Every to-do app ever made is counting on you to come back. You're supposed to open the app, look at your list, and do what it says, and for a while you probably will.
But sooner or later a busy week hits and you stop, because the app is one more thing you have to remember. And once you stop opening it, the list goes stale right when you need it most.
Why to-do apps get abandoned
Think about how these apps want you to live. You're supposed to open the app in the morning, check it again at lunch, and tidy the list up at night, and as long as you keep that up, the app works fine.
Then work gets crazy and you don't open it for three days. Now the list is out of date, and an out-of-date list is worse than no list at all, because you can't trust it. So you go back to keeping everything in your head while the app sits there making you feel guilty.
And that's not really on you, because any app that only works when you keep up a daily habit is going to fail most people.
Write it down where you are
Ideas don't wait until you have the app open. They show up in the car, in a meeting, in the middle of a Slack message, or while you're asking ChatGPT about something else.
And if saving a task means stopping what you're doing and opening another app, most tasks never get saved. Ten seconds of hassle is enough to lose the thought1. So you should be able to jot a task down right where you are: tell the AI assistant you're already talking to, say it out loud in the car, or type it into Slack. It counts the same no matter where it came from.
One list, everywhere you look
The answer is one list that follows you around, not another app to check. Add a task from your phone, your car, or Slack, and it lands on the same list every time.
Ask ChatGPT what's due today and you'll hear the same answer Slack would give you, and when you check something off on your phone, it's checked off everywhere. There are no copies to keep straight, because there's only ever one list.
What it takes to really be everywhere
"Everywhere" is easy to promise and hard to deliver. Your car has to be able to check off a task, not just read it to you. You have to be able to use normal words, since nobody fills out a form while driving. And the whole thing has to stay simple enough to work in a quick voice reply, not just on a big screen.
That's why we keep 42 Todo! small. It's tasks, due dates you say like a person ("thursday afternoon"), and a few lists you name yourself. If a feature can't work in the car, it doesn't go in.
Stop going to the list
So here's what changes when your list starts following you around. You quit checking an app, because your tasks show up on their own. A reminder pops up in Slack since that's where you were working, the car reads you what's due on the drive home, and the thing you checked off at lunch is already gone from your phone.
You can stop opening your to-do list, because from now on it comes to you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to keep another app open all day?
- No. 42 Todo! works inside the tools you already use: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Slack, Notion, Alexa, CarPlay, and your phone. There's a website and a mobile app when you want to see everything, but nothing depends on you opening them.
What happens if I add the same task from two places?
- Everything you add goes to the same list, so there's nothing to keep in step. Add a task in ChatGPT and check it off in Slack, and it's one task the whole way through. The only way to get a duplicate is to type the same thing twice, and then you just delete one.
Which apps and devices does 42 Todo! work with?
- AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Work tools like Slack, Notion, and Obsidian. Voice and car through Alexa, CarPlay, and Android Auto. For programmers, there's also an API (a way for other software to connect), webhooks, and a browser extension.
Is this different from syncing my to-do app to other tools?
- Yes, because syncing means making copies, and copies drift apart. 42 Todo! keeps one list, and every app is just a different way of looking at it, so nothing can ever be out of date. There's nothing to copy in the first place.
Footnotes
- Most tasks die before they reach your list why the ten seconds between a thought and writing it down decide whether a to-do list survives. ↩