Calendar is my to-do list

‘Which productivity apps (plural!) do you use?’

‘I don’t know. What do you mean?’

‘Like, what’s your to-do list app?’

‘Calendar.’

‘???’

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I have been in a variation of this conversation several times.

Some can’t fathom how to work without shiny productivity apps.

And I wouldn’t know what more you need than a calendar.

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If a task has a deadline, it goes into my calendar.

If it doesn’t have a date yet, you create one.

If you can’t determine a time, the task is not specific enough — break it down.

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Many confuse tasks with plans or wishes.

Tasks are actions.

Plans are ideas.

(And wishes are for the Christmas list.)

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Tasks are concrete acts that happen over time.

And they work better with a definite endpoint.

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Plans are maps of ideas, at best with causal steps.

‘First do A, then focus on B, to reach C, with aim D.’

—

Tasks go into a calendar. Plans are best captured in a memo.

Nobody really needs a standalone to-do app.

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