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Out of sight, out of mind
I am not very good at remembering what is on my task list. I tried everything, writing things on paper to scream reminders on my smart speaker, but nothing ever seems to stay. However, making a major concession has helped a lot.
Out of sight, out of mind
It is not that I am lazy or that I do not want to get things done. It’s just that my brain constantly bounces from one thing to the next. It is a disorderly and disorganized place, and it often leads to forgetting things very quickly after I thought about it. Out of sight, out of the mind.
I tried so much task list applications, and I even set up recurring reminders for the things I have to do all the time. But he always reaches a point where he is simply too easy to ignore. I will receive a notification, see that it appears on my smartwatch or phone lock screen, then let it sit there for hours, collecting dust. The worst part is that I am actually good enough to add things to the list, but they could just as well disappear when they are not in front of my face.
In sight, in mind
I had to do something drastic because I was really getting tired of forgetting to do important things. For years, I have been an aspirant for a clean and minimalist home screen on my phone. An endless rotation of wallpapers, a few rows of my most used applications and a weather widget – that’s it. I appreciated the aesthetics of a clean screen on the functionality of a useful. But that didn’t help me lead a productive life.
Before / after
So, I made a difficult decision which probably seems strange for anyone who does not obey for the aesthetics of the phone like me. I had to suck it and put a task list widget in the middle of my main reception screen. I really liked the clean and simple look of my home screen, and I didn’t like the idea of having personal information in the open air. But I have to admit that this new configuration is so much better. It is now impossible to ignore my task list.
Whenever I unlock my phone, my tasks are there, looking at me in the face. I need to remove recycling today, or it’s time to clean the bathrooms. Even if I slide the recall notifications, I can’t just slide the widget. I have to look at it, recognize the tasks and, ultimately, do them.
I’m still the problem
The list of tasks I currently use is Google tasks. I love it because it is simple, and the tasks that I create with gemini or google speakers nest sprinkled around my house are also found in tasks. This means that even if I do not reminder on my phone, it will be there, waiting for myself the next time I unlock it. I know that this philosophy would work with many other task list applications, but integration with the rest of Google’s ecosystem is a big plus for me.
Of course, this is not a perfect solution. I will always be the weakest link in all the systems I use. Even with the so prominent widget, I can still push things longer than I should. But the real secret is the repetitive act of seeing the list, which helps keep the tasks fresh in my mind. My home screen may seem a little more crowded now, but at least my life is finally a little more organized. It is a compromise that I am ready to do, and it is the one that finally helped me to get things done.
