My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)

I've been doing pretty much the same thing since 2019. The only big change I made was in early 2023, when I started saving a new version of the long txt file each day. It works very well for me but I recognize it isn't the right system for everyone!

If you append to the bottom of a 50-thousand line file, won't scrolling to the bottom be tedious? Or is he prepending new days to the top of the file?

It just seems like a modern academic is a middle manager.

Obsidian + Lights (https://ultraworking.gitbooks.io/lights/content/) is my stack

I use Google Calendar as my todo list. Syncs across devices. Notifications. Share with Family & Work. Repeating tasks. Supports notes and attachments. Multiple Lists (calendars). Free.

If you read the article then it's clear they don't just use a .txt file, but also a calendar.

So maybe there's an app that combines the two?

Effectively the same, but with Joplin and separated notes for separated context.

Store/ version with git, throw Claude code at it, and it’ll be amazing

I read this a few years ago and start to doing that. And I never looked back. I can search what i did on a specific day, search for a task and see all the traces, having it accessible over dropbox.

No upgrade CTA, no nonsense. now even I can feed it to llm and get feedback about my planning, routines and everything

alias j="vim + ~/.journal.txt"

big ol git repo of text files here, It's always been this way, for over a decade now.

I ended up doing a similar thing when I was a contractor. Just a really long note file that I'd track everything I was doing.

Relatedly, I find all of the todo/task management apps to be utterly overwhelming for my person tasks. I'm so tired of all of the task apps adding way too much complexity.

All I want is:

* Something that's available on all of my devices.

* Can be ordered by sections

  * Triage

  * Now

  * Today

  * Tomorrow

  * Soon

  * Eventually

  * Whenever (when-never)

* Lets me drag-and-drop tasks for ordering

Better than choosing between 2000 productivity apps,

And even better than coding the 2001st one.

I have TXT files by week, and sum up each day to the bottom of each day of the week if that makes sense.

Then the next week's new file has the pasted-over to-do items on top.

These were OneNote/Sharepoint files forever until earlier this year. Now they live on my local network, backed up, glaciered.

> 3:45pm advising meet with Oprah

> 4pm Rihanna talk (368 CIT)

> 5pm 1:1 with Beyonce #phdadvisee

> 6pm faculty interview dinner with Madonna

lol

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