THE LAUREN PROJECT • My problem with to-do lists

My problem with to-do lists

Ever since I transitioned to startup life, I’ve been desperate to find a task organization client that served my new pace. I messed around with iOS Notes, I used Gmail tasks for a while, and I even tried keeping everything in a PlainText file in my Dropbox folder. I’ve been desperately trying to keep up with the rest of my team in Asana — which I still am very herp derp about — and I also looked into Remember the Milk and Evernote, after which I reverted to plastering every inch of my desk with lined Post-Its.

(My deal with lined Post-It notes is this: I keep a To-Do list and a Ta-Done list. At the beginning of my day, I write out everything I want to accomplish. As I check each task off, I rewrite it on the Ta-Done list, along with anything else I took care of that wasn’t on the original To-Do. It’s a nice way for me to keep track of total productivity vs. daily goals.)

One of my most recent experiments is the Whiteboard of Shame, which Chris agreed to do with me this week. At a specific time each morning, we’ve been listing everything we wanna get done on the whiteboard behind us and check things off as we go. Thus, if there are items left unchecked at day’s end, we are publicly shamed.

The Whiteboard of Shame has been working pretty well so far, but isn’t exactly mobile, which is why I downloaded the Clear app this week. (It’s a UX winner, btw.) I was excitedly showing it to Henry, and he shrugged, “To-do lists don’t work for me.”

It. Never. Occurred to me that there was a way to manage work/life without using a to-do list.

Henry then got on a plane, so I haven’t been able to ask him what his ninja tricks are, but he shattered my little app-happy world. (Thanks a lot bro.) I’m still playing with Clear, adding items, creating lists, but I’m also realizing that I don’t know how to prioritize a lot of the tasks (which is…kinda the point of the app).

YOU GUYS. EPIPHANY. Maybe to-do lists don’t work for me, and maybe they never will.

So, I suppose the point of writing this post is to ask, what the hell do I do about that?