>I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you'll leave the right things undone.
This has hit HN before. I've tried it but it didn't work for me for the same reason that most task lists don't work for me, I've got no compelling reason to revisit the list of tasks on a regular basis. Surely this is just a matter of habit, but if you don't develop these habits with one medium you are unlikely to develop them with another.
It reminds me of Getting Things Done: Collecting things, processing how they need to be handled, organizing them, and then either doing them or removing them. And the whole time, you're tracking what's been done and what's been left behind.
I have adapted this to my own use. I don't use it to organize my life, I just use it as a grammar for my employer's paper lab book that I keep. It helps me see at a glance the kinds of things that I've done recently, and it helps me organize on the fly when I'm keeping track of something that's going wrong or is otherwise notable and stressful.
I keep README.txt files in the project folders with a line that reads --CHANGELOG-- above the stuff that was, above which in turn sits the stuff that yet wasn't. I use punctuation as labels (+/- #/= %/$), and more rulers like --INBOX-- if I have a lot of ideas.
I use many of those lists, a couple of which I revise daily or several times a day, those are my main INBOX.txt and FOCUS.txt
>I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you'll leave the right things undone.