exactly! todo lists help ALOT. I usually use trello for this. It really helps me remember on monday what i was doing on friday and what needs to get done. None of the complains in the article make sense to me. When i make a todo list, i usually have a sense of direction so I dont get stuck in the "choices choices" problem. Besides, didn't anyone teach you how to prioritize stuff? "Urgent, Important; Important, not urgent; Urgent, not important; not important not urgent;"
Oh and trello really helps me enter a TON of information into a task so i dont face the "they all look the same on paper" issue. heck i even use the comments feature as status updates to keep logging whatever i am doing on the task. Todo lists are great! (or atleast they are for me. especially trello)
I have a higher-level "ideas.txt" file. It looks a lot like my TODO list:
Things to learn
Things to read
Stuff I'd like to do
I visit it every few weeks. There are entries from 25 years ago that I haven't touched, and probably never will. This year I checked off [x] Learn Python for Real, and a few other things I won't share. (Haskell is probably one of those things that will remain unchecked, until I find a project for it).
To me, working on something daring is all about the excitement. The problem usually is that i get excited at the wrong times. Having amazing ideas when you have your hands full isn't exactly useful or productive. heck it turns out to be counter productive at times! And when i do have my hands free, the ideas dont come. so The best way for me is to jot down those ideas on a trello board with as much detail as i dare, so that i can visit it later and feel that excitement all over again and actualyl DO those things. works for me :)
Try adding a "wishlist" or "if I finish everything else early" section. You'd be surprised at how quickly some of those items get done when, um, procrastinating on the other tasks.
Oh and trello really helps me enter a TON of information into a task so i dont face the "they all look the same on paper" issue. heck i even use the comments feature as status updates to keep logging whatever i am doing on the task. Todo lists are great! (or atleast they are for me. especially trello)