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Vladimir_Golovin comments on Open Thread, April 1-15, 2012 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 01 April 2012 04:24AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 02 April 2012 10:04:25AM *  2 points [-]

depressing list full of items whose context you've forgotten

It really helps to word todo items properly, as complete sentences. For example, instead of "Widget!!!!", you should use "Decide which Widget to buy." I often add more context or next actions as I process the task, so it may gradually evolve into "Decide which Widget to buy. Red ones seem to be better. Bob may know more - call him."

Comment author: Risto_Saarelma 02 April 2012 03:16:56PM 0 points [-]

It's more about forgetting why it was supposed to be so important to buy a Widget to begin with, given that the item has sat inactive in the todo list for weeks with no widgetlessness-related catastrophes ensuing.

Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 02 April 2012 04:19:29PM *  1 point [-]

Then it's a perfect candidate for garbage collection. I just drop items like this, or, if an item has accumulated too much contextual info I don't want to lose, I postpone it for a month or so and decide later, or move it to non-actionable notes.