I have a history with productivity apps. A long, expensive history. Over the past five years, I have used Todoist, Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, ClickUp, Asana (briefly), Things 3, and at least four other apps whose names I have already forgotten. Each one promised to be the system that finally organized my work life. Each one was abandoned within a few months.
Then, almost as an experiment, I started using plain text files. Simple .txt files, stored in a folder on my computer, edited in the most basic text editor available. No databases, no tags, no Kanban boards, no integrations. Just words in files.
That was fourteen months ago. I have not switched back. And I do not plan to.
How I Ended Up in App Purgatory
Each app I tried solved a real problem. Todoist was excellent for task lists. Notion was powerful for databases and wikis. Obsidian was great for linked notes. The issue was never capability — it was overhead.
Every feature-rich app comes with a setup cost, a learning curve, and an ongoing maintenance burden. You spend time configuring views, managing integrations, updating databases, troubleshooting sync issues, and — most insidiously — reorganizing your organizational system instead of doing actual work.
I once spent an entire evening designing a Notion dashboard with filtered views, linked databases, and custom properties. It looked beautiful. I used it for two weeks and then stopped because maintaining it was a chore.
| App Feature | Promise | Reality |
| Tags and categories | Organize everything by topic | You spend more time tagging than retrieving |
| Linked databases | Connect information across projects | Complex to maintain, rarely referenced |
| Custom views (Kanban, calendar, list) | See your data any way you want | You pick one view and never change it |
| Integrations (calendar, email, Slack) | Everything in one place | Added complexity, sync issues, notification noise |
| Templates | Standardize your workflows | Most templates are overkill for simple tasks |
What My Plain Text System Looks Like
My entire productivity system now lives in one folder on my computer called “_notes” (the underscore keeps it at the top of the directory). Inside, there are four files:
- inbox.txt — Random thoughts, quick captures, brain dumps. I process this every morning and delete or move items.
- tasks.txt — My active task list. Simple dashes for incomplete items, “x” for completed ones. Completed items get deleted at the end of the week, not archived.
- projects.txt — A list of active projects, each with one to three next actions listed below it. Updated during my weekly review.
- log.txt — A running work log. One line per day documenting what I actually did (not what I planned to do). Useful for self-evaluation and weekly reviews.
Four files. Total storage: about 12 kilobytes. Opens in under a second. No sync issues. No subscription fees. No server downtime.
Why This Works Better (For Me)
Zero Friction
Opening a text file takes less than a second. There is no loading screen, no sync delay, no update notification asking me to restart. I press a keyboard shortcut, the file opens, I type, I close it. The friction between “I need to capture something” and “I have captured it” is effectively zero.
No Feature Creep Temptation
When you use a plain text file, you cannot procrastinate by reorganizing your system, because there is no system to reorganize. There are no views to customize, no dashboards to design, no databases to restructure. The only thing you can do is write. That constraint is liberating.
Complete Portability
A .txt file works on every operating system, every device, every text editor. If my computer dies tomorrow, I can open the same files on any machine without installing anything. No import/export processes, no compatibility issues, no proprietary formats.
Impossible to Outgrow
I have seen people spend weeks migrating from one app to another when their needs change. Plain text files never need migration. They grow with you naturally. If I need a new list, I create a new file. If I need to restructure, I cut and paste. The format never becomes obsolete.
Handling the Objections
“But I need collaboration features.”
Fair. If you work in a team that requires shared, real-time editing, a team tool (Notion, Google Docs, Asana) makes sense for collaborative work. But your personal task list and notes do not need to be collaborative. Use a team tool for team work and plain text for your own brain.
“But I need search across hundreds of notes.”
Your operating system already has this. On Windows, the file search function indexes text files. On Mac, Spotlight does the same. If you use VS Code or any decent text editor as your file viewer, it has built-in search across all files in a folder. You do not need a dedicated app for search.
“But I need reminders and due dates.”
I use my calendar for time-bound items. If a task has a hard deadline, it goes on Google Calendar as an event. My text file task list is for priorities, not deadlines. Separating the two makes both more useful.
When Plain Text Is Not Enough
I am not claiming that .txt files are the right tool for everyone or every situation. If your work involves complex project management with dependencies, timelines, and resource allocation, you need a proper project management tool. If you manage visual content or design work, you need tools built for that.
But for personal productivity — managing your tasks, capturing notes, tracking projects, logging your work — plain text files handle about 90% of what most people use elaborate apps for, at a fraction of the complexity.
The best tool is the one you actually use consistently. If a powerful app sits unused because the maintenance burden is too high, it is worse than a text file you open every day. Capability means nothing without consistency.
Open a text editor. Make a list of what you need to do today. That is your productivity system. Everything else is optional.
