NowDoThis blog

Now there are tabs. Make them with the @ symbol. If I have a...

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:05:00 -0400

Now there are tabs.

Make them with the @ symbol.

If I have a meeting with Francis later in the day, I will make a tab called @francis and add stuff we need to talk about as my day goes on. Once he arrives, I switch to his tab and the meeting agenda is ready to go.

"There are some things I have to review which feel almost too good to let anyone else know about...."

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:55:31 -0400

“There are some things I have to review which feel almost too good to let anyone else know about. NowDoThis is, sadly, one of them, but I think I’m inclined to share it with others given the productivity increase it has brought in me.”

- Rev2.org

PopSiren demos NowDoThis. I feel like I’m watching TV!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:39:05 -0400

PopSiren demos NowDoThis.

I feel like I’m watching TV!

NowDoThis in more languages!

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:17:46 -0400

Thanks to our great translators, NowDoThis is available in the following languages.

Chinese
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Lithuanian
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Spanish
Swedish

If you have a friend who speaks one of these languages, we’d love to know what they think.

More languages coming soon.

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:41:28 -0400

More languages coming soon.

NowDoThis was favorably reviewed by Lifehacker. They say,...

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:26:00 -0400

NowDoThis was favorably reviewed by Lifehacker.

They say, “it’s one of the most basic (yet useful) to-do lists I’ve ever seen.”

Put NowDoThis in your Firefox sidebar. Bookmark...

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:26:00 -0400

Put NowDoThis in your Firefox sidebar.

Bookmark NowDoThis.
Choose “Organize Bookmarks” from the “Bookmarks” menu.
Select the NowDoThis bookmark.
Click “More”.
Select “Load this bookmark in sidebar.”

“it’s a constant reminder of what i need to be doing instead of messing about on the internet!” -gankit

NowDoThis is international! Currently, we are in English and...

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:46:00 -0400

NowDoThis is international!

Currently, we are in English and German. The website will automatically appear in your language.

We are looking for translations into other languages: Dutch, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Can you please help us?

If so, please email NowDoThis@gmail.com.

For example:

German:
list: [“ein nickerchen machen”,”stift kaufen”,”zimmer aufräumen”],
done: “fertig.”,
alldone: “alles erledigt!”,
editlist: “liste editieren”,
save: “speichern”,
cancel: “abbrechen”,
about: “über uns”,
aboutText: ‘wie planst du deinen tag? ein kalender zwingt dich das unberechenbare mit einzukalkulieren. eine to-do-liste kann dich mit datenüberwältigen. ich wollte, dass mir ein ‘boss’ sagt, was ich tun soll. viel spaß mit unserem kostenlosen tool. und wir haben einen blog. und nowdothis@gmail.com. gemacht von Jakob Lodwick und William Cotton. Deutsche Übersetzung von Mareen Fischinger.’,
ok: “ok danke”,
or: “oder”

English:
list: [“take a nap”,”buy pen”,”organize room”],
done: “done.”,
alldone: “all done!”,
editlist: “edit list”,
save: “save”,
cancel: “cancel”,
about: “about”,
aboutText: ‘how do you organize your day? a calendar requires you to predict the unpredictable. a todo list can overwhelm you with data. I wanted a ‘boss’ to tell me what to do. enjoy this free tool. and we have a blog. and nowdothis@gmail.com. built by Jakob Lodwick and William Cotton.’,
ok: “ok thanks”,
or: “or”

synchronicity

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:34:00 -0400

Two similar sites launched around the same time as NowDoThis:

Next, “a very simple, intuitive and limited web app for handling short-term to-do list.” (backstory)
WhatShallIDoNow, which “shows you your to-do list one item at a time, so you don’t get overwhelmed by the mountain of work ahead of you.” (backstory)

I believe neither of the other sites knew about NDT when they created theirs. The makers of Next said,

The strangest thing happened today, while we were finalizing “Next” and preparing to launch it, we found out that a new web app for tasks has been released just yesterday.

I have seen this happen in the past on the web, and heard stories of it happening with scientists and entrepreneurs throughout history. Sometimes the universe is ready for something new. As I said in my introductory post, the idea just popped into my head, fully-formed. If I can take credit for anything, it’s this: after it hit me, I didn’t work on anything else until it was finished.

little changes

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:14:00 -0400

your list will be saved between domains
- previously, nowdothis.com and www.nowdothis.com would give you different lists
- this was a bug with cookies
page title has been switched from “now do this:” to “NowDoThis”
- the name of the site is officially NowDoThis (now “nowdothis” or “nowdothis.com” or “NowDoThis.com”)

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your..."

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:05:00 -0400

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

- Mark Twain (via -kristen)

Unique visitors. Tracking code was lost for 1.6 days; an upward...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:53:00 -0400

Unique visitors. Tracking code was lost for 1.6 days; an upward trend continues.

Top ten cities: London, New York, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Brooklyn,...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:52:19 -0400

Top ten cities: London, New York, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Toronto, Chicago, Tokyo, Seattle.

Now Do This, and The Single-Tasking Philosophy

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:17:02 -0400

Now Do This, and The Single-Tasking Philosophy:

‘The whole goal of Now Do This is to get to the end of the list, when you get the very satisfying “all done!” message.’

(thoughtful blog review)

we're faster now

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:33:00 -0400

Thanks to William Cotton, the site now operates solely in Javascript. So when you update your list, it’s instantaneous, instead of loading the page again via a form-submission.

What will you do with your extra time??

feedback email fixed

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:57:05 -0400

I set up nowhearthis@nowdothis.com but didn’t test it - and it wasn’t working.

To contact us, email nowdothis@gmail.com.

Here are traffic stats via Google Analytics from...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:29:00 -0400

Here are traffic stats via Google Analytics from nowdothis.com’s first two days.

373 visits in the last few hours of July 22nd, 6,016 visits on July 23rd.

I expect today to be less…

nowdothis was featured on 100shiki.com: “dot-com of the...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:26:48 -0400

nowdothis was featured on 100shiki.com: “dot-com of the day”!

I had no idea it worked in Japanese…

working names I didn't use

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:23:22 -0400

tasck
taskbask
taskblast
laserboss

I kinda wish I’d used ‘laserboss’.

This morning, I was eating breakfast at Egg and planning out my...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:18:04 -0400

This morning, I was eating breakfast at Egg and planning out my day. I made a list of what I had to do. Neither to-do lists nor calendars work for me, so usually my day is a disorganized mess, and I don’t get important stuff done.

The idea instantly popped in my head: one task at a time. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner, because this problem has been bugging me for months, if not years!

The text at the bottom says, “Like the famous man who held a piece of paper in his hand all day!” … a friend told me about someone who kept a simple list in his left hand at all times. He would not put it down until he finished everything — a great way to get your shit done, because nobody wants to hold a piece of paper all day. Who was that man? I might have named it after him, if I’d remembered in time!