--- title: "How a Simple List Helped Me Stop Saying Yes to Everything" url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-a-simple-list-helped-me-stop-saying-yes-to-everything-hfuh3fpwv source_url: https://tnakov.dev/how-a-simple-list-helped-me-stop-saying-yes-to-everything type: article source: "Nakov's Blog" published: 2026-02-05T08:20:29.913Z updated: 2026-02-05T08:20:51.004Z tags: ["productivity", "project-management"] reading_time: 9 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How a Simple List Helped Me Stop Saying Yes to Everything **[Nakov's Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/tnakov)** · 9 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A developer shares how burnout from constant client interruptions and scope creep led to discovering a systematic approach to work management. By using a todo list (Todoist) to make all work visible and documented, they transformed client communication from reactive agreement to informed priority discussions. The system prevents work from being silently overridden, ensures nothing falls through cracks, and enables clear boundary-setting around availability and workload. Recurring tasks maintain consistent communication habits, while the visible list allows explicit conversations about tradeoffs rather than defaulting to "yes" for every request. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [One year of keeping a tada list](https://daily.dev/posts/one-year-of-keeping-a-tada-list-ghndrrxix) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#project-management](https://daily.dev/tags/project-management) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-a-simple-list-helped-me-stop-saying-yes-to-everything-hfuh3fpwv)