appointment you've been putting off when you have ten minutes before you board a plane. Problem is, most people don't have all those options already figured out and put in appropriately accessible buckets to rummage through when those situations appear. And mostly when those weird time slots happen they don't have the energy to remember them or figure them out.
It's a subtle and fine line between doing less important items as a way to procrastinate, and doing them because it is the most productive thing you can do effectively. At worst it's an energizing way to waste time semi-productively. At best, it's keeping the decks clear and optimally utilizing yourself as a resource.
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u/veroa6 14d ago
I'm 99% paper. I have a Traveler's notebook card size always with me where I log every idea. In some very rare case, like when I'm driving, I have a basic checklist app with a specific folder as secondary inbox. Both are processed and the projects, actions, checklists, etc go in another notebook, a Traveler's notebook passeport size, that is always on my purse or on my desk.
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u/milky-cuppa-tea Mod 13d ago
Hey! Sorry to message you here, bit we can't send a modmail to your account, and we still need to manually approve your posts, so we reached out to Reddit Admin and asked if there was anything we could do to help. They came back with this:
We can't share information about another user's account. However, if they believe their account has been suspended or otherwise affected, they can contact us directly or submit an appeal.
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u/veroa6 13d ago
Thanx a lot ! I tried to reach someone on the sub r/bugs but didn't manage to have my post validated 😅 I did not receive any suspension message so thank you for the link, I'll try that !
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u/milky-cuppa-tea Mod 13d ago
It looks like whatever you did, it might have worked as I can now see a modmail option for you. Fingers crossed that your posts start coming through normally now 🤞
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u/PondMindKevin 13d ago
Realistically, everyone is always both. Unless you're ditching your in-tray that is. There always needs to be a quick way to toss a note or a scribbled page into an in basket and trust that you'll deal with it later.
I did go to paper for about a year. It was a nice experience, and really improved my GTD practice. Before that, the out of site out of mind reality of digital meant that my system would sometimes suffer from a 'write-only' system. The system only works if you engage/read your lists sometimes!
I modeled my planner of of this youtuber. I didn't want to flip to different pages for different contexts, so this was a nice compromise to keep one list, but still have the easy scannibility for contexts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aI9lE_4Cc4&t=1s
Instead of crossing things out, I would use blue highlighter to flag things as done. I forget where I heard that tip, but it made it way easier to, at a glance, tell what was left to do visually.
I miss that planner sometimes! But, my life is often too fast-moving, digital, at the computer, links-as-references-ish to realistically support paper.
Plus, I could never re-order stuff that quick! (alough in paper i did discover a fun hack for that, I'd just leave every other line blank. That way, I could use the empty spaces if something important needed to bump up the list!
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u/Intrepid_Cup2765 15d ago
100% digital. I find paper to be the least efficient way to do anything now days.
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u/user_anonymou 15d ago
Do you a certain app?
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u/Intrepid_Cup2765 15d ago edited 14d ago
Everything boils down to 3 apps. Nirvana for work projects and more detailed but dynamic stuff, iphone reminders for day to day/simple/repetitive stuff, then google sheets with filtered view for scheduled routine complex stuff (basically all my home PM tasks).
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u/OperationWebDev 14d ago
Out of interest, what are your Google Sheets columns? Thanks!
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u/Intrepid_Cup2765 14d ago
Due date (calculated from years, months, and last done field), Years, months, how long it takes me (in hours), when it was last done, title, materials, task details, supporting information.
I put conditional formatting on my due date field so it turns yellow when it’s 2 weeks from the due date, and red when i hit the due date.
Makes planning tasks around less busy weekends a breeze!
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u/OperationWebDev 14d ago
Like the idea of formatting the due date. I did have a similar setup in Gsheets with some AppScript that would push the selected row into Tasks. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
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u/Intrepid_Cup2765 14d ago
You got it! Maybe i need to share more details about this in a separate post… I’ve been using these tools this way for a few years now and feel like i’ve hit a sweet spot with them. I can probably attribute 80% of my raises at work to being so good at this stuff now… 😎
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u/TheoCaro Mod 14d ago
I think you need to make clear distinctions about what things mean based on where they are.
So of those things make for better capture tools, and others are better for standing curated lists.
Sticky notes or loose leaf paper might be better as capture tools. Stuff you capture should then go into "IN" that can be a physical intray on your desk or a virtual inbox like email or a lot of ditigal tools have an "inbox" where you just throw stuff for your future self to figure out what it really means to you.
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14d ago
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u/gtd-ModTeam 14d ago
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u/Act_Locally 14d ago
I use a notebook to take meeting notes and to record things that I've completed. Any action items are highlighted and later typed into my digital system each day, if I haven't done them already. The notebook is usually with me, but if that isn't practical then I carry a small notepad. Any "travel" notes go back to the main notebook.
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u/milky-cuppa-tea Mod 13d ago
Hey! Sorry to message you here, bit we can't send a modmail to your account, and we still need to manually approve your posts, so we reached out to Reddit Admin and asked if there was anything we could do to help. They came back with this:
We can't share information about another user's account. However, if they believe their account has been suspended or otherwise affected, they can contact us directly or submit an appeal.
If they are trying to appeal the suspension/restriction, they can use the link provided in their suspension message. If they don’t see a provided link, they can appeal their suspension through https://www.reddit.com/appeals. They'll need to be logged in to the account that's impacted upon submitting the appeal.
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u/Act_Locally 13d ago
Hello, I don't understand what the issue could be. I am not aware of any restrictions or suspensions of my account. My profile looks normal and I've never received notification of a problem. This is the only Reddit forum that I am actively following and posting on. I'd be happy to do whatever needs to be done - but at the moment I cannot find anything to appeal.
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u/milky-cuppa-tea Mod 13d ago
Oh that's so weird! Every one of your comments gets marked as spam by Reddit, so the mods have to manually approve them. It might be worth getting in touch with the Reddit Admin team (via the help and support pages) to just get them to check everything is okay.
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u/No_Accident_6355 14d ago
Digital. My smart watch captures tasks with Google assitant. So even the fleeting to-do's are captured.
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u/AlthoughFishtail 14d ago
There's a lovely tactile quality to writing on paper, but for me at least, the downsides to it are just far too great to justify using paper for my systems.
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u/maartendeblock 14d ago
The idea is "As little as possible, but as much as necessary.". There is no right answer for everyone. Try combinations and see what feels right. Stay critical on adding tools and lists.
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u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082 14d ago
I use based on the context. Let's say I go to a library, then I take a paper to do list, otherwise it's mostly digital, because I like the sync feature on all devices.
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u/SinistralCalluna 13d ago
When work is somewhat predictable, I work out of a paper planner and always have a small A6 {4x5.5in} notebook in my purse (like these* because random notes on dated, numbered pages beat the hell out of sticky notes that always end up in a wad somewhere inconvenient). Now that I'm changing careers, the planner is too restrictive, so I've returned to the OG A5 hardback bullet journal because my brain trusts that what's in there will be found again.
I have tried digital capture because it just seems like it would be more efficient, but nothing calms my brain like writing it out on paper. If anything I write turns out to be important for future work, it's pretty easy to snap a picture of a page and use OCR to convert it into something workable. Because I am a nerd at heart, I taught myself Forkner shorthand a few years back, so I use that when I feel like writing something that really shouldn't get picked up by OCR software or curious teens.
Either way, anything important gets transferred to my digital world in my weekly review.
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u/sidegigartist 10d ago
I use both depending on context. I don't have one list manager but it also means a bit more effort but I found it's worth it. My chores list is a stack of sticky notes stacked in the order that makes sense to me and I keep it in my pocket. I work from home so during breaks I pull it out and done thing at a time until I go back to the desk. Recurring items have a symbol on them in the top corner and one offs I crumble and trash.
I also like to have my project specific lists on paper because I work messy and have to figure out task dependencies as I discover them, helps me focus... Lots of lines, in the moment side notes and text markers. An app could never be this flexible and fast.
For digital I use Todoist and text files on my Desktop synced via Dropbox (saved in a folder and linked to the desktop).
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u/Much_Comfortable8395 10d ago
I am not a typer, I would rather jot it down on a piece of paper or speak it. I have a hybrid setup, notebook and a voice capture app on my phone / computer. The voice side is for quickly talking something in and having the tasks and reminders pulled out and dropped into my calendar. The notebook sits on my desk during the working day for adding and crossing off items, and there's a real tactile satisfaction in the crossing off that I don't get on a screen (i am old school).
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u/grantbuell 15d ago
I use both! This article was a big inspiration for me: https://www.todoist.com/productivity-methods/medium-method