The 📝to-do list for 🧑‍🎤creative people who get sh*t ✅done

Waldo is a productivity tool specifically designed for designers, artists, engineers, writers, makers, hobbyists, and craftspeople.

Do the best work of your career—and show it to the world—with Waldo.

Private • Simple • Peaceful

30-day money-back guarantee; no questions asked

Why is finishing creative projects so hard?! 😵‍💫

You’ve got big ideas. You’ve got the talent. You’ve made the time.

And yet…

The book is never finished. The software never ships.

And it’s not just you. Millions of creative people (like me) struggle to finish projects.

What’s going on?

Creative people have ideas. The ideas are actually hurting your work.

The idea monster 🐉

You know how it goes.

Every time you finish a task, it gives you another new idea. Or three.

A little way to make your project better. Something else to work on.

The project in your head grows. You imagine what it’ll be life when it’s finished: beautiful and complete.

Meanwhile, the project *in real life* is quietly dying.

Eventually, *yet another idea* comes along to distract you, and the old one gathers dust.

Sadly, to creative people, this cycle is as normal. It happens all the time.

Unfortunately, it kills careers.

The idea monster creates **task overload**. You have a million ideas, and you can’t focus. You freeze.

Task-overload is a black hole. Once you're stuck in it, it can feel impossible to escape.

So what’s a creative person to do?

The answer is: get out of the hole!

It is possible—you just need some help l.

- with focus.

And most importantly, you need feedback ***from the real world.***

Why? So you can learn what’s working, get inspired, re-focus, and keep moving.

Creativity won’t help. New ideas aren’t going to save you.

But sharing your work with the world will.

So, it’s time to get your sh*t together.

It’s time to start *getting things done*.

Let’s start with a to-do list, right?

Wrong.

To-do apps aren’t helping ☠️

Piles

They’re just making the exact same problem worse.

Maker vs manager schedule.

How it works

Introducing: A better way to get sh*t ✅ done

Waldo is a different kind of todo list. It’s been designed around our maker manifesto, a 10-point plan to get you doing the best work of your life.

I believe in it so much I write a mini book about it.

Here are the highlights:

Milestones encourage you to share with the world 🦸

Everything in Waldo is about milestones.

In fact, they’re so important, Waldo *forces* you to put every task inside a milestone.

So what’s a milestone?

A milestone represents **the moment you share your work with the world**.

For example:

- Finishing a first draft *and sending to your editor*.

- Finishing your app’s beta version *and shipping it to your first customers*.

- Writing that grant proposal *and mailing it in*

Sharing your work with the world is THE hardest thing creative people do. It triggers every bit of fear and perfectionism in us.

It’s also the only way your work gets in front of people.

~~So we avoid it. After all; there’s always another project to start on.~~

~~But without sharing your work, nothing matters. You can’t make a dent in the world unless the world sees your work.~~

That’s why everything starts with milestones.

Projects that keep you 🔎 focused on what’s important ⏰ now

Break your 🏔️ big vision into 🍪 small, achievable pieces

In Waldo, you can only have three current projects. Everything else can be added to, but **not** edited.

No scary 🗓️ deadlines. Seriously.

Do you know what EVERY creative person hates?

Deadlines!

Why do we hate deadlines? It’s not because we’re lazy.

In fact, it’s the opposite: deadlines force us to cut, edit,

Deadlines force us to. They’re stressful, arbitrary. The worst.

So why do we accept deadlines from other people? And even set deadlines for ourselves?

Because we believe they work.

But actually, deadlines don’t help.

There’s a better way.

What we need is **priorities.**

Priorities aren’t about getting things done by a random date.

Priorities are about doing what’s important.

Specifically, priorities are relative to other. You can’t have two things that are the same priority!

Which brings us to:

The force-ranked backlog 🫡

I know what you’re thinking.

“The what-ranked *who*?”

The force ranked backlog is a simple idea. Let’s break it down.

- Backlog = list of things to do

- Force-ranked = everything is always ranked in order of priority

A force ranked backlog is different from just a todo list.

Waldo helps you prioritize by *forcing* your tasks into a prioritized list.

Of course you can always change the priority of a task milestone or protect. But if you want to work on it, first you have to prioritize it.

> “This project is on ice. You can add new ideas, but you can’t work on tasks until it’s active again.”

>

- What project is most important? It goes on top.

- What’s the next milestone for this project? Put it on top of the list.

- What tasks *need* to get done before I can finish this milestone? (You can guess where they go—at the top!)

Did you work on the *most important task* for your *most important project* today?

If not, Waldo can help.

A ☮️ peaceful place for 😌 you and your work

Waldo is designed to feel like a creative home, not a piece of software.

Just type to add task.

Hit enter to make a new one.

It feels less like a database, and more like your favorite notebook.

Unlike modern software, it’s not begging for your attention 24/7.

In a word, Waldo is **peaceful**.

What does peaceful software look like exactly?

It looks like this:

- No inboxes or unread counts

- No notifications

- No reminders or alerts

- No popups advertising new features

- No deadlines (did we mention how much we hate deadlines?)

In short: it’s just you and your imagination.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

A 🪶 lightweight home for 💡big ideas

Let Waldo help you do the best work of your life

Don’t let your 💡 next big idea be a dud

Waldo is the only app created around this process.

- Forces you to prioritizes projects

- Forces you to make milestones

- Forces all tasks in your project into a single, prioritized list

And more

- Works great on your phone

- 100% private

I made Waldo for one person: me 🤷‍♂️

I’ve struggled my whole life with big ideas—and struggling to them out the door.

Over the years, I’ve adapted the habits on this page, and it’s helped me become

In fact, I could’ve never made this to do list without it! (And yes, I keep track of new Waldo features using Waldo).

Every creative person wants to do amazing work. I hope this helps you in your journey.

❤️,

Sam

PS - I’m an independent creative just like you. If you find Waldo useful, I hope you’ll consider becoming a subscriber.

What are you waiting for? Try it 🕊️ free for 30 days

I believe in Waldo so much, I personally guarantee it.

If you don’t love it within 30 days, email me for a 100% refund.

No hoops to jump through. No questions asked.

30-day money-back guarantee; no questions asked

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”

― Mary Oliver