TASKERStep 5 of 5 · 3 min read
What to do now: a day without chaos
Dmytro Sokolnikov, maker of Tasker ·
Start with the calendar
In the morning, see what today has at a set time: meetings, calls, appointments. That is the frame of the day — it doesn’t move. Everything else you do between those points.
How to choose the next task
David Allen suggests four questions, in order:
- Where am I? Some things can only be done at home, others only in town.
- How much time do I have? Fifteen minutes before a meeting is no time to start a report.
- How much energy? Small things in the evening, things that need a fresh head in the morning.
- What matters most? Of what is left — the task that gives the most.
No need to answer out loud: in a few days it becomes a habit.
The list for today must be realistic
If twenty tasks are planned for the day and you get through seven, the list reminds you of failure every evening. Plan less than seems possible: better to pick up one more task in the evening than to move five.
Mark the most important task of the day — then it won’t get lost among the small stuff.
What to do with what is left
Unfinished tasks don’t disappear — they wait for a decision. Move it to another day if it still matters; remove the date if there is no rush; delete it if it no longer matters.
The main thing is not to let overdue tasks pile up: a red tail from past days takes more energy than the tasks themselves.
Surprises are part of the day
A day rarely goes to plan: the boss calls, a child gets sick. That is normal. Write the new task down right away and just look at today’s plan once more. That is what the system is for — after a break you can see what to come back to.
Fewer tasks for today — more of them done!
How it works in Tasker
In Tasker the day starts with the Today section. One page holds everything worth doing today:
- “Keep track of” — at the top, what you keep an eye on;
- “Target dates” whose deadline is getting close;
- “Earlier” — overdue from past days, in red;
- “Today” — the day’s tasks: timed ones first, by the hour, untimed ones below;
- “This week / month / year” — tasks for the period that is going on now;
- “Remember” — at the bottom.
“Important” in the menu on a record’s icon makes its name bold, with a lightning bolt, and important untimed tasks move higher in the day.
Didn’t get to it? The “⋮” menu has “Tomorrow”, “Reschedule…” or “Not today”: a task from a project or a list stays there without a date.
On a wide screen, a day calendar by the hour sits to the right of the list. And the “Daily digest” in your profile sends the day’s plan to Telegram at the time you choose.
Today is part of advanced mode. In basic mode you see the same day in Calendar: tasks by days, overdue in red.
All Tasker features →