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Comment by mkopinsky | Hacker News Reader

You could even use (gasp!) a real notepad. The tactile effect of writing down (and especially, crossing off) the tasks and intermediate steps by hand is not to be underestimated. In addition, you get the benefit described by ktrgardiner above, that switching to your task list doesn't obscure your productive work. You always have that piece of paper staring at you reminding you what you're working on.

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When I feel stuck I get a notepad or a piece of A3-sized paper, a pencil or a pen and start a "brainstorm" session with myself. I dump my thoughts on the topic, play around with them, trying to identify solutions for each subproblem until my feelings of confusion go away. Then I just rewrite those 'solutions' I identified as TODOs in my Org-Mode list.

The habit of fighting confusion with pen and paper is for me one of the biggest productivity boosters I've ever learned.

Also, I don't like to do this kind of "brainstorming" on computer - hardware&software are too limiting, both in input and spatial presentation. Free-form noting FTW ;).

I find it relaxing to actually use my calendar. If I have stuff that I can schedule somewhere in near future, but I don't have the time to do it now, It's lot nicer looking at my calendar than my TO DO list.

A calendar or a formal todo list are both too formal for me. I use Post-It notes, or a pad of paper on a busy day.

I use a kind of combination. I would probably be drowning in post-its scattered about my cube at the end of the day. Outlook ToDo's are kinda strange to use, so I picked up a steno pad and I write down all my tasks for the day every day in the morning. I go through and put +/*/- next to each one (after I'm done) for priority. As stuff comes up I add it to the list and assess its priority then.

When I start to work on a task, I open up onenote and break that task in to sub tasks that are more bite sized (a la pomodoro) that I can strikethrough when I'm done. Strikethrough you can add to your quick bar in Office 2010. Using onenote I can expand subtasks if I find they're too large, and if I have to stop working on task A to go to B I know approximately where I left off. Inserting text is difficult on paper.

When all the subtasks are done I delete it from onenote and strike it through on the paper.

Pomodoro is a bit too rigid for me in the office where anyone in the cube farm can interrupt you any time of the day, but it certainly did help me crunch through my 10 page paper during my last semester in college.

Nice thing about post-it notes is that I can easily steal one from the boss's desk when he starts talking about "Can you please fix A, B, C, D, and do some research on E". If I don't write them down right there and then, I'll never remember all five items.

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