Foundational Template: Tracklist

Foundational tools and techniques are those that are broadly applicable: work, home, life, family, etc. This foundational template is designed to help you build a system for planning, not forgetting, and thinking in longer time horizons.

We all have many things to track. In some cases it's lists of tasks of things that should get done that we don't want to forget, purchases, reading lists, or even experiences. To Do lists are for the day or week time horizon. Your track lists could be months, years, or decades.

If you are are looking for something glamorous, high tech, or complicated you won't find it here. My goal with these is simplicity. It's a list to track items for a longer horizon. It is one thing handle the day to day. You could even justify it by "living in the moment". Growth will happen with planning. Look beyond the day-to-day or just surviving for the weekend.

Track lists are useful in the fight against overwhelm. Make an ongoing list and you won't forget the things you need to do. Only migrate a limited number to your To Do daily. It let's you stay focused.

There are many digital tools. For example, it's easy to have a backlog column in a Kanban system with hundreds of items that get ignored for weeks, months, even years. I have found that seeing and holding lists in hard-copy helps hone the value of what's written and weed out unnecessary things over time. Old-school pen and paper, seeing it, holding it, grasping it, and even crumpling it in triumphant accomplishment when done or determined useless can help.