[mattbuilds]

I've had similar things in the past. What was the case for me, and maybe for you is that I was using the idea of "organizing" and "planning" to procrastinate doing actual work. I was working on difficult problems and I felt like if I could just organize everything correctly, the results would fall into place. This isn't how it works though, you need to just do the work.

Organization and tools like that can be helpful for communicating and coordinating across a company, but at the individual level it's usually a waste of time. You don't need them. Remember, the whole point is to get work done. If organizing isn't moving you closer to your goal, it's not doing it's job.

My suggestion is to do what I do now.

One list: TODO.txt.

I put tasks in priority order and just work through them. Sometimes I write a note or an idea at the bottom, but that's it. No over complication. It only has what I need to get the next thing done and keep moving through my tasks.

[binary132]

A more or less single-todo-file system got me through college, it’s a great approach.