A Project/Task Stack

Page started: 2026-09-08
Draft!
 This page is a draft and may be incomplete, incorrect, or just a stub or outline. I've decided to allow myself to put draft pages on my website as an experiment. I'm hoping they will:
  • Help me address my backlog of article ideas.
  • Serve as a "living" TODO list of things to work on.
  • Be useful to myself or others in their incomplete forms.
As always, I'm happy to accept feedback on anything I publish including draft content.

TODO: the display works best for long-term projects, a simple stack on the desk works best for immediate tasks with dependencies

"Project stack": For long-term, intentional living.

"Task stack": Handles dependency and urgency in daily life.

To explain what kind of to-do items belong in a stack, it’s probably easiest to list the kinds of things that don’t work well in one:

The whole point of the stack is to drive home the point that by definition, we can only give one thing at a time our full attention. Unlike a list on paper, the stack forces you to pick an absolute order for your items. Which feels constraining at first. Until you realize that it’s just forcing you to reckon with the fact that you’re going to have to do the things in some sort of order.

By contrast, a regular TODO list is a disaster for me for two reasons:

As an added bonus, a stack perfectly handles task dependencies. I very often encounter tasks which cannot be completed until some other task is done. And sometimes the dependency layer can be 3-4 (or more!) items deep. Tracking dependencies can be a huge source of stress for me.

By slapping dependency tasks on the top of the stack and then pulling them off as they’re complete, you’re always looking at just the current item to work on, with the complete peace of mind that the whole dependency tree will be resolved when you hit the bottom of the stack.

Seeing just one thing at a time reduces my decision fatigue and keeps me focused. It really works!

OMG…​ my original writing here …​ so i guess see which is better?

A low-stress system that works for me to keep track of big projects, little tasks, and everything in between.

(drawing of post-it stack goes here?)

I’ve written about this previously:

TODO: link back to here from the above when done with this page

But I’ve been so happy with this system, I’d like to give an update and also have a single page I can point to when anyone asks about it.

What it is

The system is simple. I have a stack of small (5x5cm) sticky notes on my desk. Each note contains a task or project.

The note on the top is the only one I need to work on.

The note below it is the thing I’ll work on next.

The note at the bottom is the last task I need to do.

When I get a new task or have an idea, I write it on a new sticky note.

If the task needs to be done now or is otherwise blocking the current task, it goes right on the top. Now it’s the only thing I need to think about.

If the task can be done later,

The stack helps me calm my busy brain and concentrate

TO-DO lists stress me out. I can see everything I need to do all at once and I get overwhelmed.

The beauty of the stack is that I see just one thing at a time, and it’s always the one thing I need to concentrate on.

If something else comes in that takes priority, it goes on top. Now that is the one thing.

I didn’t mention this in my original write-up, but I made my first stack on a really overwhelming day at work. Urgent tasks with "blocker" sub-tasks just kept coming in and I was losing my mind trying to keep track of where I was. A list was not cutting it.

I finally just gave up with the list and started writing the items on sticky notes and slapping them in a pile.

That pile literally changed my life.

After I completed the top "blocker" item and removed it, I realized I had just revealed the thing it was blocking below it.

I started "popping" tasks from the stack and when I got to the bottom, I was done and there was a small pile of little crumpled yellow squares of paper in my trash can. It was an incredible feeling.

This system relieves my stress for two reasons. One of them is true of any task-tracking system and the other is unique to the stack.

  1. Any good system (stack, to-do list, calendar) relies on trust. If you trust your system, you can clear your head of all the things you’re trying to remember to do. Trust is built up over time.

  2. The stack is unique in that it shows me just one item at a time. I trust that this is the only thing I need to work on. I can concentrate on just this one thing and not think about the others.

My stack

(picture of cardboard stack display - probably the one from finishing things)

The "main" stack, the one that lives in my cardboard display thingy, is for personal projects and they don’t have any deadline, so it’s strictly about which order I want (or have) to do them.

What’s amazing about this is that any time I have a free moment to work on a project, I don’t look over a list of things to work on. I have just one thing I’m working on. I can’t even see the list. So I do that one thing.

Do One Thing at a Time! (TODO: link back here when done with this page)

If I keep using this system for the rest of my life, I’ll probably never do the "last" task.