Getting life back in order with TaskPaper and 2Do. Write down the simple stuff.

I’m not sure when or why, but at some point I let my 2Do list become obsolete. Things got worse when I put TaskPaper away for reasons I don’t have an excuse for. This was the start of my downfall.

With a lot of things going on, and a slew of distractions, I’m easily taken off course for the day and the week. Things I plan to do, I forget, or I don’t do them when I should, and other tasks fall behind.

While handling a task, I realize I need to take care of a related task over the weekend. The weekend comes, I forget what that task was because I didn’t write it down. I think working on Windows has made my brain soft.

In reality, it’s a couple of issues related to the neighbor and his miserable dogs. All those distractions take me off course and I’m not taking care of my business.

Simple fix, 2Do and TaskPaper are back.

I’ve deleted all my old tasks and projects from 2Do. I’ve entered a new list of tasks I need to visit on a daily and weekly basis. For example, with the cold weather, and the fact I don’t drive much anymore, I need to start my cars on the weekend and let them idle.

Other simple items include changing the air filters, watering the plants, starting loads of laundry on Friday afternoon and early Sunday night, and other little chores.

Those may seem silly and obvious, but they are easily forgotten, and when that happens, it’s kind of a mess to get back on track. It’s not good remembering to do laundry at 9pm on Sunday, when the day is over and I need that laundry at 9pm.

The second part was to bring back TaskPaper, to handle simple notes and reminders that don’t have a specific date associated with them. I can write down a reminder of something I wanted to take care of, then I can easily refer back to it and remind myself.

This would be something I want to add to my next Amazon order, a movie someone mentioned or one that came to mind, a topic to look up later, or a piece of software to try. I can complete these whenever, but I don’t want to forget the name or the idea I had. Plus, it visually shows I’m making progress, and checking an item off the list is quite satisfying.

At my previous job, before it went to rubbish, I used 2Do and TaskPaper every day. I mapped out projects in 2Do and handled my daily work in TaskPaper. I entered all my work in Jira from notes I made in TaskPaper. All my testing steps, the process I followed, and when I completed them, were a piece of cake to enter.

Then I switched over to using Windows on a daily basis and the productivity tools don’t compare, or even exist, like they do for the Mac. For some silly reason I let that trend continue and I’ve paid the price.

But no more.

2Do has my core tasks for the week, while TaskPaper has a running tally of reminders. It’s amazing how much easier things are when you write down the simple stuff.