I learned a while back that the more I tried to learn about being productive to help me become productive, the less productive I actually was.
Far as Lifehacker goes, it has become an orgy of productivity apps. The blog sucks balls now (Including the rest of Gawker as well but, I digress.).
Iâm really not a fan of this post, youâre worst Iâve seen if Iâm honest. Raging on how your tasks are thankless, soul-draining exercises is hardly reason enough to run around screaming todolists are the devil.
If youâve got the ability to remember every single things you need doing, or only happen to ever need to do things that take 5 minutes of your time and so therefore can be done right away, then fine todolists are unecessary for you. But forthe real world, task lists/todo lists are a necessity.
I agree that depending on a new program to solve the issues of your current are liekly to be more of an issue with the person than the program, and that todolists arent always appropriate (calendar notifications are always better for things than cannot be done until a certain time, or must be done on a certain occasion).
Also for very large tasks, youâre almost always better off breaking apart the task into smaller tasks (see: GTD).
If youâre going to be doing a full on project, youâre not only better off breaking it into multiple tasks, but probably better off with a Gantt chart, so you can delegate tasks and synchronise timing.
Todolists arenât a new thing, before apps, we had paper and pen, and before the average person could write we had handkerchiefs to tie knots in. There is always a necessity to have a way of remembering to do something, no oneâs memory is 100% perfect.
Yes thereâs an over saturation of todo list apps, and yes systems masquerading as games which in reality are chores are terrible. To me it just sounds like youâve decided to not rage on todolists so much, more specifically on lifehacker. Fine, donât visit it. I donât. I have higher priority things to do.
Jeff,
I recently adopted an approach very similar to what you describe here, and have found myself both happier and more productive as a result.
I spent many years using a progression of mainstream approaches, from Franklin Instituteâs Productivity Pyramid, to Stephen Coveyâs First Things First, to David Allenâs Getting Things Done. And while I did get value from each approach, I also found myself chafing in multiple ways with every single one of them. None of them seemed to work the way I naturally work inside, so I went looking for a more natural way.
I still use standard tools (outlines, diagrams, calendars) for specific needs. But when it comes to the all-important question of where to direct my attention on the current day, I likewise prefer (and trust) a more organic approach.
Gary Klein has a terrific book called the Power of Intuition, where he suggests that the best decisions come from intuition (which he describes as pattern recognition based on past experiences) which is then validated (or not) for the current circumstance through mental modeling. This makes deep sense to me, and is the basis of my own approach.
What I do, first of all, is regularly feed my intuition with clear images of directions I might like to go (work, family, personal, whatever). This usually takes the form of simply writing down as much as is clear to me when it occurs to me, in what amounts to a digital diary. This has two clear and immediate benefits: writing it out helps me get much clearer and more specific, plus it gives me the security of knowing itâs on record and locatable if I should forget about it. In practice, I rarely go back and look at these things unless there are very specific details I worked out that are no longer clear to me. However, the images stick and unconsciously integrate in my awareness, informing my intuition when itâs time to make choices.
So when it comes time, at the start of each day, to choose what to work on or where to direct my attention, itâs very easy to relax and just see what naturally comes up. I still get more ideas from this process than I can fit into a single day, but by doing this, certain ones just naturally stand out as the most important ones to focus on now. I believe my own cumulative experience informs which ones naturally bubble up to the surface, and I continue with this exploration until I find ones that deeply resonate.
This process seems to work not only for the things I want to do, but also for commitments I have made, and directions that may be uncomfortable initially but align with my deeper values. It also allows my thinking to evolve in each prospective direction, without feeling unwittingly beholden to a particular notion from a previous point in time.
Choosing this way is, for me, producing much more meaningful days. Like you, my experience is that the personally important things do just keep coming back, and they inform my decision making quite nicely when I quiet myself to sense them. Thank you for sharing your own experience with this in this public forum.
Eric
I can completely relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed, stressed and confined by long todo lists. But I donât think that To Do themselves are the problem.
However my attachment to them and their expected results definitely is a problem
When I donât use them wisely they can become a symbol for all that is wrong with my life. In short, I attach a lot of emotional baggage to them. I forget that it is just a list.
They are a tool, nothing more. Like any other tool, they can be dangerous if not used properly. But I certainly wouldnât throw out my hammer, just because I have smashed my thumb a few times. Instead I would try to improve my skills with the hammer.
Todd
sorry for the all bold. That was no intentional. 
If I only had three things to get done every day, I wouldnât need a to-do list.
Iâm also wondering if this means youâre suggesting that project management toolsâessentially just a very evolved form of the to-do listâshould also be thrown out the window.
100% agreed about life-lists â especially your closing sentence â but I thought it odd, as a fellow geek, how this juxtaposes to the incredible, amazing importance of bug/issue/feature databases, which are really just an institutional to-do list.
No big point, I just thought it was interesting enough to share.
When I was clicking that âonly one, and exactly oneâ link to YouTube, I was pretty sure it was going to be a City Slickers scene.
Most of Adam Wozniakâs 10 points (isnât that a list?) are perfectly valid. And well worth bearing in mind, I think, before continuing to refine any scheduled lists you might have.
I donât agree that lists are inefficient. They serve the function of getting the dayâs less attractive (but economically valuable) tasks off the agenda, to leave the mind free for those pressing creative jobs. Get the chores tamed so they donât take over. Only caveat with that is: try to do your most creative work as early in the day as possible, when your mind is fresher.
âyouâd need a to-do app just to keep track of all the freaking to-do apps.â
Thereâs an episode of âMalcolm in the Middleâ with a To-Do Board crammed full with post-its with housework chores (âclean gutterâ etc). Then Hal sticks another note on the board which reads âdo to-do listâ xD cracked me up
Could it be that now you have retired with your stackoverflow millions, you donât have anything that needs to get done? 
I have been struggling to find a good TODO list app for years but havenât yet found that perfect one I could happily open every morning. I have used tens of different apps like Google Calendar, Tasks and online and desktop TODOs apps. GQueues(https://www.gqueues.com) is what I have been using consistently for the last couple of years.
When the pending list becomes huge, I add another item to it saying:
URGENT: Clear Backlog
ToDoâs donât need killing, just a gentle rebranding will get you over the list-pressure. Call it a âGood ideasâ list, and youâre free to pick up a task from the list, or remove it (a good idea now is not necessarily a good idea forever, right?) at any time.
I used to use WorkFlowy to organize all my notes but then I realized it was just taking up all of my time maintaining them. Now I have more time to actually do stuff. Itâs really not worth it.
Someone else mentioned ADD, which I have - Having a âtodayâ list has definitely helped me, however the other issue is staying on task, both in writing/prioritizing the list itself, and then following it to the letter. Unfortunately, feeling like the list is taking over oneâs life happens much more often (and sooner in the process) for ADD sufferers. I am trying out the idea of âPositive Procrastinationâ; the things that you really want to do, you put off in favor of the things you need to do. Itâs really just a re-frame of the 80-20 rule. Hope it works. Iâll probably still employ the â30 minutes on, 10 minutes offâ technique on top of it.
I realized the problem with ToDo lists in High School.
I was reading the Harry Potter books back then and I was loving it. I couldnât stop reading and still I canât count how many days I âlostâ because I spent the whole afternoon and evening reading the book.
Then, my English teacher allowed us to choose any book from the library to read for the test at the end of the trimester. I thought âHooray, I will read the next Harry Potter bookâ.
The thing is, because it became an obligation to read the book, I couldnât spend more than 1 hour reading the book. It instantly became boring.
And that is the effect that we have over ToDo lists. The list keeps remind us of our obligations and take all the joy from our lives.
Simple google task list works for me!
Thanks,
Matt Watson, Founder of Stackify
http://www.stackify.com
I donât write things down so I can remember them. I write them down so I can forget.
I guess the mileage varies from person to person, so although I agree with Jeffâs observations, they are not absolute truths.
I do use simple todo lists for the simple reason that I donât have the best memory. Working on several projects at once, I need to know what to do when. There simply is no other way for me. So I plot tasks and time blocks in my calendar and block them. It works.
Thatâs for work. Privately, I donât maintain anything. As for productivity porn, I also have major philosophical issues with most advise, as that advise usually covers oneâs entire life, not just work. The so-called consensus is that oneâs productivity is to be maximized, so that you can get âthe most out of lifeâ. Whilst I agree that spending your productive time efficiently is solid advise, the whole thought behind that idea is broken in several ways:
It suggests spilling productive time into personal time is a good thing. For example, in the bath tub? Why not prepare for tomorrowâs meeting, to maximize your productivity?
It suggests non-productive time, doing nothing, is bad.
It suggest that one cannot (partially) fail in one or more aspects of life.
The day I will wake up with the rest of my week planned from the early morning to the late night into merciless detail will be the day I arrive in hell. Do important things, things that are meaningful to you or meaningless but you must do them anyway. For all the other stuff, use your gut and live.