Get Everything Done

"A to do list always expands faster than it is possible to get the tasks done" -Mark Forster

I believe this. It's my experience as well. Yet even though I'm following a system with weaker dismissal rules than any of Mark's revelations, it doesn't grow endlessly. If I seeded the system with 500 good ideas, it might get out of control. Starting from small, it will grow to an ideal size and hover there indefinitely.

The driving force behind this is the nature of its content, such that a gentle nudge, plus a desire for control, is sufficient to maintain control.

Fact: there is limited time each week to do stuff.
Project stuff. If a task belongs to a project, either it's ready to do now, or something else comes first. Whatever isn't ready can be exiled to the project plans.

Projects. Projects are big items that take a long time to complete. They are also usually optional. So only a few can get done or even progress in the limited present time. The rest you won't want to work because you feel they will just slow the others. A regular nudge is all it takes to shake optional stuff out to an optional list, and soon the project list is capped.

Routine stuff. There may be a hundred things you want to do regularly, but never a thousand, because it's impossible to have that many routine items and keep the routine. So this set is self-limited.

Incidental stuff. Only so many things can happen in a time, so few incidentals can arise. The same time will deal with them.

New ideas. These can be projects (see above) or little things. Little things if done are gone. If not, they are quite optional and not worthy of keeping. They are easily dropped. Others quickly become obsolete once ignored (because only so many options can be enacted.)

So what happens: at a regular pace, new and recurring stuff enters the list. The recurring is of fixed size so that won't grow anything. As we cycle the list, items naturally get picked off at an even pace. Each page loses items as it ages, and converges like a triangle to 0. Then the nudge kicks in, to force everything eventually to 0 so nothing can stay forever unattended, and time limits how much can be attended. In fact, almost nothing is forced out by that nudge, but its presence is a guarantee, and an invitation to take care of things early.

So while I can regularly get around the list, the list has a stopper, and I stay mindful, growth and decline will balance. Two of the three conditions are rules. The last is governed by feelings that arise in working the system.