In my original outline of my Second Brain I briefly described how I store my tasks. Since then, I have had time to get through a few iterations of my workflow using this specific application.

Luckily my favorite things that drew me to the app initially are all still true, and most likely even more reinforced. It is quick to add task, organize them, and complete them as they come up. The cross-platform availability is what really gets me excited about talking about Todoist. I have mentioned that my work computer is a Windows machine, and I would like to use arguably the most crucial part of my second brain the 40+ hours a week I am using my work computer.

Adding to My Task Storage

By far my favorite features are the ones that make adding tasks as simple as it can be. I accomplish this using three different methods outside of the application itself (which I do use occasionally). I find that I don’t come up with task ideas or reminders as I am crossing one off, but actually when I am in the middle of accomplishing something else. I want to write down that thought before I lose it, while not losing focus on whatever I am currently honed in on. ‘Gotta stay in the flow!’

  1. Keyboard Shortcuts I add task using Cmd+Space (Ctrl+Space on Windows) at least 90% of the time. I enjoy so much about customizable keyboard shortcuts, that I have to be careful not to go overboard in describing my love for them. The GUI that pops up in the middle of your active screen is time, and provides enough information to add said task, without distracting from the surrounding content.
  2. Widgets If I am not using a computer to add Tasks, then I am on my phone. I have two types of widgets setup that eliminate friction in writing things down.
    1. The First of Those is on my lock screen (regardless of what my focus is) This widget was a game changer in reducing friction/distraction. I can now add tasks to my second brain without completely opening up my phone. I knew that the Apple update that added lock screen widgets would help me out a lot to eliminate distractions, but I completely forgot about the friction it would remove. I added this widget to every focus’s home screen so that regardless of what I am doing, or where I am I have the ability to quickly add tasks, and get back to what I am doing.
    2. The Second is on my home screen This widget used to get a lot more love until Apple released their latest software update that added widgets to the lock screen. I do enjoy the home screen widget for quickly viewing what tasks I have left for the day, but unless I am already on my phone, I am not adding tasks via the widget. Both of these methods produce a similar GUI to the Mac/Windows application for adding tasks. I like this one just as much, but can find it more cumbersome to give significant detail using my thumbs instead of a full qwerty keyboard.

Organizing my Task Storage

My Task organization isn’t ground breaking, but if there were a part that I am still not 100% sure on it is how to classify what Todoist calls “Projects” into my PARIA system. Right now I have two philosophies that I am sticking to, but as I said these are subject to change.

  1. First, I have all of my Areas identified in my second brain as a Level 1 Project This might be counter intuitive because it would be easier to just make every project in my second brain a project in Todoist. I actually tried this, but what I found was that I was adding too much time trying to remember what I named the project instead of just writing it down and leaving. I could have probably fixed this issue by filtering tasks in my inbox more frequently. I did not go down that route because it still is adding time, of which I have a limited amount of each day to accomplish the things I want to get done. This led me to leaving Areas at the top level, and if longer term projects came around I added them as sections within the Area instead of a sub project. The reason for this is if I forget the specific project name, all I have to remember is the Area (which typically is much more cut and dry) and I’ll get the task close to it’s final home. I can sometimes break the rule of what a part of the PARIA system should own tasks, and what shouldn’t but if following rules verbatim adds friction, then I just won’t follow them at all, and then I’m back to square one.
  2. After the Area, I have a Level One project called Resources The Resources project is really just there to fold everything else (mostly resources) down since they are level two projects. None of these get used very often, but every now and then I need reminders for something related to a resource, or as a resource might get shifted to an Area, I begin building that out before I make that decision. Also included in the Resources folder is a catchall project called Someday Maybe, this could be called an archive, but Todoist already has something called an archive, so right now I’m rolling with Someday Maybe.