Should you date every single task?

A few years back I was enthralled by August Bradley’s Pillars Pipelines and Vaults Productivity system.

It was a masterpiece.

Built in the Notion Application, this is one of the most comprehensive systems I have ever come across. And it was incredibly well thought through in the ways in which notes, projects, goals and tasks were all linked to each other.

August Bradley truly is one of the greatest systems thinkers of our day.

I didn’t really adopt the system but I adapted parts of it that I still use today. One line in one video brought me up short though.

Key to the system’s approach to Task Management is that EVERY single task is given a DO date when it is organised into the system.

The video highlighted therefore how, months ahead, he would have tasks in his system that already had a DO date scheduled. There was no task in the system that did not have a do date assigned

So — what do you think? Should you date every single task?

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

My answer is a resounding no.

Any task in your system might have one or both of two key date properties. What I call a ‘Do Date’ and a ‘Deadline’.

The Deadline is the date that a task must be completed by. The Do date is the date…