The art of the to-do
I’ve moved from one to-do list app to another. Seemingly as a way to escape my lists of unfinished tasks. As this Wired article suggests, I’m not alone. Spoiler alert for the piece, paper is the winner here and it all comes down to psychology. A clean piece of paper is a blank slate and having to rewrite a task means it must still be relevant to you. You must really want to cross off that to-do or you wouldn’t bother.
In my college years, I found an A5 pad of to-do lists, probably from a $2 shop. It had spaces to write your tasks and you could assign a priority to each, rating it A, B, or C. I couldn’t find another pad and I was running low so my stepdad printed off a whole bunch of copies at his work. But in copying them he had actually enlarged them to A4 size. So I had these enormous full-page to-do lists I was still attached to and dutifully completed each day. Rewriting the many tasks I had put off, time and time again.
I haven’t found a better to-do list since then. These days I’ve only ever flirted with to-do list apps: Reminders on iOS, Wunderlist, Carrot ToDo, EpicWin, Things, Trello and Microsoft To Do.
Back in my game reviewing days I interviewed the creator of EpicWin, a fantasy to-do list that gave you XP for completing your tasks. It was fun, for a time, but then the burden of unfinished tasks took over and I began my hunt once more for something new. Unfortunately, the app is no longer supported for newer devices.
I’m now using Minimalist but barely. The most useful part of it is being able to add a little widget to my phone’s home screen so I can quickly glance at my procrastinations before I tap on the Twitter app.
While it doesn’t quite give the same satisfaction as ranking tasks on an A4 template, I keep coming back to the humble post-it; a colourful little square I don’t feel overly attached to and have no qualms in binning after the day is done.
Inbox Zero
Maintaining a clear inbox is certainly a challenge in the re-emergence of newsletters, as journalists try to find a home in this ever-shifting media landscape. As a writer of an infrequent newsletter, I am partly to blame.
As many people do, I have a Gmail account and have for some time since my switch from Hotmail (and the ill-fated Windows Live Mail). And you can tell it’s been some time because now Hotmail is cool again. Well, rather, Outlook.
I used the Gmail app on my phone but the introduction of ads that look like emails really killed it for me. Gmail still has a number of tabs that barely function no matter how many times I try to put emails in the right place: Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. I gave up sorting them. Then they put out a neat app called Inbox that simplified things. In 2019 they killed it off, like so many of their actual useful products. RIP Google Reader.
This began my pivot back to Outlook. The Outlook iOS app was very good for a time. Much like Google, it quickly became overrun with ads and shitty ads at that. Just looking now they have an ad for belly weight loss patches. Rather than having the multiple tabs for sorting emails, there were just the two; Focused and Other.
At work, I still use classic Outlook, the Windows application. I have set up email rules to automatically move emails from particular senders to different folders, to help sort through the clutter, especially with all the union stuff. But for my personal life, I want things even simpler than that.
Shortwave is the reinvention of Google’s short-lived Inbox. Created by people who have since left the company. As of now, there are no ads. But with most investor funded Silicon Valley projects, it’s inevitable, as people want a return on their investment. Even Netflix is looking at ads now. There are also restrictions. You can only use it with Gmail accounts and the free version only lets you search back 90 days.
The app groups emails together into bundles which you can quickly archive. I think the biggest change of practice for me is instead of deciding whether I delete or archive an email, there is only one option, to archive. While it does mean I retain emails I don’t really need, it does free me not to have to think about it (at least until I hit my 15GB Google storage limit.) I have used the snooze function, which hides emails until they’re needed, for things like e-tickets, and the pin function when there’s something I want to remember.
There are many workspace options for people used to team communication tools like Slack. As I don’t use my personal email for work, let alone have a work phone, I don’t trouble myself with that side of things.
As for getting yourself to an empty inbox… I’m sorry, I don’t have a solution. I have disabled emails for services like Patreon and Substack, and instead, I read creator updates in their respective apps. But that’s really just creating another inbox to clear. It does make me feel like I’m more organised, however a folly that might be.
I have disabled intrusive notifications which does alleviate anxieties of always being available. It means I can check just a couple of times a day and deal with new messages in bulk, instead of tackling individual notifications as they happen.
Some days do I feel like tossing my cellular device into the ocean, like in that Lorde song? Sure. But I do get some pleasure out of reading emails. It’s just about finding the balance.
What I’m watching
As a guy who started a television review site, literally called, Binge With Me, I’m here to tell you to forget about binge-watching. Remember week to week TV? It’s great. And right now is certainly the high point with the long-awaited return of my favourite shows. All were airing in the same week. What a world!
Atlanta - Season 3 (last aired 2018)
What started as a show about the small crew of a rapper, has gone all-in on Twighlight-Zone-style episodes. Leaving Paper Boi, Earn, Darius and Van, to tell standalone short stories that make up almost half the season.
Atlanta creator, Donald Glover, really has put another TV show inside this TV show, which is both bold and alienating for many existing fans. If you haven’t caught up on Atlanta you can watch episodes 1, 4, 7, and 9 without knowing anything going in. Each comment on Black culture and white privilege. You may want to prepare yourself for the dark comic stylings, however. The Big Payback is a memorable episode where we follow an NPR-listening white guy who is sued due to his ancestors owning slaves.
That being said, even the episodes that follow our regular crew in Europe are largely episodic, delve into surrealism and are still my favourites. Like the episode where Paper Boi has a drug trip in Amsterdam and has a real journey, full of Goofy hats and culminating in the unlikeliest of cameos.
Barry - Season 3 (last aired 2019)
You may know of Bill Hader, the comedian from Saturday Night Live. With Barry, he really takes a turn, as a hitman who wants to be an actor. At first, it felt reminiscent of Dexter, as Barry straddles two lives but the show is much more bizarre and full of dark comedy gold.
Barry isn’t afraid to go to those dark places while at the same time contrasting with humour. In a recent episode, indoors an intense confrontation is taking place while outside Barry is on the phone with tech support trying to fix a bomb remote app on his phone. Some episodes you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Better Call Saul - Season 6 (last aired 2020)
The Breaking Bad prequel continues its excellent streak with the final season. It’s cinematic. It’s enthralling. And I love the characters. It’s a show that’s not afraid of going slow, of showing you every intricate detail of a heist.
It has often been two shows in one: Jimmy McGill, the lawyer show and in the other, the criminal underworld of career criminal Mike Ehrmantraut and his boss, the fried chicken businessman/drug kingpin, Gus Fring. I feel the second half of this season may blend these two worlds even further when we see Jimmy’s final transformation into Saul Goodman.
What you can do right now: USA
Robb Elementary
I haven’t read much up on this. Kids not much older than my own. My heart can’t take it. The words school and shooting shouldn’t be seen together. But in America, it’s an all too common occurrence. That doesn’t make it any less painful. It only feels more tragic as nothing is being done to prevent this from happening again. What we can do from our corner of the world is to offer our support to grieving families in need.
Action: Donate to the Texas Elementary School Shooting Victims Fund organised by Victims First.
Parting gifts
Webworm’s Arise coverage
David Farrier has continued his series on the abuses at Arise Church. Much of which has now hit mainstream newsrooms. His original reporting is both biting of the church as an organisation and respectful of the victims who reached out to him. I hope change at Arise happens because of this.
Regicide
Badgers From Mars is a New Zealand game designer and has created a game that ingeniously uses just a standard deck of playing cards. Regicide is a cooperative game where you work together to duke it out against the royal cards. You can play for free using these rules or purchase the gorgeously designed cards directly from their website. There’s a companion app if you need it which also offers a solo mode for an in-app purchase.
Knotwords
I’ve been a fan of Zach Gage’s mobile games for a while now, from the creative puzzle adventure team-up with Adventure Time creator, Pendleton Ward, that is Card of Darkness, to the refined gameplay of a classic with Good Sudoku. He created his latest game, Knotwords, with Jack Schlesinger.
If you’re a fan of Wordle or its many clones, Knotwords does riff on the daily nature of those word games, offering puzzles to complete each day. But really, Knotwords is closer to Gage’s work on Good Sudoku, but taking on the crossword. Instead of relying on hints, a crossword is broken up into sections and tells you the letters you need to use. Your job is to figure out where to place them. You can get dictionary definitions of words if you get stuck, but it will cost you time.
My partner and I have been playing this for weeks now, fiercely competing and occasionally helping each other. It’s a nice diversion to the day.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, hit that archive button and never think about it again.
Michael.