Wunderlist has been my to-do application for several months. I like it a lot and my wife has put up with it, so we’ll probably keep using it for the foreseeable future. One feature that I especially make use of is recurring events.
I’m one of those people that uses a full to-do list as motivation to keep the day moving. Left to my own devices I can sit quietly in my chair and let hours float by while I just think. There’s lots of thinking to do. But when I have a full list, it’s a lot less likely I’ll waste my time this way.
The end result is that I add a due date to almost everything in my Wunderlist so that I can stare at the “Today” smart list instead of into my own mind. The other result is that a lot of my recurring events will go red (ie, late) and stay red for great lengths of time.
For instance, learning to draw is a hobby right now. I want to do a little bit everyday, but it’s much lower priority than finishing my work tasks or chores at home. So it hasn’t happened in almost a week. Mowing the yard is important, but I hate doing it and I’m only willing to bother under the right weather conditions and time. So it will probably stay red all the way up until there’s a jungle in my back yard.
The unfortunate result of these red items is guilt. I can work very hard all day, cross lots of items off my list, and still feel like I’m not getting traction.
At what point do you declare to-do bankruptcy to get rid of all this to-do debt? Answers and any other to-do ideas are welcome in the comments.
Alex Gustafson 
4 replies on “To-Do Debt”
I’m loath to add due dates to items unless absolutely necessary. Helps me tame the to do beast.
So do you just avoid the smart lists entirely?
I use Todoist. I mostly break things down by Personal/Work and my site-related tasks. There is tagging and more advanced functionality, but I usually stick with the basics.
[…] colleague, Alex Gustafson, recently wrote about To-Do Debt, and I’d like to dissect his post. […]