[buzzybee]

My phone's calendar app has become crucial to me. Recurring tasks - work cycles, fitness, etc. - get a recurring block, with a well-defined start and end time. Non-programmed to-dos("remember to bring a..." "don't forget to take care of...") are accomplished by throwing in the task somewhat arbitrarily at a moment in the future when I might be able to do it. Between those two I always "find the time" to work on what I intended to work on and my stress about what needs doing goes way down, while my consistency goes up.

Sometimes the schedule slips or I sleep in and let a bunch of tasks slide; this is an expected failure mode and I build it into how I use the calendar. I do not think about strategies to be productive anymore - my maximum capacity per day is acknowledged by setting those start and end times, and if I want to produce a lot then I aim for consistency.