Todo apps vs paper — why does every system I try collapse in two weeks?

The pattern you're describing isn't an app problem — it's two structural mistakes nearly everyone makes: 1. You're building libraries, not lists. Elaborate setups (Notion dashboards, color taxonomies, five priority levels) front-load motivation into CONFIGURING and make daily upkeep expensive. Every field you add is a tax on every future entry; two weeks in, the tax exceeds the value, and collapse follows. The predictive factor for a system surviving isn't features — it's maintenance cost per day. Winning systems are embarrassingly dumb. 2. You're treating the tool as the habit. The actual habit is the DAILY REVIEW — five minutes each morning/evening where you look at the list and pick today's few. Any tool you review daily works; no tool you don't review survives. When people 'fall off Todoist', what they actually dropped is the review, weeks earlier. The rebuild that tends to stick: - One capture inbox (any app, or one notebook) where everything lands instantly, zero organizing at capture time. - One daily page: today's 1–3 real tasks, rewritten each morning FROM the inbox. Rewriting is a feature — it forces re-prioritizing and lets dead tasks die. - Weekly 15-minute sweep of the inbox. Paper vs app genuinely doesn't matter (paper adds friction that aids memory; apps add reminders and search — pick your poison). Choose the one you'll have in hand at 9am, and judge no system in less than six weeks.