What the To-Do in Awaken Journal is for, and why it gives your week a percentage

The short answer: To-Do in Awaken Journal plans a week, not an endless list. What you commit to goes into three kinds that carry weight: Frog Tasks, Weekly Goals and Urgent Tasks. Everything else waits in a Brain Dump. The percentage is one number for how much of what you committed to actually got done. It isn't a count of ticks, and it starts again every week. This post explains the idea. The next posts go through each piece.

Chapter 3 toured the day page. Chapter 4 opens the two modules you'll use most, To-Do and Journal, starting with To-Do.

1 · A week, not a list

Most to-do apps are one long list. Everything on it looks the same: "buy milk" sits next to "send the job application", and both get the same checkbox. The list never ends, so it never feels done.

To-Do here is built around a week. At the start of the week you decide what this week is for. During the week you do it, one day at a time. At the end you look back, and the next week starts clean.

2 · Three kinds that count, and one place for everything else

When you add a task to your week, you choose its kind. These are the app's own words for each:

• Frog Tasks: "Highest-impact work of the week." The few things that would make this week a good one.
• Weekly Goals: "Steady progress toward long-term objectives." They matter, but they aren't your biggest priority.
• Urgent Tasks: "Unexpected responsibilities that need immediate attention." Things that turned up this week and can't wait.

And for everything else there's the Brain Dump: "Capture ideas immediately. No organizing, prioritizing, or deciding." An idea can sit there until you decide it belongs in a week.

3 · Catch it, plan it, commit to it

Open the sidebar (☰) and tap To-Do. Under your score, the To-Do page has five cards: Committed | This Week, Uncommitted | Coming Weeks, Brain Dump, Roles & Areas and The Awaken Method.

The Awaken Method is To-Do's own short guide. Its one belief: "Productivity isn't about doing more. It's about committing to what matters." It names three stages:

1. Brain Dump, unplanned: catch the idea the moment it comes.
2. Uncommitted, planned: worth doing, but not this week. These wait under Uncommitted | Coming Weeks.
3. Committed, this week: a promise to yourself. Your Frogs, Goals and Urgent tasks.

One of its principles is "Plan in weeks, execute in days." You plan once, on the Committed page, and then you do, every day. To add a task there, tap its + and fill in Add Task: a name, when it's for (This Week, Next Week or Coming Weeks), its Category (Frog Task, Weekly Goal or Urgent) and, if you like, a day. When the plan is set, tap START MY WEEK → ("Plan set? Lock it in to start doing."). From then on, the To-Do card on each day page shows what's scheduled for that day. The Awaken Method suggests planning on Friday, so Monday starts with doing, not deciding.

4 · Why there's a percentage at all

Tick ten small things and a plain list feels like a great day. But if the one thing that mattered is still undone, it wasn't.

So To-Do gives every committed task a weight, and you can see it: the small percentage on the right of each task is the share of the week it's worth.

• A Frog is worth the most.
• A Weekly Goal is worth less.
• An Urgent task is worth less again.
• Ideas in the Brain Dump are worth nothing yet, because you haven't committed to them.
• Planning counts too: tapping Start My Week adds a small share of its own.

Add up the shares of what you've finished and you get the week's percentage, the Productivity Score. It answers the question the app itself asks: "Did I accomplish what I committed to?"

• It's not a count of ticks.
• It's not a score for being busy.
• It starts again every week, so last week can't quietly lift or sink this one.

The exact numbers, and how steps split a task's share, are in the next post.

5 · Where you see it

• On the day page: the To-Do card has a small ring at the top right with this week's percentage. Before you've started your week, the ring is empty and the card says "You haven't planned this week yet — plan your week →".
• On the To-Do page: open the sidebar (☰) and tap To-Do. The first card is your Productivity Score. Tap Breakdown → for the Productivity page: the score as a big ring with a short line under it, a small ring for each kind, and the Focus Score, "a daily line graph revealing how consistently you worked throughout the week". You can switch between this week, last week, this month and last month.

The line under the ring is encouragement, never a grade: from "Every step counts. Start small." to "Outstanding — keep it up." There are no badges and no levels.

6 · When the week ends

Nothing carries over by itself. When you plan the next week, Review Last Week lists the Frogs and Goals you didn't finish ("Unfinished commitments. Decide consciously — nothing carries automatically."), and you decide each one:

• Continue: it comes into the new week.
• → Frog: a Weekly Goal becomes a Frog Task.
• Discard: it stays in last week's record as unfinished, and that week's score doesn't change, but it stops showing up as a task.

Post 6 of this chapter covers the end of the week in full.

Check it yourself

1. On today's page, find the To-Do card. If the week isn't planned yet, tap plan your week →.
2. Add one Frog, one Weekly Goal and one Urgent task, and pick today under Schedule a Day for each. Look at the percentage on the right of each.
3. Tap START MY WEEK →. The ring on the To-Do card now shows a small number: that's your planning, counted.
4. Tick the Urgent task, then the Frog. Watch how much further the Frog moves the ring.

Quick answers

Is the To-Do in Awaken Journal a weekly planner?

Yes. You plan a week, do it day by day, and start the next week fresh.

What is the percentage in To-Do?

The Productivity Score: how much of what you committed to this week is done, with Frogs counting most.

Do Brain Dump ideas count towards the score?

No. Only tasks you've committed to this week count.

Why does my score start from zero again?

Every week starts fresh, so one week's number never spills into the next.

What happens to tasks I didn't finish?

They don't carry over by themselves. Review Last Week asks you to continue or discard each unfinished Frog and Goal.

Can I turn To-Do off?

Yes. See turning modules on and off.

Is it the same on iPhone?

The iPhone app is being built with the same To-Do.

Where to go next

Back to Chapter 4 for the rest of To-Do and Journal.