Working with tasks

Write tasks down right away

Try to add a task as soon as you think of it. At first, opening the app every time can feel like a lot. Over time, you’ll start saving tasks up and adding them all at once, during a natural break, instead of stopping what you’re doing.

When you’re trying to remember a task, it keeps popping into your head at the wrong times. When you decide exactly when you’ll do it, your mind stops reminding you.¹ Once a task is in Glide with a day, you don’t have to keep remembering it.

Write the next step

Each task should be one thing you can do in one sitting, without stopping to make decisions. “Plan the trip” is a project. “Book the hotel in Barcelona” is a task.

Start with an action word. You can just do “Call the pharmacy about the refill.” But with “meds”, you first have to figure out what you meant. A vague name makes you stop and think right when you’re trying to get started.

If a task has been sitting undone for several days, it’s often because it isn’t actually a task. It’s a project in disguise. Break it down.

Give every task a day

A new task is due today unless you pick another day, because most new tasks come from something that just came up. If it isn’t for today, pick the day you plan to do it. You’ll see the task when its day comes. A task with no day is easy to forget.

Keep Today honest

Today works best when it only has what you can really do today. Move anything you won’t get to, to tomorrow or later. When you choose what to move, you’re planning your day. Today’s list stays short and shows only the most important tasks. The rest are out of sight until their day comes, so there’s less to distract you.

A shorter list isn’t a sign you’re not doing enough. It’s a sign you’re being honest about what you can do.

Stash what’s too heavy right now

If a task makes you anxious, or you keep avoiding it, stash it for a few days. It disappears from your lists, but it isn’t lost. It comes back on its own, when you may be more ready to deal with it.

Use the timer to start

When you know what to do but can’t make yourself start, open the task and tap its timer button. You only have to work until the timer ends, not finish the whole task. Often, that’s enough to get you going.

Look over your tasks once a day

Take about ten minutes to go through your list:

• Move what you won’t do today.
• Stash what feels too heavy right now.
• Add anything you’ve been keeping in your head.
• Give the right day to anything that needs one.

The end of the day is often a good time. You know what happened, what changed and what still needs doing. A few minutes setting up tomorrow is a kind thing to do for the you who opens the app tomorrow morning.