|||

PTPL 077 · A Peek Inside the Obsidian Weekly Note That’s Keeping Me Focused

Plus using TaskPaper as a journal — why not?

Inside my weekly note is a to do list that follows the Ivy Lee productivity method. TaskPaper can be used for interstitial journaling as well as to dos.


TaskPaper as a journal and outliner

Zsolt Benke is using TaskPaper as an interstitial journal. Sure, you can do almost exactly that in any outliner (or even in apps like Plain Text Editor, CotEditor or Runestone), but TaskPaper makes this kind of file look great and gives you some ready-made ways of aggregating the data sprinkled throughout the entries.

I’ve written in the past about how to use TaskPaper to track all your projects and tasks in one text file, but using it for journaling is something new. TaskPaper is a highly versatile app whose syntax can be approximated in apps like Obsidian, but there’s nothing quite like the simplicity of the original.

It’s a pleasure to experience apps like this, where part of their appeal lies in what they can’t do, as well as what they can. A kind of flexible digital minimalism. That said, I wouldn’t complain if TaskPaper added support for wikilinks!

Jesse Grosjean, the maker of TaskPaper, also has an outliner called Bike that’s been making waves lately. You can check out both TaskPaper and Bike for free with a 1-month free trial of Setapp instead of the usual 7 days. Click here then enter the code ELLANE. This is an affiliate link which will give me a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How things are going with FKM, Task-Per-File, and Ivy Lee

I’m in my seventh week of tracking projects and tasks with a File-based Knowledge Management (FKM) approach, week five of using a single note as the productivity driver of my week, and week three of Ivy Lee productivity. Read more

All three methods are working together beautifully to help me identify what needs doing next, and maintain my focus on what’s most important in any given moment. I’m super pleased about that!

As well as listing six or so prioritised things to do for the day ahead, I’ve started interspersing commitments and appointments. Regular tasks are written in Sentence Case, while must-dos are written in ALL CAPS. Appointments are highlighted as well.

These practices make it easy to glance at the list and get a good feel for the kind of day it’s going to be. It’s a type of plain text heat map, which is pretty darn cool! Often I’ll write a verb statement (Work on, Write, Make progress on) followed by a link to one of my discrete tasks.

Here’s one of my actual lists (with names blanked out) from my weekly page, so you can get a feel for what it looks like in the wild:

An 11-item to do list (the full text is in a code block below this image), where all but the last three items have been ticked complete. Items 3, 6, 7, and 9 are highlighted in yellow. ↑ The Author’s actual to do list, as a work-from-home business owner with a personal life


The same list, in raw Markdown:

---  
## [[2023-11-02 Thu|02 · THURSDAY]]  
---  
  
- [x] SCRIPTURE STUDY  
- [x] FRENCH: FLASHCARDS  
- [x] ==10:40 LEAVE TO TAKE XXXXXX TO HINDMARSH SQUARE==  
- [x] Work on [[+511 - Interactive Planner 2024]]  
- [x] FRENCH: SENTENCE EXCHANGE  
- [x] ==15:30 PICK UP XXXXXX==  
- [x] ==16:30–18:30 NESS LABS CO-WORKING SESSION==  
- [x] Write [[2023-11-06 W - PTPL 077 -]]  
- [ ] Exercises with Xxxxxx - Mark them off on the calendar!  
- [ ] [[T1 2023-09-23 +505 - Do exercises in the Johnny.Decimal Workbook +205]]  
- [ ] CHOOSE TOMORROW’S MOST IMPORTANT TASKS

I’m confident I’ll get the last three things done well before bedtime (edit: I did), but it won’t matter if they stay undone as the most important items were scheduled for earlier in the day.

⌘1 (Command + 1) moves lines up and ⌘2 moves them down (user-defined hotkeys in Obsidian), so it’s easy to change priorities as the day progresses.

When a task is incomplete at the end of the day, I leave it in the list with a forwarding symbol (- [>]), and copy rather than move it onto the next day. As I look back over the week it’s interesting to see how much of what I’d planned the day before was actually completed.

Paper-based budgeting

My adventure with paper-based budgeting is still in the exploratory stage, but holding up well so far. For the first time pretty much ever, the person I’m helping can see what they can safely spend while still taking care of current obligations, and future needs!

Having the budget in a format they understand (paper) is a big part of why this is working for them when apps did not.


💬 Comment on Mastodon


Follow my RSS feed, or sign up to receive posts in your inbox

Up next PTPL 076 · The New Johnny.Decimal Workbook— What I’ve Learned So Far PTPL 078 · I’m Beating Procrastination by Asking 3 Short Questions
Latest posts PTPL 129 · Live Out of Your Notes the Way Tom Lives Out of His Car Inktober 2024 PTPL 128 · Keep Your Content Separate From the Container in Which It Lives PTPL 127 · On Backing Up Paper, and Static Websites for Tiny Archives Efficient App Agnostic Tasks in a Single Plain Text File (Obsidian Optional) PTPL 126 · What the Dash-Plus System Looks Like in My OBTF and Analog Notes Word Puzzles (that aren’t Wordle) PTPL 125 · Choosing Between Digital and Analog, and a Plain Text Accounting Update How to Keep Your Wheels Turning Smoothly Despite the Automation Paradox PTPL 124 · Saving Safari tabs as Markdown links, and Mono Fonts in Obsidian Looking Through Windows (From the Outside In) PTPL 123 · ‘Analog Office’ Blog and Tomoe River Planner Recommendations Mastodon and the Fediverse — Social Media’s Brighter Future Celebrating Independent Indie Blogs PTPL 122 · Aligning Your Task List with Your (Changing) Values PTPL 121 · Getting Focused With a 4-Quadrant Weekly Planning Matrix PTPL 120 · Quick Add vs Text Expansion in Obsidian Touch Typing For Classic Book Fans Your Name in Landsat Psst — They Don't Know What You're Talking About PTPL 119 · Yes, You Can Be Plain-Text Enlightened and Still Use Apple’s Reminders! PTPL 118 · My Simple, Sensible Plain Text to Proprietary App Workflow PTPL 117 · Oh, You Like Making Notes! Why Not Use… ? PTPL 116 · Plain Text Accounting Level 1, Complete! PTPL 115 · There’s Something New at the Top of My One Big Text File PTPL 114 · Obsidian, Silver Bullet, and Org-Mode—3 Different Approaches to Working With Notes PTPL 113 · Some Free Tools Cost Too Much PTPL 112 · Organise Your Stuff— Alternatives to Bartender and Hazel PTPL 111 · You Only Need 2 Calendar Categories For Effective Time Management PTPL 110 · How to Easily Type  macOS ⌘ Modifier Keys PTPL 109 · Households With Written SOPs Are More Resilient Than Those Without
... ... ... ...