Start and Due Dates

Tasks can have 2 different kinds of dates associated with them, which mean different things.

Start dates

Start dates help with the situation when you have a task you need to do, but can’t do it now for some reason. Start dates fill a similar role to scheduling a task on a specific date in other task managers, but without the pressure to do that task on precisely that day.

Tasks with a start date in the future don’t show up in your main list, since you can’t do them yet. These tasks do show up in your All Tasks list, so you can get an overview of what’s coming up soon.

I might use a start date for a task to put my expenses for this month in a spreadsheet. There’s no other task blocking me from doing this, but I can’t do it until the end of the month, when I have all of the required data.

Another example might be giving my cat her flea treatment. I have a window of a few days in which to do this every 3 month, so I set a start date and a due date to remind me at the relevant time but not before the treatment is due.

Due dates

Due dates should represent when there will be actual consequences if you haven’t done the task by that date. For example, the deadline for filing this year’s taxes is a thing I really can’t miss.

Overdue tasks appear in bright red in your main list, try to avoid these at all costs!