Fast Company: The Pen is Mightier Than The Phone

“When it comes time to rewrite a messy or mostly done list, merely facing the idea of writing out the same task for the fifth time can be enough motivation for me to do it right then, so it never has to be written down again”

Exactly right. A paper todo list helps prevent procrastination simply by making it a pain in the ass to put things off. Many times I find myself saying, “Fine, shut up, I’ll do it already!” to avoid writing the task yet again on a later page. Sometimes I’ll take care of some quick task just to prevent myself from writing it down the first time.

Historically, I waffle between terrifically complicated todo apps like Omnifocus and a simple handwritten list in whatever notebook I’m using that week. Both options are great, but I’m never comfortable fully committing to one or the other. Lately, I’ve taken to using OmniFocus only for longer term lists like “Movies to watch” or “Books to read.” I also use the handy quick entry in OmniFocus to capture thoughts and tasks while I’m in the middle of something else. What’s weird is that I later write them down in a notebook. I find that the act of writing a task down on paper helps to cement that thought in my head. There may be some inner-workings-of-the-brain reasons for this, but all I know is that it helps. A quick glance at my handwritten list and I can recall things about any item simply based on its location on the page.

Tasks in OmniFocus move around too much. I add contexts and projects to each and they get handily filed away, making them quite easy to ignore from then on. Plus, they all look exactly the same. It’s all very neat and orderly and can be very effective, but can also lull me to sleep.

Short answer, hand-written todo lists are great. I may have finally lapped myself on the GTD Merry Go Round