Why do productivity systems stop working after a few weeks?
The task that is secretly a project
"Redesign the website" is not a task. That is why it sits untouched for months — you cannot start it, only think about it. Anything requiring more than one action is a project, and what belongs on your list is its next action.
If an item survives three reviews untouched, it is either not a real task or not really a priority. Both mean the same thing: rewrite it or delete it.
Why prioritising usually fails
Because the categories do not force a decision. A list where most items are marked high priority is a list with no priorities — the label has stopped carrying information.
Constrained methods work better: pick the three things that must happen today and treat everything else as optional. Scarcity is what makes a priority mean anything.
The cost of switching
Attention does not move instantly. Switching leaves residue — part of your focus stays with the previous task — and the effect is measurable in both speed and error rate.
Grouping similar work into blocks avoids paying that cost repeatedly. It is also why checking messages between every task makes a day feel busy and productive at the same time, when only one of those is true.
Our iOS app for exactly this. Runs on your device — no account, no tracking.