Running My Day, Part 2: A Wednesday in 2027, Already on My List
A year of days, on one screen.
This is part two of a series about how I actually use the Lists tool in BartBot. In each post I ask and answer one question.
The question: How does something I need in November reach me in November?
My answer is that my Dailys list reminds me, but not with a notification. I write the thing nested under the day I want to meet it, and when I reach that day, it's there. Dailys is a stack of days, one line per day, and only the days with something written on them exist. Today sits at the top. Every other day is nested under a line called Future, in order, out as far as I've written. The list never pushes anything at me. I go and read the day and start on what's there. In between, I don't have to hold it in my head. Writing it down in Dailys is what allows me to let it go and trust that I'll meet it on the day I chose.
Two lines
Here is my Dailys list with everything collapsed, as it stood on Tuesday, September 8.
Two lines. Today, and everything else.
Today, "8 Sept Tues", is pulled out of Future so it's the first line I see. In Part 1's video I said the 13th was "no longer nested under future". This is the same action applied to September 8. The day I'm living is the top line, and every other day is put away under the line below it, so nothing that isn't today is on screen until I go looking for it.
Future
Future, top to bottom. Tomorrow to September 2027 on one screen, then the last day opened.
Open Future and it's a list of days. Tomorrow through September 14, then the 25th, the 28th, and the 30th. Then October 3, November 7, November 29, and December 31. Then March 6, August 1, and September 8 of 2027. Sixteen days over the coming year. The first week is complete because I've planned it. After that, a day exists only if something has been written on it. There's no September 20 because at this point there's nothing I need to meet on September 20. When there is, I'll create the day and write the item under it.
Future, expanded one level. Sixteen days between tomorrow and next September.
The core ideas behind my Dailys list started on paper. About twenty-five years ago I ran my days from a Franklin Planner, which had a page for every day whether I needed it or not. When I wanted to meet something in November, I wrote it on the page for the day in November, and when that day arrived, I turned to that page in my planner. My Dailys list works the same way, except a day holds as much as I need, and I'm not carrying around pages that are still empty.
Not a due date
Under November 7 there's a line about Thanksgiving sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. Thanksgiving is the 26th. The line sits on the 7th so I see it with time to plan and shop. You can open that day and see it for yourself: a line under a date, nearly three weeks before the meal.
When I put an item under a day, I'm choosing the day I want to see it, not recording the day it's due. A due date would weigh on me from the day I wrote it until the deadline. The day I've chosen is out of sight and off my mind until it arrives.
A Wednesday in 2027
The last day nested under Future is Wednesday, September 8, 2027, one year past the day at the top of this list. Four lines are on it: check the passport, renew the domains and subscriptions, re-read some notes, and this series, one year on.
A Wednesday in 2027, already on the list.
I can't know everything that Wednesday will hold a year from now. I do know that when I reach it, those four lines will be there, and that I don't have to think about them once between now and then.
What that buys me
I don't have to struggle to hold things in my head that I won't need until later. The Thanksgiving sweet potatoes, the passport check a year from now: they're written under the days I'll meet them, I know they're there, and I can let them go. Almost everything I need to remember works this way, so what's left in my head is the small part that matters right now.
My question for you
Think of something you'll need two months from now. Where is it right now, and how will it reach you when the time comes? And what does holding it cost you in the meantime: does it sit quietly, or do you find yourself running through it at night to keep it alive? Drop your answer in a comment. I'd love to learn what you trust to hold the things you can't afford to forget, and what it costs you.
The complete list is public, frozen at the state this post describes. It's a simplified copy of my real Dailys list with private details removed. Part 1's list had a third line, Notes, for reference material with no date on it. It has since moved to a list of its own, a change I only saw the need for while writing this post.
Next: When I reach a day, how do I make sure I can act on what's written without having to hunt for additional details?