TL;DR: Make anything that comes round on a schedule into a repeating task, so it reappears when it's due and you can stop remembering it. Match the repeat to the real rhythm (weekdays for weekly jobs, dates for monthly ones). Keep daily repeats to a minimum, review your repeats every few months, and put a weekly review on repeat first.
A surprising amount of mental effort goes on things that happen again and again. Bins go out on Tuesday. Rent leaves on the 1st. The car needs servicing every March. The plants need watering on Sunday. None of them are hard, but each one is a small thing to remember, and together they add up to a low hum of "don't forget".
Recurring tasks take that hum away. Set each one up once, and your list brings it back when it's due.
What belongs on repeat
The test is simple: does it come round on a schedule, and would I otherwise have to remember it?
Good candidates:
| Rhythm | Examples |
|---|---|
| Weekly, on a set day | Bins on Tuesday, weekly review on Friday, meal plan on Sunday |
| Several days a week | Gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday |
| Monthly, on a date | Pay rent on the 1st, check bank statements on the 15th |
| Quarterly-ish | Back up your laptop, check smoke alarms |
| Yearly | Car insurance renewal, boiler service, a friend's birthday present |
Poor candidates:
- Things you already do without thinking. Brushing your teeth doesn't need a reminder.
- Vague intentions. "Exercise more" isn't a task. "Run 5k" on Tuesday and Saturday is.
- Things with no real schedule. If it's "whenever I get round to it", it belongs on your normal list.
Matching the rhythm
Most apps offer a few repeat patterns. Use the one that matches how the job actually works.
Daily is for genuinely daily things. Use it sparingly, or your list fills with the same items every morning and you start ignoring them.
Weekly, on chosen days suits anything tied to the weekday: bins, classes, a weekly call.
Monthly, on chosen dates suits anything tied to the calendar: bills, rent, invoices. You can pick more than one date, such as the 1st and the 15th.
Yearly suits renewals, services and birthdays. These are the ones people forget most, because a year is long enough to lose track completely.
In Tatask all four are available on any task, at any depth in your project tree. When you complete a repeating task, it comes back as open on its next date, and the Due view lists everything that's overdue, due today or coming up.
Five rules for routines that last
1. Start with the weekly review
If you set up only one repeating task, make it a weekly review: twenty minutes, same time each week, to look at everything. It's the routine that keeps every other routine honest. See how to do a weekly review.
2. Put the steps inside
A repeating task can have subtasks. "Weekly review" can contain "clear inboxes", "walk projects" and "plan Monday". "Monthly money check" can contain "check statements", "move savings" and "pay credit card". The checklist comes back with the task every time.
3. Set it for when you'll actually do it
A repeat that lands on a day you can't act on it is noise. If you do the food shop on Saturdays, the meal plan belongs on Friday, not Monday.
4. Keep daily repeats few
Five daily repeats means five items every single day before you've added anything new. That's where lists start to feel like nagging. Keep daily repeats for the one or two things you truly forget, and track other habits somewhere else if you need to.
5. Review your repeats every few months
Life changes. The gym class moves, the subscription gets cancelled, the plant dies. Every three months or so, look through your repeating tasks and delete or adjust the ones that no longer fit. A stale repeat trains you to ignore the list.
A starter set to copy
Here's a set that suits a lot of people. Take the ones that apply, change the days, and ignore the rest.
Weekly
- Friday: weekly review
- Sunday: plan meals and write the shopping list
- Sunday: water the houseplants
- Bin day: put the bins out
Monthly
- 1st: check rent or mortgage went out
- 1st: pay credit card in full
- 15th: back up phone photos
Every three months (set four yearly repeats, or a monthly one you skip)
- Back up laptop
- Test smoke alarms
Yearly
- Car insurance renewal (two weeks before the date)
- Car service and MOT
- Boiler service
- Birthdays you'd hate to miss (a week before, so there's time to buy something)
Notice the yearly ones are set before the deadline. A reminder on the day you need to renew is a reminder that you're late.
Repeating tasks inside projects
Repeats don't have to sit at the top level. Put them inside the project they belong to. "Water the lavender" can live inside "Garden" and repeat weekly through the summer. "Send monthly report" can live inside the client project it's for. You'll see it in the Due list when it's due, and in its project when you're working there.
Routines and the daily list
A repeating task tells you when something is due. It doesn't mean you'll do it that day. When planning tomorrow, look at what's due and decide: do it, or move it. Due dates and daily choices are different jobs, and keeping them separate stops your daily list turning into a pile of overdue chores. More on that in how to plan your day.
Recurring tasks vs habit trackers
Habit-tracking apps and recurring tasks overlap, but they do different jobs. A habit tracker counts streaks: how many days in a row you meditated or read. A recurring task makes sure something gets done when it's due, without reminding you of every day you missed.
For things you want to do every day as a habit, a tracker or a simple calendar tick may suit you better. Your to-do list stays focused on things that need doing, and doesn't fill up with the same seven daily items.
For things that need doing on a schedule, whether or not you feel like it (bills, bins, renewals, reviews), recurring tasks are the right tool. They come back when due, sit in your Due list until done, and then go away until next time. Nobody needs a streak counter for putting the bins out.
A useful split: habits about who you want to become go in a tracker or a journal; chores and commitments with a schedule go on the list.
Getting started
Tonight, set up three repeats:
- A weekly review on Friday.
- The household job you most often forget.
- The yearly renewal that would hurt most if you missed it.
Next week, add another three if those are working. Within a month most of the regular stuff will be off your mind and on your list, where it belongs.
Frequently asked questions
What should be a recurring task?
Anything that comes round on a regular schedule and you'd otherwise have to remember, from watering plants to renewing insurance.
Should habits like exercise be recurring tasks?
They can be, but keep them few. A to-do list full of daily habits gets noisy. Use repeats for things you'd forget, not things you already do every day.
What happens if I miss a recurring task?
It stays overdue until you complete it, then comes back on its next date. If you regularly miss one, the schedule is probably wrong. Change it.
Daily, weekly, monthly or yearly: which should I use?
Match the real rhythm of the job. Bins are weekly on a set day, rent is monthly on a date, and the car service is yearly.