[hiphopyo]

My recent findings is that it's better to not take any notes at all. Instead of adding some item to your todo list, do it immediately and don't send it off like some nasty surprise to your future self. The smaller my notes.txt the less complications I have to worry about and I can go on living a happy and fulfilled life.

[pwython]

That may work for some people... but this looks more geared to creative types, where drafting and collecting ideas is the first step of a longer process that isn't easily accomplished in one sitting. Saving rough drafts and wireframes is quite common and necessary if you want well thought-out and executed pieces.

[Broken_Hippo]

That's a magnificent way to work if your have projects that can be done in such a way.

On the other hand, I make visual art: Usually drawing and painting, but sometimes I head into sculpture. Ideas don't always come when I can actually do them - and sometimes I have to source materials and things to do an idea. Sometimes the idea isn't complete and I need to add to it before beginning, and sometimes I start yet stop part of the way through.

It simply isn't linear enough to do as you say.

I'm not really sure why it is stressful this way, though. I nearly always have something to work on that have various difficulty levels and it isn't a big deal if I don't get one or two done - some never get done at all. Of course, it depends on how many ideas you actually have. Good time management is a plus sometimes, which seems to take care of some of the stress.

[Kluny]

I don't use my notes as a todo list. I use them to document work I've already done. If I make some major changes to a piece of software, I'll list every file and method I've worked on in a tree format with bullets about what I did in each one. The bullets can be pasted directly into an SVN commit message and they're searchable with notepad++'s search box. It's a lifesaver and massively reduces complications in my life. I don't have to go back and relearn the code to answer questions about it or make small changes. I also save code snippets. Likewise a lifesaver. It's 20,000 lines and counting and I won't delete any of them.

[thenomad]

There are other uses for notes besides todo lists.

Currently I'm designing a large VR environment for a game. Without notes of what needs to go where and when, that would be going... less well.