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by stavros 1779 days ago
The problem isn't with the app, it's with us. We keep adding things we "should get to at some point". Well, I've got news for you, you're not going to magically be a person that reads Russian literature in the future, you're going to be you, and you hate Russian literature even though it's "good".

TODO lists are aspirational, not pragmatic. We make them for someone else, the person we want to be. Unfortunately, we'll never be that person.

I had an idea of a TODO list app where things "expired" into a permanent section of the app, to remind you of all the aspirational tasks you never got around to. Unfortunately I never got around to making it.
4 comments
rtpg 1779 days ago
Speak for yourself. I actually do need to schedule a dentist appointment once a year, and having software deal with that for me is nice.

Some people actually organize their day-to-day "stuff that they need to do" through these lists.

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thisweek 1779 days ago
Yeah I think what you describe basically leads to the "long list" issue of the blog post. For that reason I really wanted something that uses a calendar layout, but still gives you the reward of checking tasks.

I didn't find anything so made it myself and have been using it for 2 years. As it worked for me I recently worked on making it available to others.. Not sure it is ready for prime time yet (will implement localization for week day names after my vacation), but it works and can be used: https://thisweek.rocks.

(Feel free to drop me some feedback here or https://twitter.com/thisweekrocks).

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taneq 1777 days ago
There's a difference between aspirational to-do lists and an evergreen punch list. Things only get onto my to-do list in one of two ways: Me promising someone I'd do them, or me realising there was some nasty consequence to not doing them.

I like the use-by date on to-do items though. You should make a note of that somewhere. ;)

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girishso 1779 days ago
> We keep adding things we "should get to at some point"

Brilliant. Like the article says, I stopped using the TODO app when I had dozens of tasks in my list and I used to see that backlog every day, made me even more depressed.

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