Long-ignored file #12345

[bluesbodger]

I'm not an obsessive list-keeper, but I do like to have a safe place to put down the things I need-to-remember-to-remember. When I need brain space for the things I'm actually working on, I tend to open a fresh text file, dump my active memory into it, give it a hopefully descriptive name, and pretend I'll come back to look at it later. This is

Comments

[whetherwoman]

"Write thesis" is a bad to-do list item all by itself. a) you're not going to forget it, b) you can't cross it off. The only thing it does on a list is ramp up your stress level whenever you look at it.

If you can't cross it off, it's a mission statement, not a to-do item.

[bluesbodger]

Heck, "write thesis" still ramps up my stress level, and I finished it a year and a half ago.

I'm not sure I buy the "if you can't cross it off" thing, though. My list-making is irregular and stress-motivated; when my life is relatively simple, I can keep both my Master List ("write thesis") and the daily Urgent Tasks ("buy a thermostat for the car"), in my head. When things get hectic, I get nervous that my head isn't the safest place for them anymore, and I start by trying to move everything onto paper where I can see it all at once. The result is what you see here: A jumble of big and small projects, evidence that my in-head storage was in fact failing. Once it's on paper, I can sort things out and get back to work on the urgent stuff.

[dreefee]

In my world, such lists routinely include items that are essentially mission statements, right along with "get coffee beans" and "clean bathroom". When I am actually trying to fulfill a mission statement, I make a sticky note flow chart on the wall where I start with the mission statement and work backwards to delineate the steps involved in making it happen. More and more often these days, I use spreadsheets to estimate the steps, time and costs involved in various projects. But always, it starts with the brain-dump text file, or its multi-colored scrap-paper counterpart.