 Today's video is going to be a little bit different kind of video today. I just wanted to chat with you guys about a topic that I've been thinking about for some time now and that is to-do programs. I often review quote productivity tools on the YouTube channel here and a lot of the productivity tools I sometimes take a look at and share with you guys are to-do applications. So these are these applications where you can create, you know, your to-do list and you know schedule events, you're calendar out for the next day, week, month, year, whatever it happens to be and a lot of people assume that these to-do programs help increase productivity. So a lot of people are all about to-do applications. Every time I review something like VimWiki, Org Mode and Emacs, Joplin, you know tools like that, people are excited about those. I get actually a lot of views when I cover programs like that and then I always in these videos, you know, after showing you guys these tools tell you I don't actually use these tools or at least I don't use those tools for to-do applications. I don't use them as an event scheduler and the reason I don't use, you know, to-do applications, you know, in a traditional sense is because I don't think to-do apps increase your productivity. I think that is a myth. I think to-do applications hinder your productivity, honestly. I think they're going to decrease your productivity because when you start using these to-do applications, really, I think you waste more time doing all this scheduling and listing things that you need to get done rather than actually just getting something done. One of the common questions I get from viewers of my YouTube channel is how do I come up with the ideas for all the shows that I do? You know, I think a lot of people assume that I have hundreds of videos that I plan to make and I've got it in some to-do application somewhere where I've got everything listed out, scheduled out, where I know exactly what I'm going to do every day for the next six months. I don't. I don't use to-do lists. I've never used to-do lists because I don't like doing that sort of thing. That is way too rigid where I list out every single thing I'm going to do every hour of every day of every week because that becomes just a soul-draining mental exercise where, well, today I have to do this particular task. I don't feel like doing it, but because I scheduled it, because it's in my to-do application, I have to do that task today. No, but that just takes all the fun out of your work. Work should be fun no matter what it is that you're doing as far as work or play if in, you know, some of these to-do lists, maybe you're scheduling things, just life tasks. But, you know, you never want to take all the fun out of something and when you have such a rigid schedule, really, it just becomes just mentally taxing because it becomes a chore. Doing what you want to do becomes a chore because you are a slave to that schedule, to that to-do application. And I refuse to do that. One of the things I often tell you guys is, you know, I do the videos I want to do when I want to do them. I never plan anything way out in advance like this video here. I decided I was going to make this video. It's been rolling around in my head for a while, but I didn't have it on the calendar that today was the day to make this video. No, I sat down at this computer and, you know, turned on the camera and the microphone and I decided that's the topic I'm doing today because that's what was in my heart, in my head. It's what I felt like I needed to talk about, what I would enjoy talking to you guys about today. When you use some kind of to-do list, it gives you these false illusions that you're actually making progress and making accomplishments that you're not really making because, you know, you're scratching things off this list as you're getting stuff done and you're thinking, well, you're really achieving something. And honestly, most of the time you're not. You may have gotten more things done that day had you not been using your to-do list, but because you did that one thing, you wrote down on your to-do list and you got to check that one thing off. It gives you, again, this false sense that you really made more progress that day than what you did. The limited experience I have with to-do lists and scheduling things, you know, in work and in life is to-do lists make you feel guilty because you're never going to achieve everything you put on that to-do list. You're never going to cross off everything at that specific time. It never works out that way. And when you fail, what does it do? It makes you feel bad. It makes you feel guilty. It makes you feel like you're a complete failure, a complete loser because you didn't check off that one task, you know, for the day that you had set aside. We've already talked about how these to-do lists just suck out all the excitement and all the enjoyment out of your work anyway. And now that you're starting to fail at completing the list, it makes it that much more unenjoyable and it just starts sucking the very life out of you. Some other reasons I personally don't like the to-do list. I don't think to-do lists are efficient. I don't think that is an efficient use of your time to sit down and start planning out everything that you're going to do for the next day or week or whatever. You're spending time on that list rather than actually doing something productive. I also don't think that lists actually make you organized, you know, in the long term. I think in some ways lists actually make you more unorganized. I think in your attempt to organize every aspect of the job, in a lot of ways it makes you completely disorganized because you're trying to stick to this schedule no matter what. Even when it doesn't make sense to stick to that schedule. I think lists a lot of times have people prioritize the wrong things at the wrong time. But for me personally why I don't like to do applications and to-do lists, you know, I like being spontaneous. You know, kind of like what I was talking about with how I do my videos such as this video today. I like doing things when I want to do them. I like being spontaneous. I like exploring things. You know, when I feel like it's the right time to explore those things. I don't want to be chained to that schedule that I set. I think that the biggest falsehood of the people that use these kinds of to-do lists is really a to-do list is pointless past the very first item. I mean, if you're going to set a to-do list, it really should include one item, whatever it is you're working on right now. Going beyond what you're working on right now is, again, I think just a complete waste of time. I mean, in your head, your brain should be your to-do list. In my head, I know after I finish this video today, I've got some other stuff I need to do, some stuff around the house. I already got ideas in my head for what maybe I want to do on the channel. Tomorrow I don't need to write all that stuff down. There's no point in even getting that far into that stuff until I finish the task at hand, which is this video. So my advice to you guys is to ditch all these productivity applications, especially the to-do lists and the scheduling applications. Quit using those. Those are causing you more problems. They're mentally draining. I think they affect your happiness. I think they in the long run affect your health. All you need to do is when you wake up every day, think about the task at hand. The one task at hand, if you want to go beyond one task, no more than three tasks. Think about the one to three tasks that you need to get done that day, nothing else. By focusing on the short-term stuff instead of planning things out weeks and months in advance, you're much more likely to actually achieve the goals that you're setting. I think in the long run, you'll be a much happier person. I think your work will actually become more enjoyable, again, not being a slave to that scheduling application. Before I go, I want to thank a few special people. I want to thank Michael, Gabe, Heplo, Nate, Corbinian, Mitchell, Intra, Puk, Arch5530, Chris, Chuck, DJ, Nani, Dylan, George, Omri, Paul, Sean, Tobias, and Willie. These guys, they are my highest-tiered patrons over on Patreon. Without these guys, this episode you just watched wouldn't have been possible. The show is also brought to you by each and every one of these ladies and gentlemen. These are all my supporters on Patreon because this channel is supported by you guys, the community. If you'd like to support my work, you'll find Distro2 over on Patreon. Alright guys, peace.