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Comment by yogeshp | Hacker News Reader

Recently I read the book - Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy.

One of point was to keep a pocket diary where you list all the TODO tasks and keep striking them off as they complete. Helped me in many ways:

1. It is very easy to forget many tasks but by writing them and checking the diary even once in a while, it is possible to be reminded regularly.

2. Its better than mobile TODO apps as I don't need to check mobile phone regularly and don't get distracted.

3. When you strike some things off, you see the progress that you are achieving something. Just deleting everything shows you long list of tasks yet to be done and can be demotivating.

https://www.amazon.com/Eat-That-Frog-Great-Procrastinating/d...

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I do something to similar, although using a mobile app (Google Keep), and write down EVERYTHING. For me, probably the biggest benefit of doing so was freeing my brain. I no longer have to worry about naturally remembering things, and it makes my life a lot less stressful. It also provides me more time and brain power to think about what actually matters to me.

Nowdays, if a thought pops in my head while I'm laying down in bed, I'll just get up for a second and write it down. Feels so good.

This article https://hamberg.no/gtd/ articulates the idea pretty well:

> When your system and your trust in your system is in place, your subconsciousness will stop keeping track of all the things you need to do and stop constantly reminding you. This reduces stress and frees up precious brain time to more productive thinking—maybe it even saves real time so that you have more time for ballet lessons, painting classes, and roller-blading.

I have a system in apple notes where I use a separate note for each weekday. It gives me a chance to dump todos in there, without creating an overwhelmingly large list. I also naturally review my progress on neglected items each week. Also serves me as a basic calendar, eg “see john on Wednesday”.

I second your choice. I actually read just one page from that book and often bring it to mind. Each of us needs to eat a frog every day, sometimes multiple frogs. You need to do it anyway, so better get down to it and have it done. The subsequent feeling is really worth it. And, because the biggest procrastination bloc are removed in this way, everything goes more smoothly.

Eat that frog, folks!

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