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To-do lists are much less efficient than note-taking about done things

Dec 21, 20242 min read

To-Do Lists Are Much Less Efficient Than Note-Taking About Completed Tasks

  • This idea has plagued me for a long time. I’ve been thinking about the philosophy of busyness that spreads like a disease among intellectual workers.
    • And as a consequence, there’s a desire to do more in less time, rather than focusing on what’s truly important and not just what seems important.
    • But in all my struggles, I couldn’t find the right tool for implementing note-taking in a productivity system.
      • Though I’ve got plenty of tips, for example, from Lubychev.
      • Who had been journaling all his life.
      • I even explained to everyone I met that note-taking is a place for thinking. Any intellectual worker should have one.
    • The answer, as usual, is a combination and reinterpretation of a great idea.
      • Pomodoro is the simplest tool to boost productivity, but it lacks one crucial element: reflection, though it has the potential to incorporate one.
      • So now, we see how it could be tweaked to accommodate both productivity enthusiasts and office workers with multiple projects.
    • All my life, I’ve thought of to-do lists as a waste of time; even now, I don’t have one.
      • Instead of tracking to-dos, I journal. I literally track my work with a journal entry. Even this one is nothing more than a journal entry, but it can have a much more structured view. Though an outliner provides a semblance of structure.
      • In my case, journaling happens when I move from one publication to another.
        • I mean when I finish a paper.
      • In an office, it should happen when transitioning between projects or tasks.
        • A few sentences are more than enough. The entry must have two points:
          • What you have done.
          • What you are going to do.
        • The point of transition is a moment of finishing the previous big task and the beginning of the next.
          • Checked email, or read working chat.
          • Left the meeting with the CEO or a team.
          • Finished writing a document.

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