3 revolutionary products: to-do list, history tracker, and a productivity app
Well, today, I’m introducing three revolutionary products:
The first one is a to-do list.
The second is a history tracking system.
And the third is a breakthrough productivity app.
These are not three separate products, this is one product, and I am calling it
tasks.txt
The search for a to-do app that works for me
After trying out almost every possible to-do app with my personal tasks, I can honestly say that I am a failure at using to-do apps. I can never keep up with the tasks. Once they pile up, I just quit and move on to the next to-do app, starting from a clean slate. I know, I know — it’s me, it’s not them.
The only thing that stuck with me is a simple text file.
A text file?! How does that even work?
Yes. The current working solution is a simple text file.
The tools
I keep a file called tasks.txt
on my Dropbox folder, this takes care of backups and syncing between devices. I use Sublime Text as the quickest editor to edit the file.
The content is simple, and looks like this:
...top of file...Wednesday (03/01/2030) — imagine this is a future date
[_] Follow up on bug report Z
[_] Review the email titled “X Y and Z”Tuesday (02/01/2030) — imagine this is today
[X] Learn about Y
[X] Send an offer to candidate XMonday (01/01/2030) — imagine this is yesterday
[X] Release X feature to production
[X] Talk to X about Y...more days into the past...
And that’s about it. I add to-do items as an empty checkbox [_] and if they are completed I mark them completed as [X].
If a task is no longer relevant, I just delete the line.
When I need to postpone tasks (snooze) to another day, I just move it to the next day or a future date.
If I did something today that is worth mentioning, but is not on the to-do list — I add it and mark it as completed.
I never delete the history. The text file format allows for instant search across all history, and I can also go back to an exact date.
If I’m on mobile, I’ll add a reminder using the voice assistant and when I get back to the computer, I will log it to the tasks.txt
file.
Text files in review
Here are the pros of having a text file:
- Cross-platform, can be edited and viewed on any device
- Editable by any app, include
vi
if that works for you - Easy to backup and sync between devices
- Easy to edit
- Easy to search
- Offline first
- Fast. It loads in an instant.
- Low requirements. I actually keep the editor running all the time with the file open.
Cons:
- Not collaborative. As this is a personal to-do list app (that is work related, but still), it doesn’t matter much.
- Some people may laugh at you for not using a “real app”.
Where can I get this?
Well… you already got it. Just create a file:
touch ~/Dropbox/tasks.txt
And then open it and edit it
vi ~/Dropbox/tasks.txt
Simple, right? Start using your new to-do app now, nothing to download, or register to.
Non personal use
For non-personal, business use I enjoy using Airtable and Notion. Cool stuff, but not as cool as a text file.