Canvas Tasks

Blog

Notes on energy-based task management, incubating tasks, and building a task system that survives an off day.

Three index cards lie in a row on a desk beneath a wall calendar whose first cells are shaded and whose last four are blank: the first card is ruled into three empty boxes across its width, while the other two carry a single empty box at the far end — nothing is ticked on any of them, and only one of them is behind.

Being Behind Is a Judgment, Not a Measurement

Published

A tracker can measure how much of a period has gone and how many items are ticked. Calling the distance between them behind is a judgment, and it only holds for goals that accumulate along the way.

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A single index card lies face-down on a desk, the work on it hidden, while the paper calendar propped behind it still shows Friday ringed in teal — the card was turned over, the ring wasn't touched.

Putting a Task Aside Shouldn't Move Its Deadline

Published

Snoozing a task and changing its deadline are two different decisions. Here's how to tell which one your app just made for you, and how to separate them.

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Four shallow wooden frames — different woods, different widths — stand in a row on a desk, each holding a cream sheet ruled with the same four short lines, and a hand lowers the last sheet, its lines in teal, toward the empty frame — the frame is new, the arrangement isn't.

Before You Switch Task Managers, Name What Broke

Published

Most complaints about a task manager are really about assumptions every task manager makes. Here's how to tell which problems a different app can fix.

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A notebook page ruled with five marks down the left edge, leaving four empty spaces between them, while a hand holds one teal card upright against the page — taller than the space it would have to fit, with the rest still stacked and unplaced.

Put the Fixed Points First — Work Gets the Gaps

Published

Most plans put work first and leave life the scraps — so life breaks first. Fixed points reverse the order: place what can't move, then fit work into the gaps.

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Three blank papers of clearly different sizes lie in a row on a wooden desk — a large folder, a mid-sized card, a small note — and a hand sets a single teal card into the middle position — the size that can actually be finished is the one in between.

"Ship the App" Is Not a Task — Getting Task Granularity Right

Published

"Ship the app" isn't a task — it's a bundle. How to tell a bundle from a unit of work from a step, and why the right cut depends on the kind of work.

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A desk at the end of the evening, lit by a warm lamp: a hand calmly tucks a single teal card between the pages of a nearly closed notebook while a few finished cards lie face-down nearby — the open question gets a place to wait, so the evening is allowed to close.

What Keeps You Awake Isn't Working Late — It's What You Left Open

Published

"Don't work before bed" is unusable when the evening is your only work time. What costs you sleep is the kind of work you left open — not that you worked at all.

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A desk on two consecutive mornings: on the left a page crowded with carried-over items and red marks, on the right a clean blank page with a single card set on it, a hand calmly beginning — the day that was missed stays behind, and this morning starts empty.

Missing One Day Shouldn't Reset You to Zero

Published · Updated

You don't quit on the day you miss — you quit the next morning, when the system hands you a bill. How to build a day you can return to without paying interest.

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A wall rack holding many blank cards in neat rows, a desk tray in front of it with just three cards drawn from it, and a hand calmly standing one teal card on its own stand — the inventory stays whole; what gets narrowed is the choosing.

When You Can't Start, Shrink the List to One

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Too many tasks isn't what stops you — being asked to choose one every time you open the list is. How to separate choosing from doing, and start with one.

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A wall board of blank paper tiles for the week, tidy on the left and drifting out of alignment toward the right, while a hand calmly sets a single teal tile into an open slot on the one-day tray below — the week drifts, the day gets decided.

Why Time Blocking Falls Apart (and What to Do Instead)

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Time blocking asks you to predict what state you'll be in on Thursday at 2pm. Here's why the grid breaks by Tuesday, and how to plan order in advance but times on the day.

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A wall calendar where most days carry a small checkmark, one day is simply blank, and a hand calmly adds today's check — the blank day costs one day, not the record.

Habit Trackers Fail Because Misses Pile Up

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Streaks turn one missed day into a broken record, and the what-the-hell effect does the rest. Here's how to track habits so a miss costs exactly one day.

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A person at a desk picking one card from three stacks with different energy levels — choosing the task that fits their current energy.

Why You Can't Start Your To-Do List — and How Energy-Based Task Management Fixes It

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Why you can't start your to-do list — and how energy-based task management fixes it by matching tasks to the energy you actually have right now, labeled by energy and nature.

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A few task-cards resting upright on a wooden shelf, a hand gently setting one more card down — a restful place to park tasks.

Tasks You're Not Ready For Don't Have to Rot on Your List — Try Incubating

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Tasks you're not ready for don't have to rot on your active list or get deleted. Incubating is a third state — parked with zero upkeep until you're ready to pick them back up.

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