This is the umbrella for all the sub-systems I use to run the parts of life where a rule-engine is employable. The idea: treat the recurring decisions of daily life less like fresh judgment calls and more like rules that were decided once and can simply run.
The implementation strongly prefers apps — to leverage notifications and the principle of keeping the right things on the first screen, easing the mental tax of decision-making and the low hum of “am I doing the right thing?” When the right cue surfaces at the right moment, you don’t have to remember or deliberate. You just act.
Above all the sub-systems sits the mindset that governs their execution — knowing which mode of mind you are in, and letting that mode do its job.
The driver todo system
Here, you take the driver’s seat. (App: Things.)
Every task and project in this system is an opportunity to pick up — something with a positive, desirable outcome to pursue. Every bit of progress pushes life forward. Nothing here is pre-allocated or time-scheduled; the mentality while executing is one of cheerful urgency: “could I do this in minimal time?”, “could I do the best version of this in thirty minutes?” The faster the outcome is reached, the better.
Routine and scheduled tasks are deliberately excluded. This backlog holds opportunities, not obligations.
The accountability todo system
Non-negotiable, executed with no wasted mental cycles — that is the beauty of it. What was settled in advance no longer needs to be argued with in the moment. (Apps: Calendar + Reminders + Streaks.)
This system holds the obligations and routines I just mindlessly do. Most are time-scheduled or carry a very clear doable context. The “when to do it” rule:
- When it is due — evening for date-scheduled items, on appearance for datetime-scheduled ones.
- In context (location, equipment). I currently keep a single context: groceries — when I am at a grocery store.
The reflection cadence
Reflection is the system’s dynamic of self-stabilizing evolution. The sessions run routinely, on recurring schedules, so the whole engine keeps correcting itself instead of quietly drifting. There are three cycles — daily, weekly, and monthly — each scheduled with its own notes in the Reminders app.
(One of the more systematic ideas I keep returning to in a friend’s garden of thoughts.)