One question turns the list you’ve been avoiding into a short chain of tasks you actually want to do. It ends with the one you’ve been putting off.
Free. No app. About 10 minutes with a notebook.
Launch my portfolio
3 case studies ready to publish
Tidy the desk → Ask Maya → Draft outline
01 / Why starting feels hard
Planners alone
Big goals in January. Forgotten by March, because they feel too far from today to act on.
Task lists alone
Thirty tasks, all equally loud. Every next step turns into a negotiation with yourself.
Σ Sigmalist
Your goal shapes this week’s list. One question lets you start with something you want, and the chain leads you back to what you were avoiding.
“Once I build momentum, I start acting before my brain has a chance to talk me out of it.”
02 / What changes
Less friction at the start. More satisfaction as you go. A reason to come back tomorrow.
Start with something pleasant, urgent, or related. It isn’t procrastinating: every dot leads back up the chain, and momentum carries you into the task you were resisting.
Before
1. Tax report 2. Fix the bug 3. Clean garage
With Sigmalist
“What do I want to do before this?”
Choose a way in. Then follow through.
Each pass through the list puts every task in front of you again. You stay in touch with your work, so tasks feel familiar and become easier to finish. Small errands get chosen too: return the parcel, book the appointment, tidy the desk. Quick wins instead of a forgotten pile.
Example / Small errands, closed
Seeing progress is one of the strongest motivators there is. Count tasks you finished or worked on (an early research session counts too) and give yourself a score to beat next week.
Tasks finished or worked on
03 / The rules
Set up once. It takes five minutes. Then follow the same three rules every time you sit down to work. That’s the whole method.
Set up once
≈ 5 minutesGoal
One thing you want this quarter
Launch my portfolioThis month
A result that moves it forward
3 case studies readyThis week’s list
Tasks toward that result, plus anything else on your mind
Draft outline · Ask Maya · dentist…③ Tidy desk → ② Ask Maya → ① Draft outline
Put a dot next to the first unfinished task on your list.
Read down the list. When a task jumps out, dot it. Then ask the same question about that task. Stop at the end of the list.
Do the dotted tasks in reverse order. Done? Cross it out. Only made a start? Cross it out and rewrite it at the end of the list. Then begin again from the top.
Keep it going
Each week
Count the tasks you finished or worked on and try to beat last week. Add next week’s tasks to the end of the list.
Each month
Look back at your goal. Write next month’s result, then pick the weekly tasks that get you there.
04 / Use your own tools
Sigmalist is a method, not an app. There is nothing to install or pay for. Any tool that can hold a list will work.
| Planning horizon | Pen & paperAny notebook | Notes appObsidian · Notion · Apple Notes | Task managerTodoist · Things · TickTick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals | Your goals for a quarter, month, or year | One pinned note with your goals | One project per outcome |
| Month | The results you want this month | A monthly results note linked to your goals | Milestones as sections or subprojects |
| Week list | One running list for the week, dots in the margin | One “This week” checklist, mark with • | One “This week” view, a star or flag as the dot |
Add the three rules on top: your journal page, next action list, or work block becomes the list you dot.
05 / Influences
Sigmalist brings goal planning together with a personal adaptation of Mark Forster’s Final Version approach.
Sigmalist is an independent synthesis and is not affiliated with or endorsed by these authors.
Mark Forster · 2015
Borrowed
The dot and choose method for daily work, and the “little and often” principle.
Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington · 2013
Borrowed
A shorter planning horizon, with flexibility to choose your own.
Ryder Carroll · 2013
Borrowed
Monthly and weekly logs, and migrating what’s unfinished.
David Allen · 2001
Borrowed
Connecting daily actions to long term goals.
06 / Before you try it
If you’ve tried a few systems already, you should be skeptical. Here’s what people usually ask first.
Only if you stop there. Each dot is a task you’d rather do before the one above it, so working up the chain always ends at your first task: the one you were putting off.
There’s almost nothing to maintain: one list, one question, a weekly count. Skip a day and nothing breaks. You just dot the first task again.
No. A notebook works. So does Apple Notes, Notion, Obsidian, or the task manager you already use.
After one session. Setup takes about five minutes; then make a single pass and notice whether starting felt easier.
Grab a notebook. Write one goal, this month’s result, and this week’s list. Dot your first tasks and do ten minutes of work. If starting felt easier, keep going. The free guide keeps the rules handy.
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