A to-do list that lets most things wait
Turn a line in a note, or a node on a mind map, into a task. Then priorities and the Today, This week and Overdue views keep a calm to-do list showing only the few that matter now.
What you can do with the to-do list
- Make a task from a note. Select any words in a note and click Make task. They become the task's title, the task links back to the note, and it opens so you can add a date, an area and a priority.
- Make a task from a mind map. Right-click a node and choose Make task. The task takes the map's areas with it, so going from a mind map to a task list is a right-click per node. Later, open the task from the node, or unlink it.
- One to-do list for everything. A simple task manager: every task in one place, with tabs for Todo, Doing and Done, and a line at the top to add one quickly.
- Find the right few. Prioritise tasks as High, Medium or Low, then filter by area, priority, status and due date (Overdue, Today, This week). Sort and group the list, or switch to a Kanban board.
- Task details. Status, priority, start and due dates, a due time and a duration, areas, notes, and a Linked section showing the note or map each task came from.
Why I wanted a calm to-do list
A morning brain dump can run for minutes. Somewhere inside it are the things I need to do, mixed in with worries, context and feelings I don't want to erase just to make a to-do list.
So I wanted to pull an action out and give it a proper home, while letting the original thought stay whole. The note can say everything; the task can say what happens next.
Rachit, founder of Xale
The ideas behind a calmer to-do list
Pull out the next step, leave the thought whole
A task is easier to start when it names one concrete move, and easier to trust when you can still see why it mattered.
- Worth reading: Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Switch (2010). "Script the critical moves": change comes from spelling out the specific next behaviour, not from a clearer big picture.
- The usual way: the things to do are mixed in with worries, context and feelings, and making a to-do list means erasing them.
- In this release: select the words, make the task. The note doesn't change, and the task links back to it.
Not everything has to happen now
A long to-do list is only useful if it helps you choose what to leave for later.
- Worth reading: Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks (2021). You'll never get through everything, so the real skill is choosing what to neglect, on purpose.
- Worth reading: Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989). "Put first things first": the important things rarely feel the most urgent.
- In this release: priorities, and filters for Overdue, Today and This week, so the list can show the few that matter now.
Further reading
- David Allen, Getting Things Done (2001), on next actions.
- E. J. Masicampo and Roy F. Baumeister, "Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101(4) (2011). doi:10.1037/a0024192
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